Ludwig van Beethoven Theatre Music
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno/Cappella Aquileia/Marcus Bosch
rec. 2018-2020, Festspielhaus Congress Centrum Heidenheim, Germany
cpo 555754-2 [4 CDs: 263]
It feels entirely appropriate that CPO should present these previously separately issued Beethoven recordings as a box set, thereby underlining their importance and authority. Three of the four CDs are really interesting attempts to provide a meaningful context to the incidental music Beethoven wrote for plays by von Kotzebue and Goethe. The fourth, a performance of the complete music for the ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, remains problematic, but like the other performances, benefits from the incisive, highly theatrical and period informed approach of Cappella Aquileia under Marcus Bosch.
The fundamental difficulty in how to present this area of Beethoven’s work is one which will be familiar to most MusicWeb readers I suspect. If the music is played without words and the narrative framework they can provide, then one is left with a set of disjoined, sometimes perfunctory pieces. On the other hand, certainly the von Kotzebue plays Die Ruinen von Athen and König Stephan are non-starters as dramatic offerings in 2025. The obscure political and artistic context of the first and the ludicrously feeble and antiquated prosody of the second are instant barriers. One possible solution is the model offered by the text written for performances of the Egmont music by Friedrich Mosengeil in 1821, later revised by Franz Grillparzer. To add to the authenticity of the project, Mosengeil was able to discuss his project with Goethe, who wrote the original play Beethoven provided music for. This mixture of poetry and prose, of its time, but coherent and dramatically appropriate, still works surprisingly well. On this recording Frederic Bohle does a good job of striking the necessary balance between rhetoric and tension and Raffaela Lintl is affecting in the two songs which punctuate the action. Bosch and his orchestra are excellent throughout. Portentous and agile in the famous overture, responsive and colourful in the music that follows.
August von Kotzebue’s play Die Ruinen von Athen was written for the opening of the Deutsches Theater in Pest, Hungary, in 1812. It’s an ambitious mix of characters and concepts from classical myth and contemporary aesthetics, with Athena the goddess of wisdom leaving the ruins of ancient Athens to find a new home for civilisation in contemporary Hungary. Both the narrative and its underlying cultural politics are a daunting proposition for an audience over 200 years on. Time to call for the dramaturg. Sensibly, from the start of the project now presented in the box set, Bosch worked with Kai Wessler, who is indeed a dramaturg, one of wide experience. Wessler devised a new version of the text for Die Ruinen von Athen which successfully I think removes the obscure 19th century nationalism and cultural references, whilst retaining von Kotzebue’s framework. As part of his revision Wessler cleverly used fragments of poems by Schiller, particularly the poem Der Antritt des neuen Jahrhunderts (‘The Beginning of the New Century’) which is a much clearer and less parochial statement of a vision of art as a civilising force than von Kotzebue provides, a vision which Beethoven of course was wholly committed to. The new text works very well indeed in this performance. Sidonie von Krosigk is compelling as Athena, her spoken part binding together the other elements, and the singing of Valda Wilson and Simon Bailey and the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno is excellent. Cappella Aquileia and Bosch navigate the varied numbers, including the famous ‘Turkish March’, with flair and precision.
Von Kotzebue’s König Stephan is the companion piece to Die Ruinen von Athen, also performed at part of the opening celebrations of the new theatre in Pest. König Stephan was conceived as a dialogue for King Stephen (a spoken part) and orchestra and chorus. Stephen I founded the Kingdom of Hungary and was later canonised for converting his country to Christianity. Von Kotzebue’s text understandably capitalises on the nationalistic potential in the history but, as the booklet notes put it, his verse was fustian. Kai Wessler’s task here was to modernise and ensure coherence and he’s again done this with verve and clarity. Bernd Tauber proves the ideal speaker, possessing both authority and nuance. Bosch and the Orchestra provide a pacy, lucid accompaniment which works well and once more the sense of theatre is perfectly evoked. The Choir here are really fine. They are nimble, precise and have superb diction. My colleague Michael Wilkinson reviewed the original CD and although grateful to have the complete König Stephan, ended by saying ‘I doubt I shall often revisit it’. I must say I feel warmer.
The fourth substantial piece in the set is the music Beethoven wrote for Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus, a ballet conceived by the dancer and choreographer Salvatore Viganò. The scenario which Viganò devised is both absurd and badly structured. Essentially less than 15 minutes of what we might recognise as plotted drama followed by what Eckhardt van den Hoogen in his booklet notes describes as ‘a parade of Parnassian phenomena lasting almost 60 minutes’. For all the care that has been taken to render the other music on the discs accessible, there is not much that can be done here, other than play the music for all its worth, which of course the players of Cappella Aquileia do. Bosch again adopts brisk speeds, which feel intuitively correct (and mean the Parnassian splendours come in at considerably less than 60 minutes) and he’s not afraid to vary the mood and texture, so some of the music feels truly symphonic, whilst other sections are authentically balletic. It’s again generally very well performed, with razor-sharp strings and some excellent woodwind playing. Even in such a thoughtful and entertaining rendition however, Prometheus remains if not exactly difficult to listen to, then decidedly odd. There are 18 relatively short sections of which at least three-quarters seem to end with a resounding Beethovian conclusion. In some ways Beethoven’s ending of one dance and start of another feels like an extended working out of the finale of Haydn’s Symphony No. 90 without the humour. If you can put yourself in the right frame of mind however, then this is certainly a winning performance, one which brings Bosch’s theatrical project to a resounding culmination with the famous finale whose theme Beethoven was to use again in the ‘Eroica’ symphony and piano variations. As far as the right frame of mind is concerned, if you are one of those people who listen to classical music whilst running, as I do, this is in all seriousness a perfect piece to choose, where those multiple endings and beginnings help maintain momentum, and in my case motivation!
There are other miscellaneous pieces generously included in the set, the most notable of which are the Overture to Fidelio and the three Leonore Overtures. This is of course not the first time these pieces have been presented together on disc or in concert and there is considerable interest and satisfaction in hearing Beethoven working and reworking material, particularly when played with the attentiveness and vibrancy bestowed here.
So, an attractively presented, very well documented set, which feels like the definitive way to experience this attractive but not often visited Beethovian seitenstraße.
Dominic Hartley
Other review: Daniel Floyd (November 2025)
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Contents
Die Ruinen von Athen Op. 113 (Valda Wilson (soprano), Simon Bailey (bass), Sidonie von Krosigk (speaker))
Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt Op. 112
Opferlied Op. 121b
König Stephan Op. 117 (Bernd Tauber (speaker))
Leonore Overture No. 2 Op. 72a
Leonore Overture No. 3 Op. 72b
Fidelio Overture Op. 72
Egmont Op. 84 (Raffaela Lintl (soprano), Frederic Böhle (speaker))
Coriolan Overture Op. 62
Die Weihe des Hauses Overture Op. 124
Zur Namensfeier Overture
Wellingtons Sieg oder Die Schlacht bei Vittoria Op. 91
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus Op. 43
