Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Theatre Music
Frederic Böhle (speaker), Sidonie von Krosigk (speaker), Raffaela Lintl (soprano), Valda Wilson (soprano), Simon Bailey (bass), Bernd Tauber (speaker)
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno
Cappella Aquileia/Marcus Bosch
rec. 2018-2020
Booklet with the sung and spoken texts in German with English translations and commentary in German and English
cpo 5557542 [4 CDs: 263]
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote three sets of incidental music and one full ballet, all of which are included in the present boxed set in complete versions. Beethoven did not intend some of the works included here strictly for the theatre, but they have dramatic implications. Many of the overtures either introduced incidental works or were conceived as potential openers for the three versions of his only opera, Leonora / Fidelio. Marcus Bosch leads Cappella Aquileia, a chamber-sized ensemble founded in 2011 that specialises in Classical and early Romantic repertoire, and the Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno in fresh, stirring, and vibrant performances that avoid bombast and pathos without ever sounding dry or anemic. Tempi are brisk, and yet there is no sense of rushing or lack of emotion. The soloists and choir fit magnificently into this concept, which revitalises some of Beethoven’s lesser-known output. The choir’s contributions are particularly notable in Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt and the Opferlied in which their clear enunciation provides maximum enjoyment of first-rank poetry by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich von Matthisson.
The performances of Beethoven’s eleven overtures, including Leonore (Nos. 1, 2, and 3), Fidelio, Name Day, and the Consecration of the House, are crisp and passionate. Anyone learning these works can rely on these recordings; experienced listeners can enjoy alternatives to the classic recordings (e.g., those conducted by Arturo Toscanini, Otto Klemperer, and Bruno Walter). The overtures that opened theatrical works are available here in the contexts intended by the composer, with the exception of the opera Fidelio and its permutations. Special mention goes to Bosch’s performance of the Coriolan Overture, an early example of programme music that depicts the plot of Heinrich Joseph von Collins’s tragedy. The tempo, slightly swifter than in large-scale orchestral recordings, actually strengthens the pathos by making the story seem realistic (time does not go into slow motion when terrible events occur). When conductors try to wring as much despondency out of the score as they can, the effect sounds contrived. Bosch wisely resists indulgence and lets the plot unfold.
Beethoven composed Wellingtons Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria, Op. 91, after the Battle of Vitoria (Beethoven wrote: Vittoria) on 21 June 1813 near Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque Country, where the Marquess (later Duke) of Wellington defeated Napoleon Bonaparte. Johann Nepomuk Mälzel asked Beethoven to write a piece based on this subject for his mechanical panharmonicon. Beethoven subsequently orchestrated the piece, which was received so enthusiastically at its premiere along with the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, in the Great Hall of the University of Vienna on 8 December 1813 that further performances had to be arranged. Beethoven and Antonio Salieri were the two conductors; Giacomo Meyerbeer and Ignaz Moscheles played in the orchestra of 100 musicians. The orchestration calls for two flutes, a piccolo, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, six trumpets, three trombones, timpani, cymbals, bass drum, triangle, a percussion battery (including muskets and other artillery sound effects), and a string section of violins I and II, violas, cellos, and double basses. Two ‘sides’, British and French, play the same instruments: two side drums, two bass drums, and eight to ten ratchets. The accompanying booklet does not specify the forces used for this recording, but the ensemble sounds smaller than the one Beethoven expected. Bosch leads an energetic, cogent account that makes the ‘Battle Symphony’ sound like the prototype for a tone poem.
The Creatures of Prometheus, Op. 43, is a two-act ballet for which Beethoven composed music to a libretto by Salvatore Viganò, which is based on the myth of Prometheus, who stole fire from Zeus to create humanity from clay. It premiered on 28 March 1801 at the Hofburgtheater in Vienna as a benefit performance for prima ballerina Maria Cassentini, who danced the female lead role. The score is the only full-length ballet that Beethoven wrote, and it depicts Prometheus introducing science and art. Apollo, the god of the arts, commands Amphion, Arion, and Orpheus to teach music and Melpomene and Thalia to teach tragedy and comedy. Terpsichore, along with Pan, introduces humanity to the Pastoral Dance; Dionysus introduces a Heroic Dance. Beethoven based the fourth movement of his Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55, and Variations and Fugue for Piano in E-flat major, Op. 35, on the main theme of this ballet’s Finale. Bosch’s performance brought this music to life as the auditory component to a ballet. The only other complete performance that I know is the slightly flaccid account conducted by Frans Brüggen with the Orchestra of the 18th Century. Bosch’s recording has enabled me to appreciate each movement of Beethoven’s ballet for the first time.
Beethoven wrote his most inspired theatre music for Goethe’s Trauerspiel Egmont, which had been published in 1788. Beethoven composed the incidental music from September 1809 on commission from the Vienna Burgtheater. It premiered on 15 June 1810 during a production of Goethe’s play. Five of the ten pieces are integrated into the plot: Klärchen’s two songs (Nos. 2 and 5), the music signifying Klärchen’s death, (No. 8), the melodrama that accompanies Egmont’s spoken words and the pantomimed dream apparition of Klärchen (No. 9), and the victory symphony, which Goethe requires as the conclusion (No. 10). The other five pieces, the overture and the four interludes, are less closely connected to the drama. The complete music has been recorded previously, notably the 1969 recordings by George Szell with Pilar Lorengar and the Vienna Philharmonic and Herbert von Karajan with Gundula Janowitz and the Berlin Philharmonic. The present performance under Bosch’s direction with Raffaela Lintl (soprano) and Frederic Böhle (speaker) eschews ponderousness and plush textures in favour of verve so that this melodrama feels like the soundtrack to a theatrical production.
For the inauguration of the Imperial Theatre in Pest (now part of Budapest) on 9 February 1812, Beethoven contributed a score, The Ruins of Athens (Op. 113), to complement the drama by August von Kotzebue, positioning the Austro-Hungarian city as a new Athens. Instead of recording Kotzebue’s original text, the present recording provides a digest of the plot narrated by Athena, as if banished from her home city. Verses from Schiller’s ‘An die Freude’ have been inserted in lieu of the prayer by a high priest with obbligato horns answered by a pledge of loyalty to the Habsburg monarchy. The occasional music for King Stephen (Op. 117) was composed to another text by Kotzebue, based on King Stephan I who founded the Kingdom of Hungary in 1000, and premiered with The Ruins of Athens. The spoken text here has also been altered, which is unfortunate because it would be interesting to hear the original texts that stood between Beethoven’s musical numbers (even if the dialogue is not ‘great’ literature, I would prefer to know what the original audiences heard). Otherwise, the musical performances are engaging and make the best possible case for music to occasional plays commissioned to open a theatre ‘given’ to Hungary by the Habsburg monarchy. My impression is that neither the occasion nor the topics inspired either the poet or the composer.
The presentation is outstanding: the four CDs are housed inside a glossy cardboard box with a 75-page booklet that includes the full sung and spoken texts, as well as extensive commentary in German with English translations. The sound quality throughout is crystal clear in an intimate acoustic that enables every detail to be heard. This set fares well in comparison with the performances included with Deutsche Grammophon’s complete Beethoven editions from 1997 and 2020.
Daniel Floyd
Previous review: Dominic Hartley (October 2025)
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Contents
Egmont op. 84 (Komplette Schauspielmusik)
Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus op. 43 (Komplette Ballettmusik)
Die Ruinen von Athen op. 113 (Komplette Schauspielmusik)
König Stephan op. 117 (Komplette Schauspielmusik)
Coriolan-Ouvertüre op. 62
Die Weihe des Hauses-Ouvertüre op. 124
Zur Namensfeier-Ouvertüre op. 115
Wellingtons Sieg op. 91
Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt op. 112
Opferlied op. 121B
Leonore-Ouvertüren Nr. 1-3 (op. 138; op. 72a; op. 72b)
Fidelio-Ouvertüre op. 72
