The opera was an alien soil to him;
composition--never an easy matter to Beethoven, was more difficult than
ever in the case of Fidelio. The sketch-books show the many attempts and
alterations in the work, at its every stage. In addition, he was
handicapped at the outset by an unsuitable libretto. The Spanish
background, for one thing, was a clog, as his trend of thought and
sympathies were thoroughly German. But this is a slight matter compared
with the forbidding nature of the drama itself, with its prison scenes,
its dungeons and general atmosphere of gloom. One dreary scene after
another is unfolded, and the action never reaches the dignity of tragedy
nor the depth of pathos which should be awakened by the portrayal of
suffering. We are unable to feel that the two principal characters are
martyrs; as one tiresome scene succeeds another, we come to care nothing
whatever about them and are unable to sympathize with them in their
suffering or rejoice in their deliverance. The first requisite in opera,
it would appear, is that it be pervaded by an atmosphere of
romanticism.
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