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fidelio, or the prisoner of the state
Composer:David Lang
Librettist:David Lang
Synopsis
fidelio, or the prisoner of the state is a dark, futuristic retelling of a portion of the story of Fidelio. It highlights the struggle of a woman alone who must change her identity to survive within the state. The text uses original material written by the composer, as well as scraps of Beethoven's original librettos. It does not use any of Beethoven's music. The action is set entirely within a prison that is at the same time high-tech and post-apocalyptic in feeling, the staging being created entirely through lighting and projection.

Heightening the sense of claustrophobia is the presence onstage at all times of the orchestra and chorus. Beethoven's original opera, the complete title of which is Fidelio, or Conjugal Love, has much beautiful music in it and, in many ways, it represents some of his loftiest ideas about freedom, love and the human spirit. Rather frustratingly, it approaches the place where it might actually encourage a deeper kind of political imprisonment has become much more sophisticated than in Beethoven's day - it is not clear that the prisoner of the state tries to bring this aspect of the political story back to the foreground.

Title Information

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Approximate Runtime (hh:mm)
1:15

 Number of Acts
1


 
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