Leonore Overture No. 3 in C Major

Few works cost Beethoven more effort than Fidelio, an opera which tells the story of a female protagonist, Leonore, who disguises herself as a man under the name of Fidelio in order to rescue her husband, Florestan, from political imprisonment and almost certain death. The composer slaved over the opera for 10 years before settling on a definitive final version that was first heard in Vienna in 1814. One indication of the enormous struggles Beethoven faced in writing Fidelio is that he left us four entirely different overtures for the opera. The third of these, known as Leonore No. 3, was composed in 1806 and is undoubtedly the grandest and most imposing, mapping out the dramatic essence of the opera so effectively that the overture can stand alone as an eminently satisfying orchestral work in its own right. The emotional trajectory of the music moves from darkness and uncertainty in the opening slow introduction, with its quotation of an aria the starved Florestan sings in the second act of the opera recalling a happier time in his life, to a heroic and energetic faster section, briefly interrupted by a dramatic off-stage trumpet call signalling Florestan’s imminent release.