Opera: From Leonore to Fidelio

Meanwhile, Antony Peattie watched as the Welsh National Opera chorus was drafted in to the Theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris for a rare pairing of Beethoven's first and last thoughts on his one and only opera.

The 1805 and the 1816 versions of Beethoven's only opera opened in reverse chronological order (Fidelio on Tuesday, Leonore the day after), and did not attempt to economise by sharing costumes: emphasising the received elements in the composer's first effort, costumes were 18th-century; Fidelio's cast wore drably conventional, near-monochromatic modern clothes. Christian Fenouillat's sets for both operas were in mock-painterly style, meaninglessly abstract. How radical, how shocking it would have been to see a dark prison and then a brightly lit castle forecourt, furnished with a statue of the king...

But Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser's productions (the Fidelio was first seen this season in Cardiff) scored in terms of the Personenregie: several characters were presented in considerable depth. Above all, Kurt Rydl's Rocco in Fidelio was a profoundly touching creation, overshadowing Lszl Polgr's Rocco in Leonore. The Fidelio cast also boasted an exceptional Florestan in Hubert Delamboye. That, however, showed up his Leonore, the Danish soprano Elisabeth Meyer-Topsoe. She looked good but failed to meet the role's vocal challenges - and omitted the consonants so scrupulously that I wondered, did she think they were fattening?

Susan Anthony triumphed as and in Leonore. Her immaculate coloratura never tired, and she invested the role with an intense humanity. Christopher Ventris generally seemed inhibited as the Leonore Florestan, not merely because he spent most of the evening chained to the floor. There was able support in both casts from Elzbieta Szmytka as Marzelline and from Mathias Zachariassen as Jaquino.

If, overall, Leonore worked better than Fidelio, that was largely because the orchestral playing improved. The Orchestre des Champs-Elysees play on original instruments, but that does not excuse all the noises from the pit - although the conductor, Louis Langree, was trying to achieve interesting things: the interpretation was alert to the disturbingly abrupt inconsequences in both scores.

When he wrote Leonore, Beethoven was struggling with inherited formulae. The finales to each act reveal how far he had to go in 1805. At the end of Act 2, Pizarro orders the soldiers to deserve his trust and they swear to obey. Rumpty-tumpty-tumpty-tum, again and again. Even the play-out overstays its welcome. Meanwhile, suiting stage cliche to pit formula, Pizarro pulled on a black leather glove - very slowly. The remarkable Chorus of Welsh National Opera could do little with that soldiers' chorus, but their expertise almost saved Leonore's over-extended finale.

The first night of Beethoven's only opera in Vienna in 1805 has gone down in history as a failure, often explained by an audience full of Frenchmen who had just invaded, and were out of sympathy with a liberation opera. We should be reassured that Beethoven gained from the experience. Fidelio is a masterpiece - and not just because it lasts 40 minutes less than Leonore, though that helps.

Further performances: Leonore, tomorrow, Thurs; Fidelio Wed