FIDELIO Beethoven - Dutch National Opera 

Thought the Uber driver was convincing in his portrayal of the Uber driver who doesn’t take the route you asked him to take.

I too attended this version life: a complete disaster for public and performers. One of the rare occasions of bhoe calling after the first performance. Impossible to follow the story. It was really a great shame.

Beethoven won't be forgotten. The stage director will.

Just NO. Today especially, the nobility of FIDELIO as an expression of the yearning for political and personal Freedom - and Just Government - is needed. It should be simply done without directorial ephemera. But the singers are excellent!

all I can say is that I am totally disappointed - especially the distraction on stage, I thought we have gotten over this kind of staging in the year 2000s

Brilliant singing and Orchestral playing. I'm not a fan of this production though. I just didn't get it. Anyway, thanks @DutchNationalOpera and @Operavision

It went off the rails at the beginning, when the whooshing sound went right-to-left but the speaker followed it looking left-to-right, and it never recovered. Edit: The idea that Pizarro might be a furry is kind of funny, actually.

Ich habe grosses Verständnis dafür, dass man in Oper und Schauspiel auch neue Wege geht; denn erstens ist das Herkömmliche schliesslich abgedroschen, und zweitens sind die Inhalte ja immer noch oder immer wieder gültig. Aber ich habe noch nie eine solche Transposition erlebt, die mich überzeugt hat. Es ist also eine weit grössere Herausforderung, Bühne und Darstellung zu modernisieren, als in der Zeit zu bleiben, in welcher das Werk entstanden ist.

WHAT IS THIS STAGING?? It is nonsensical and detracts from the music. Absolute kitsch.

In my opinion, this opera was created by the conposer only for the ears that love it, but not for the eyes. ❤

So, first: I loved the musical side of this! The orchestra was fantastic, I also liked the singers, especially Wagner I found outstanding. Definitely a new favourite in this role for me! About the staging... not so sure. I often like modern or more experimental stagings, but this one I just don't really get. I felt that (most of) the singers were selling it as best as possible, and there were some visuals I found quite striking. But there are two major decisions where I can't really follow the director's understanding of the opera: 1. Fidelio is an overtly political opera (which, at least with that passion and clarity, is rare enough). Why de-politicize it like this and make it all about internal struggles and a big mythical fight of good vs. evil? To me, that cuts out an integral aspect of the opera. As another commenter already put it: Isn't Beethoven's political vision topical and timely? It seems like such an odd artistic choice to leave it out. 2. I found it a bit disappointing how much this staging centers Florestan. I find it so refreshing that Fidelio is an opera where the male protagonist is genuinely power-less and fully in need of being rescued (again: rare enough). So I found the parts in the first half where Pizarro "tempts" Florestan kind of unnecessary. Florestan isn't a husband struggling to stay faithful, but a political prisoner. And Pizarro isn't some devil-like figure, but a real-life human who is corrupt and power-hungry and ready to commit murder in order to stay in power. The shift in those two characters made me feel as if I was watching Gounod's Faust/Marguerite instead of Fidelio. It's just a completely different plot. Again, I just don't understand the artistic reasoning behind that. Plus an afterthought: I've seen quite a few Fidelios already and could (mostly) follow along, but it does make me wonder how people would feel when this is their first time seeing this opera and they don't already know the story. Wouldn't it be super confusing? The story not matching the description. The words sung and spoken not matching the actions. I don't know, it just doesn't feel very accessible. Nevertheless: Thanks to everyone involved for putting in all the effort and work! For the musical side, it is 100% worth watching :)

Who thought this was a good idea?

If you can't imagine your own story, why destroying someone else's

This spectacle is an affront. Another story was inserted. They even changed the music, placing the Funeral March from Sinfonia Eroica in the middle of the score. It irritated me, I stopped watching it. Musically it is also not top notch. A bad step for Opera Vision

Horrible staging

What's with the bingo calling at 25.00?

I like new productions and perspectives. But I'm not interested in the neuroses of directors and their ignorance of the actual story. And why do the singers have mics? Are the accoustics that bad in Amsterdam?

It's sick, disturbing from before the beginning, and it just didn't give me the wish to continue watching. It's too bad for the musicians who seem to be great.

Maybe the worst production from DNO ever?

Is most of this silent or am I going deaf like Beethoven? And Leonore is supposed to disguised as Fidelio...not wearing 1980's ladies' business clothes. These stage directors need to go to rehab

Na ja, für eine Showbiz-Generation. Wer war noch Beethoven???

Beethoven must be turning in his grave.

Thanks for the free view, but not the version for me.

I have never loved the music of this opera, and I thought the original story was weak. So, I was glad to see the plot replaced by an allegorical pantomime. But someone has borrowed without returning my copy of Symbolism For Dummies, and I got completely lost. I had a vague impression of The Garden of Eden, what with the white-winged angels, and black-winged angels, and devils, and serpents writhing realistically. But as I recall, the story of Eden did not hand with a joyous triumphant chorus, so the message must have been something else. Can someone explain?

Lamentável !

Бедный Бетховен…

I don't think that's the original libretto.

Just when you thought it was safe to resume watching modern stagings…

Povero Beethoven !

😻😻

I was live attending this version in the Dutch Opera House. Great performance !!! Special vision. So looking forward to experience again....

Alles ausser Fußball!

I have seen so many traditional versions of Zauberflöte and Fidelio at opera houses and DVDs, that's why often I felt like I am just going there to listen arias and chorus pieces. So this was less boring and fun. Thank you!

Ein gutes video gute sänger

WOW - that has got to be the absolutely best visual production of any opera I have seen - never heard it before and I do not understand a word of it, but I was completely riveted to it. Every every part of it and all the departments were superb. I need to watch it many times to understand all the symbolism. I normally like a classical interpretation, but with Beethoven his genius shines through. Thank you thank you OperaVision - I am spell bound

Excellent musically but why! I feel sorry for the singers going through this mayhem and absolute drivel of extra dialogue 😡

Einmalig inspirierend. Danke sehr.

베토벤이라는 이름이 그렇게도 하찮고 가볍던가? 그들은 루트비히 반 베토벤을 모독했다 분노를 느낀다.

Why do we update Fidelio ? The music and singing do match the staging !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very bad taste I HATE these productions. It is a strong reason why I dont go the opera anymore . Its too experimental most of the time. I prefer a good concert performance . It is the same as updating a Rembrandt. It was a product of its time, leave for what it is !

Convoluted, but fun. Not a normal Fidelio; but who doesn't like walking thru mirrors and dark angel energy?

Good singing but pretentiously silly staging

Goooottt, welch ein 251567 Schrott hier!

By far the most terrible production of Dutch National Opera!! OperaVision?? This production is lacking every bit of a vision unless you’re drunk or using drugs! Nevertheless I thank OperaVision for sharing this “misbaksel”…

This is regie either at its finest or trashiest.

I had to stop watching as the production was terrible

What utter rubbish, I watched 10 seconds then vomited…..

Shame that a great orchestra was wasted on another piece of Eurotrash. Operas are famously expensive to produce, so who funds this garbage? Would be interesting to find out.

One of the dreariest operas ever written !! Had Beethoven not been deaf would Western music still think this opera was a cornerstone of the repertoire?