Exalted by Beethoven

Fidelio is so full of wonderful music, and its subject matter is so stirring and so perennially relevant, that it should be a frequent feature of any opera house’s repertoire. In fact it is rather rare, and this new production is the first time it has been seen at the Royal Opera for 14 years. To my joy and relief, and a little to my surprise, it is largely a success, and the things that are wrong with it are remediable without drastic alteration — and the cast needs no alteration at all.

This production was first seen in New York in 2000, and is by the director of the Salzburg Festival, Jürgen Flimm. That name struck a chill in my heart, but the worst that can be said is that it is mildly eccentric. The opera is updated to some time in the late 20th century, which does it no harm.