In the opera "Leonore," the central character makes her way into a dungeon to rescue her husband, a political prisoner. Beethoven wasn't the only composer to set that story to music; the seldom-performed Italian composer Ferdinando Paër also wrote an opera on the subject.

In this audio stream, we'll also encounter other fascinating female figures such as Margarethe, who's in love with Faust, the man in league with the Devil; and the fiendish Medea, who murders her own children.

The ensemble Opera Fuoco and David Stern find their repertory in 18th and 19th century opera. And they wrap up this performance with Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 – seeking the original sound of Beethoven's time.

Ferdinando Paër
Overture to the opera "Leonora ossia L'Amor conjugale" (Leonora or Conjugal Love)

 

Xavier Boisselot
"Velléda," cantata for vocal soloist and orchestra

 

Luigi Cherubini
Néris' aria "Ah! Nos peines seront communes" (Oh! Our sorrows will be common) from the opera "Medea"

 

Hector Berlioz

• Marguerite's Romance "D'amour l'ardente flamme" (Of love, the burning flame) from the opera "The Damnation of Faust" op. 24
• "L'ile inconnue" (The Unknown Island, encore)

 

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 8 in F Major, op. 93

 

Karine Deshayes, mezzo-soprano
Opera Fuoco 
David Stern, conductor

 

Recorded by Deutsche Welle in the World Conference Center Bonn on September 15, 2017