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The link between Beethoven鈥檚 Fidelio and the notion of conflict is inherent in the very

inception of this opera. The notion of conflict, paradoxical as it may seem, is central to what

we call classical music, both in its composition and in its form. We shall explore this notion

by looking at the circumstances surrounding the composition of Fidelio: the relation

between Beethoven and the operatic tradition, the theme of the work in the context of the

French Revolution, the composer鈥檚 struggles with a work that cost him immense efforts, the

reception in Napoleonic Vienna that forced him to rewrite the opera over and over again. At

the same time, by analysing one central moment of Fidelio—Florestan鈥檚 lament and aria—we

shall try and understand how Beethoven expresses the notion of conflict in the choice of

instruments, tonalities, and in the requirements made to the human voice.

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