Leonora’s Dream
Elena Langer (b. 1974)

THE STORY

Born in Moscow, Elena Langer studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her colorful, dramatic, and often humorous music often draws on musical history and theatre, including her 2016 opera Figaro Gets a Divorce. Recent and upcoming orchestral works have been commissioned by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. Leonora’s Dream had its premiere in 2022 with the NEC Philharmonia at the New England Conservatory. The composer writes:

Leonora’s Dream is a short orchestral piece inspired by Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. Fidelio is of course a she in the story: Florestan’s wife Leonora who, disguised as a man, frees her husband from prison. My piece is written, so to speak, from Leonora’s point of view. I wanted to express her indomitable spirit, her feelings of joy and hope, alongside moments of softness and lyricism.

Beethoven wrote several overtures to his Leonora opera. Since all three Leonora overtures share one musical element—the first phrase of Florestan’s aria “In des Lebens Frühlingstagen” (“In the springtime days of life”) from the opera’s second act—I wanted to include and play with some musical elements from that aria. I use Beethoven’s motif at the beginning, but stretch it in time and let it resound, using high orchestral instruments combined with glockenspiel and flexatone; then the music gradually develops into an imaginary chorus of songbirds. In the fast section I played with the idea of a major triad, and you will hear a lot of jumping, fast-changing, percussive orchestral triads.

I wanted to give everyone in the orchestra their own moment, so there are many solos and divisi passages, but sometimes the orchestra plays in a happy, strong unison.

INSTRUMENTATION

Piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, piccolo trumpet, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, piano, celesta, strings