Implementation of the aesthetic principles of W. Felsenstein’s musical theatre in the screen adaption of L. Beethoven’s opera “Fidelio” (1956)

Statement of the problem. In solving the problem of opera adaptations in film, the experience of W. Felzenstein’s cinematic creativity remains relevant. The interaction of the two arts contributes to a new reading of well-known plots, a paradoxical discovery of the inner world of heroes, and a rethinking of musical scores. The W. Felsenstein’s creative method is studied in the works of E. Kolesnyk (2021) and L. Loboda (2017).The articles of O. Babiy (2015), A. Yefimenko (2021), O. Serdiuk (2025) are devoted to analysis of the opera «Fidelio». V. Obraz (2011) investigates the issue of translating opera into the language of cinema. The film-opera “Fidelio” (1956) is analyzed by S. Hake (2016), M. Vieira de Carvalho (2020). Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to reveal the aesthetic principles of W. Felsenstein’s musical theater in the film adaptation of Beethoven’s opera ”Fidelio”. The features of W. Felsenstein’s cinematic heritage in the context of his theatrical principles is determined that is the innovative component of the research. An interdisciplinary approach was used, combining musicological, filmological , hermeneutic, and comparative analysis. Research results. W. Felsenstein’s cinematic work was an attempt to document the concepts underlying his stage productions. The principles and guidelines of his musical theater (realism and universality of the theater, the creation of backstories for heroes, the use of articulated and silent singing, the detailed depiction of choral scenes) find their realization in the director’s cinematic works. Conclusion. The problem of audiovisual parallelism is solved by achieving the reliability of the film image (dubbing of actors, silent singing, expanded cinematic narrative space). The action in the film is dramatized by replacing the sung dialogues of the opera with spoken scenes, singspiel’s spoken text into “silent” image, and the condensation of the material by connecting the ‘attacca’ scenes with the preservation of the tempo and rhythm of the music. The “literal” interpretation of the score fills the dramatic play of the singers with an “inner tempo”, and this rhythmic condensation is manifested in the synchronous accentuation of music and image. Cinematic techniques of smooth and rhythmic editing, blurring of frame boundaries, perspective shooting, and symbolic frame construction visualize real / imaginary spaces that concretize and deepening the psychological portraits of the characters.