Leonora (opera) Leonora (opera) Leonora, ossia L’amore coniugale ("Leonora or Conjugal Love") is an opera (specifically a "dramma semiserio") in two acts by the Italian composer Ferdinando Paer. The libretto, by Giovanni Schmidt, is based on "Léonore ou L’Amour conjugal" (1794) by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, which was also the source of Beethoven's "Fidelio". Beethoven himself owned a score of Paer's opera and it is believed to have had some influence on his work. "Leonora" was first performed at the Kleines Kurfürstliches Theater, Dresden on 3 October 1804 with the composer's wife singing the title role. Leonora disguises herself as a man in order
Fidelio for Fidelio, who then enters carrying a heavy load of newly-repaired chains. Rocco compliments Fidelio, and misinterprets her modest reply as hidden attraction to his daughter. Marzelline, Fidelio, Rocco, and Jaquino sing a quartet about the love Marzelline has for Fidelio ("Mir ist so wunderbar"—"A wondrous feeling fills me", also known as the Canon Quartet). Rocco tells Fidelio that as soon as the governor has left for Seville, Marzelline and Fidelio can be married. He tells them, however, that unless they have money, they will not be happy. ("Hat man nicht auch Gold beineben"—"If you don't have any money"). Fidelio