Fidelio abandoned "Vestas Feuer" for "Fidelio", and was eventually freed from his obligations to Schikaneder when the latter was fired from his post as theater director in 1804. "Fidelio" itself, which Beethoven began in 1804 immediately after giving up on "Vestas Feuer", was first performed in 1805 and was extensively revised by the composer for subsequent performances in 1806 and 1814. Although Beethoven used the title ' ("Leonore, or The Triumph of Married Love"), the 1805 performances were billed as "Fidelio" at the theatre's insistence, to avoid confusion with the 1798 opera ' by Pierre Gaveaux, and the 1804 opera "Leonora"
Rescue opera to "Fidelio" is Rossini's "Torvaldo e Dorliska" of 1815. Bedřich Smetana's "Dalibor" (1868), which contains no spoken dialogue and which bears marks of Wagnerian influence, has nonetheless been called a rescue opera, in part because of its political themes. Rescue opera was primarily a product of the French Revolution. The social changes of the period meant that opera must now appeal to the masses, and post-aristocratic, patriotic, idealistic themes—such as resistance to oppression, secularism, the political power of individuals and of people working together, and fundamental changes to the status quo—were popular. The Terror influenced stories of fear and imprisonment;