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"
Fidelio the Vienna State Opera was re-opened with "Fidelio", conducted by Karl Böhm. This performance was the first live television broadcast by ORF at a time when there were about 800 television sets in Austria. The first night of "Fidelio" at the Semperoper in Dresden on 7 October 1989 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the DDR (East Germany) coincided with violent demonstrations at the city's main train station. The applause after the "Prisoners' Chorus" interrupted the performance for considerable time, and the production by had the chorus appear in normal street clothes at the end, signifying their role