Let me get this off my chest right away. Fidelio is one strange opera. Until this last week I didn't know the work at all. Okay, I have many times heard the overture - known as Leonora Number 3 - which is played at all-Beethoven concerts. I have always liked it. And yet. Perhaps it's just me but when the composer has to have three cracks at the overture does it not make one wonder whether he really had a handle on the piece. I mean, if you went to a fine restaurant and the chef had to have three goes at the appetizer before it could be served wouldn't you be a tad concerned about how the main course was going to turn out? Anyway, other than the overture, I knew - nada. That of itself might not have put me off too much but then there's the fact that Beethoven didn't write any other operas. There are two ways of looking at this. One way is "He poured his entire operatic genius into this one work. Other operas would have been superfluous." The other is "Just one, huh? Not his thing , I guess. Did great piano sonatas though, didn't he?" I was inclined to the latter view so it's not like I have been sitting around and pining and waiting for someone to produce Fidelio.

And I am an unre-constructed opera fan. So when I invited Holly and Elizabeth to join me for a concert performance of this very opera I expected a chorus of "Thanks very much but we're washing our hair (doing our nails/castrating the cat) that evening". But no. Elizabeth surprised me with a very enthusiastic "I'd love to!" Umm. Okay then.

The performance we were to attend was presented by the Willamette Concert Opera, a group dedicated to presenting performances of opera without the fuss and expense of sets, costumes, orchestra and such. I reserved our seats and on Saturday evening we presented ourselves at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple on Morrison Street in downtown Portland and without so much as a funny handshake were ushered into a fine space with lots of room, reasonably comfortable seats and good acoustics. We were there for three hours or so and it was time well spent.

At the appointed hour the musical director/pianist Robert Ashens appeared, took his place, struck the first chord and we were off. The plot is fairly standard operatic stuff. Fidelio is a young 'lad' working for a gaoler and the object of the desire of the gaoler's daughter, Marcelline. The gaoler thinks highly of Fidelio and approves of the match much to the disappointment of Jacquino who is himself in love with Marcelline. No one seems to think anything of the fact that Fidelio sings in a very high voice and thus would make a rather unsatisfactory husband for either of them either because of a nasty accident occasioned earlier in his youth or...is actually a woman! Fidelio is actually named Leonora and is the wife of Florestan who is being kept downstairs on an extended time-out. (This piece of information is known in movie circles as a spoiler so please keep it to yourself.) The gaol overseer appears and tells the gaoler that Florestan needs to be killed. The plot is hatched just in time for the intermission.

And during said intermission do we ponder Florestan's impending doom or Marcelline and her whole marriage problem? Nope. We have dinner! Yaaay!! Pasta and salad and cookies and dessert and wine and ...eat your heart out, Florestan! Not gaol fodder this.

Act II. Florestan appears for the first time. In what other opera does the hero - a tenor yet - not appear until the second act, tell me? But now he's here he makes up for his previous absence by singing some grand vocal stuff. Which brings me to the music. It's wonderful Beethovian music. It made me think of the Missa Solemnis and the Choral Fantasy and the Ninth Symphony. It also made me think of Mozart and how he seemed to throw operas off with such ease. There's not much of that here. Nor much to whistle. It is marvellous stuff there's no denying. It's like like Mozart might have written if he hadn't been taking Valium. Earnest. Stern. Accomplished. Even in the 'joyous' bits. Elizabeth was in heaven. I kept telling myself "Lighten up; this is some of the greatest music ever composed!"

The heroine got tuberculosis and died. Oh no, wait. That was La Boheme earlier in the day. In this one the gaoler says he hates doing this stuff but has to so what he is told by his superiors - a ploy known since 1946 as the Nuremberg defense (Befehl ist Befehl!). I found that whole bit rather creepy but shall resist giving you my psychological interpretation of that particular section of the dramaturgy. Everyone who should gets his come-uppance and Mr. And Mrs. Florestan live h.e.a. Marcelline appeared stunned to find out that Fidelio was female (Come on girl! You didn't guess?) and the overseer gets to take Florestan's place in the pokey*loud applause*.

Willamette Concert Opera is itself to be loudly applauded, encouraged and supported. Before the beginning of the second act Elizabeth Wells who sung the role of Marcelline as well as being the driving force behind this company talked to the audience about what they mean to accomplish. It may be summarised thus: Willamette Concert Opera wishes to bring opera to the community and the community to opera. This is a splendid objective and we should only wish more groups were so minded. It sems to me that the key word to describe them is commitment. They are committed to their mission in that they make great opera available to people who may not be exposed to it and they are committed to making the performance as professional and persuasive as is possible. They achieve the former objective by making their performances free to the audience (including dinner!) and their commitment to the performance is there for anyone to see. This is not a case of "we're doing the best we can in the circumstances" but "we're doing everything we can to make this a wonderful, real operatic experience for you!" They succeeded in full measure for me and for Elizabeth (who has been known to 'tsk tsk' at totally grand full productions) and apparently for the rest of the audience who were treated to a fine show that evening and showed their appreciation accordingly. The singing and playing were by and large of a high order and their authenticity as a company shone bright. The cover to the programme bore the introduction "Willamette Concert Opera proudly presents..." It's pride was justified. I look forward to further productions (I'm not gonna spell them out. Go to the web site).

Portland Opera has Fidelio slated for production next season and I expect it to be a big hit. It's not an opera everyone has already seen a hundred times, it's dramatically powerful and hey - it's Beethoven! Elizabeth can't wait. Speaking for myself I plan to listen to the music somewhat over the next few months and I look forward to seeing a fully staged production. Yes, it's a strange opera. But I don't say that like it's a bad thing.