Aside from his only opera Fidelio, Beethoven’s general link with the theatre in Vienna came about largely with incidental music or songs to be inserted into the works of other composers – insertion arias. König Stephan was written to celebrate the politically significant opening of a new theatre in Pest, its triumphant mood honouring the ruling Austrian Emperor. Standard-bearer of female heroism Leonore Prohaska is commemorated with a Soldier’s Chorus and a Romance with harp accompaniment. In Friedrich von Matthisson’s poem Opferlied (‘Sacrificial Song’), a young man prays to Zeus to bestow upon him beauty and goodness in youth and old age. Two of Beethoven’s four settings are heard on this wide-ranging programme.

This release joins our highly regarded ongoing series of vocal works by Beethoven recorded by conductor Leif Segerstam with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra. Christus am Ölberge (8573852) appeared in June 2019, with acclaim from MusicWeb International, ‘performance here by both chorus and orchestra is exemplary’, and ClassicsToday.com: ‘the Chorus Cathedralis Aboensis and Turku Philharmonic Orchestra sing and play handsomely.’ Ludwig Van Toronto wrote that ‘Leif Segerstam, the wild baton of Finnish music, finds just the right tempo for telling a dramatic Biblical story. The Turku Philharmonic and their local cathedral choir have both delicacy and heft, and the soloists… are absolutely top-drawer… Sensational music, brilliantly performed.’ This has been followed in September 2019 by The Creatures of Prometheus (8573853). Further releases in the series include the complete incidental music to Egmont (8573956) released in October 2019, and a collection of works for voice and orchestra (8573882) in November 2019.

Only the overture of König Stephan is well known today, and as with many of the works in this edition, the songs and incidental music are rarely recorded and sometimes only to be found within vast box-set collections of Beethoven’s entire oeuvre.