Ferdinando Paer, a regular in Empress Marie Therese’s band of music makers in Vienna, premiered his version of Leonora in 1804.  Ludwig van Beethoven, his esteemed contemporary, premiered his first version of Fidelio in 1805.

Having seen both Paer’s Leonora and Beethoven’s Fidelio, I have no doubt that Paer’s version of the opera is better than Beethoven’s. This, despite Beethoven having made three attempts to outdo his competitor.

Paer’s 1804 Leonora was the second version of the story set to music. Beethoven’s Fidelio was three of the six versions. Mayr also had an 1805 version. Parker kept Paer’s music and wrote a new story and libretto to it, which can be thought of as the seventh generation opera. A Roadkill Opera was publicly workshopped in 2012 and the studio recording was released in 2013.

Admittedly, I am biased, as A Roadkill Opera is built on the music from the first act of Paer’s 1804 Leonora.