Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827)

Fidelio  Act 1, scene 2, Recit and Aria, “Komm, Hoffnung”

(“Come hope, you faint and distant star”)

Soprano (Leonore), 3 horns, bassoon, strings

Scores:  http://imslp.org/wiki/Fidelio,_Op.72_%28Beethoven,_Ludwig_van%29

Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig, 1864, pp 115-120

A Farrenc, Paris, 1826, pp 220-232.

YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qh1mImU5vo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUbUQQUMoO4

There is some similarity between Beethoven's use of horns and bassoon in this aria and Johann Friedrich Reichardt's setting "Ihr verblühet, süsse Rosen" in Erwin and Elmire, written at least a decade earlier!