For his only opera "Leonore / Fidelio", Beethoven wrote four openings in all. The so-called Opening of Leonore No. 2 is chronologically the first of the series, and was conceived in 1805 for the creation of the opera in Vienna. It obeys the concept of an assemblage of the essential moments of the following stage work, and renounces a formal completion by means of a resumption of the exhibition. In its place, we have the intervention of the double trumpet ring, which, in the opera, is a harbinger of the resolution of the conflict, and which, here, leads directly to the coda. This opening is published here today in a study edition based on the musical text of the complete edition of Beethoven's works with a new preface.