Carl Maria (Friedrich Ernst) von Weber
(Born; Eutin, ?18 Nov 1786; Died; London, 5 June 1826). German
composer. He studied in Salzburg (with Michael Haydn), Munich (J.N. Kalcher) and Vienna
(Abbé Vogler), becoming Kapellmeister at Breslau (1804) and working for a time at
Württemberg (1806) and Stuttgart (1807). With help from Franz Danzi, intellectual
stimulation from his friends Gänsbacher, Meyerbeer, Gottfried Weber and Alexander von
Dusch and the encouragement of concert and operatic successes in Munich (especially Abu
Hassan), Prague and Berlin, he settled down as opera director in Prague (1813-16).
There he systematically reorganized the theatre's operations and built up the nucleus of a
German company, concentrating on works, mostly French, that offered an example for the
development of a German operatic tradition. But his searching reforms (extending to
scenery, lighting, orchestral seating, rehearsal schedules and salaries) led to
resentment. Not until his appointment as Royal Saxon Kapellmeister at Dresden (1817) and
the unprecedented triumph of Der Freischütz (1821) in Berlin and throughout
Germany did his championship of a true German opera win popular support. Official
opposition continued, both from the Italian opera establishment in Dresden and from
Spontini in Berlin; Weber answered critics with the grand heroic opera Euryanthe
(1823, Vienna). His rapidly deteriorating health and his concern to provide for his family
induced him to accept the invitation to write an English opera for London; he produced Oberon
at Covent Garden in April 1826. Despite an enthusiastic English reception and every care
for his health, this last journey hastened his decline; he died from tuberculosis, at 39.
Weber's Romantic leanings can be seen in the novel
emotional flavour of his music and its relevance to emergent German nationalism, his
delicate receptivity to nature and to literary and pictorial impressions, his parallel
activities as critic, virtuoso pianist and Kapellmeister, his dedication to the evolution
of a new kind of opera uniting all the arts and above all his wish to communicate feeling.
His role as a father-figure of musical Romanticism was acknowledged by those who succeeded
him in the movement, from Berlioz and Wagner to Debussy and Mahler. His melodic and
harmonic style is rooted in classical principles, but as he matured he experimented with
chromaticism (the diminished 7th chord was a particular favourite). He also was among the
subtlest of orchestrators, writing for unusual but dramatically apt and vivid instrumental
combinations (clarinet and horn, muted and un-muted strings etc). All his most successful
music, including the songs and concertos, is to some degree dramatically inspired.
Weber won his widest audience with Freischütz,
outwardly a Singspiel celebrating German folklore and country life, using an idiom touched
by German folksong. Through his skilful use of motifs and his careful harmonic, visual and
instrumental designs notably for the Wolf's Glen scene, the outstanding example in music
of the early Romantic treatment of the sinister and the supernatural - he gave this work a
new creative status. Euryanthe, despite a weak libretto, makes a further advance in
the unity of harmonic and formal structures, moving towards continuous, freely composed
opera. In Oberon Weber reverted to separate numbers to suit English taste, yet the
work retains his characteristically subtle motivic handling and depiction of both natural
and supernatural elements. Of his other works, some of the German songs, the colouristic Konzertstück
for piano and orchestra, the dramatic clarinet and bassoon concertos and the virtuoso Grand
duo concertant for clarinet and piano deserve special mention.
Dramatic music Abu Hassan (1811); Der
Freischütz (1821); Die drei Pintos (1821, perf. 1888); Euryanthe (1823); Oberon (1826);
incidental music for Turandot (1809), Heinrich IV (1818), Preciosa (1820) and other plays;
scenes, songs, romances, 5 concert arias
Choral music 3 masses, Agnus Dei; 6
secular cantatas incl. Kampf und Sieg (1815); acc choral works; 24 unacc. canons,
male-voice choruses, partsongs
Vocal music Circa; 80 songs, incl. gui
songs, Italian canzonettas, Scottish folksong arrs.; Leyer und Schwert collection, i-ii
(1814); Die temperaments beim Verluste der Geliebten (1816), 6 duetsOrchestral music2
syms.; Pf Conc. no. 1, C(1810), Pf Conc. no. 2, EFlat; (1812); Konzertstück, f, pf
(1821); Cl Conc. no. 1, f (1811); Cl Conc. no.2, EFlat; (1811); Cl Concertino, EFlat;
(1811); Bn Conc., F (1811); Horn concertino, e (1815); ovs., marches
Chamber music Pf Qt BFlat; (1809); Cl Qnt,
BFlat; (1815); Grand duo concertant, Cl pf (1815); 4 pf sonatas; Aufforderung zum Tanze,
pf (1819); pf duets, variations
Writings poetry, concert notices, articles
on new operas; Tonkünstlers Leben, novel (1819), incl.
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