The Romantic Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber

Source: Wikipedia

Born on 18 or 19 November 1786 in Eutin, Holstein (now in northern Germany), Carl Maria von Weber was a prodigy arriving to the early romantic period when the last several decades of opera had been a contest between the older Italian and newer German styles. Weber's career was a firm contribution to the establishment of the German way of doing things. Along with ten operas Weber composed concertos, symphonies, vocal works for orchestra and sacred music. He published considerably more than his 81 opuses indicate. Also arriving with the early romantics is the piano. Having been in development for a century in the attempt to get strings to hammer as well as they plucked, by Weber's time the harpsichord was finally now an outdated keyboard of the past.

Weber's father, Franz, had been a military officer, violinist and musical director before founding a theatrical company in Hamburg in 1787. In that atmosphere Carl was able to play piano and sing at age four. Franz gave Carl a thorough education in music before he studied with oboist, Johann Peter Heuschkel in 1796. Among Weber's other teachers was Johann Michael Haydn while in Salzburg with his father in 1798, they having gone there upon his mother's death earlier that year. Weber's compositions were first published that year in Salzburg [IMSLP; Wikipedia: Leipzig], a set of six fughettas for piano or wordless voice catalogued as Op 1 or J 1-6. "J" numbers in Weber refer to 'Carl Maria von Weber in seinen Werken. Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss seiner sammtlichen Compositionen' published by Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns and other editors in Berlin in 1871.

'VI Fughetten'   J 1-6   Op 1   Carl Maria von Weber   1798

Composed for piano or wordless voice

Organ: Thorsten Pirkl

Weber's first opera, 'Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins', was a singspiel completed in 1798 though never performed and now lost. 'Das Stumme Waldmädchen' ('The Mute Forest Maiden') appeared in Freiberg, Saxony, on 24 November 1800 with libretto by Carl von Steinsberg. Weber had just turned fourteen years of age.

Weber began publishing articles as a music critic in 1801. He became Director at the Breslau Opera (now Wrocław Opera) in 1806. That position presenting frustrations, Weber hired on as private secretary to Duke Louis of Württemberg in 1807. His father also worked for the Duke, in such capacity as to enable him to misappropriate large sums of the Duke's money. Weber was charged alike his father with embezzlement and banished from Württemberg in 1810, removed to the border on 26 February three days after completing his opera, 'Silvana'. He thereafter traveled about Germany, amidst which he worked as an operatic director in Prague, until obtaining the directorship of the Dresden Opera in 1817. Early upon his expulsion from Württemberg he premiered 'Silvana' in Frankfurt on 16 September 1810. 'Silvana' is a mute girl who becomes embroiled in a romance with one Count Rudolph fallen out of favor with one Count Adelhart, the father of Mechthilde whom Rudolph was to wed.

Overture to 'Silvana'   J 87   Opera by Carl Maria von Weber

Comp 23 Feb 1810   Premiere 16 Sep 1810 in Frankfurt

Libretto: Franz Carl Hiemer

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra

Weber completed his 'Concerto No.1' in C major in Mannheim to premiere it on 19 November 1810, he himself at piano. Come the first performance of his Singspiel, 'Abu Hassan', in Munich on 4 June 1811. 'Abu Hassan' is based on a story in 'One Thousand and One Nights' in which Abu Hassan is a man in debt which gets payed by one Omar, a Bagdad financier tricked into believing that Abu Hassan's wife, Fatime, is in love with him. Also involved in this intrigue is the Caliph and his wife, Zobeide. Come Weber's 'Piano Concerto No.2' written from late 1811 to December 1812 to premiere in Gotha that month, Weber at piano.

"Piano Concert No.1'   C major   J 98   Op 11   Carl Maria von Weber

Premiere 19 Nov 1810 in Mannheim

New York Metamorphoses Orchestra  Piano: Ann Schein

Overture to 'Abu Hassan'   J 106   Opera by Carl Maria von Weber

Premiere 4 June 1811 in Munich

Libretto: Franz Carl Hiemer

Filharnonia Pomorska of Poland Simca Heled

"Piano Concert No.2'   E-flat major   J 155   Op 32   Carl Maria von Weber

Premiere 17 Dec 1812 in Gotha

Koelner Akademie / Michael Alexander Willens   Piano: Ronald Brautigam

Weber's 'Missa Sancta No.2' in G major (J 251 Op 76) premiered on 16 January 1819. Weber's waltz for piano, 'Invitation to the Dance' J 260, also appeared in 1819 toward publishing in 1821 as Op 65. This was in rondo form for piano more for listening than dancing, also dedicated to his newlywed wife, Caroline.

"Missa Sancta No.2'   G major   J 251   Op 76   Mass by Carl Maria von Weber

Premiere 16 Jan 1819

Cologne West German Radio Chorus & Orchestra   Helmut Froschauer

Soprano: Anke Hoffmann

'Invitation to the Dance'   J 260   Op 65   Rondo waltz   Carl Maria von Weber   1819

Piano: Ann Schein

Among Weber's more popular works then and now is his opera, 'Der Freischütz' ('The Freeshooter' / J 277 / Op 77), which premiered on 18 June 1821 in Berlin. A Freischütz is a marksman in German folklore who has made a deal with the devil in which he acquires six bullets guaranteed to hit their marks so long as the seventh and last bullet belongs to the devil. The story of this is told in the 1810 edition of 'The Gespensterbuch' ('Ghost Book'). 'Der Freischütz' resulted in a European tour until 1826. In the meantime he finished his 'Piano Sonata No.4' in E minor in 1822, begun back in 1819. Invited to the Royal Opera in London in 1826, Weber there composed his final opera, 'Oberon', to premiere on 12 April 1826 with text by James Planché. 'Oberon' is another opera set in Bagdad, this involving the romance of one Huon and his love, Reiza. Huon is equipped with a magic horn to summon Oberon when he's in need. Oberon is King of the Fairies per William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595/96) whose wife, Titania, is in Planché's tale in a spat with her husband which creates the involvement of Huon and Reiza.

Overture to 'Der Freischutz'   J 277   Op 77   Opera by Carl Maria von Weber   1821

Libretto: Friedrich Kind from 'The Ghost Book' of 1810

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra   Ondřej Vrabec

"Piano Sonata No.4'   E minor  J 287   Op 70  Carl Maria von Weber   1822

Piano: Michael Endres

'Oberon'   J 306   Final opera by Carl Maria von Weber

Premiere 12 April 1826 at Covent Garden in London

Libretto: James Robinson Planché after Christoph Martin Wieland

Bavarian State Opera Chorus   Bavarian National Orchestra   Ivor Bolton

Directed by Nikolaus Habjan

Weber died of tuberculosis on 5 June 1826 only two months after the premiere of 'Oberon' in April. Jahns, though, has him completing a few more pieces in 1826 first: J 307a is a revision for wind ensemble of his march for piano four hands of 1802-03, 'Marcia maestoso' (J 13 Op 3 No.5). J 307b is an arrangement of 'Zu den Fluren des heimischen Herdes' for chorus and orchestra. His last documented piece in Jahns is J 308, a setting for Thomas Moore's 'From Chindara's warbling fount I come' from his 1817 romance, 'Lalla Rookh'. Weber only indicated the piano to this, leaving it to Ignaz Moscheles to complete the piece for its premiere in London on 26 May 1826 [Les Presses du Collège Musical]. Weber's three volumes of 'Hinterlassene Schriften' ('Writings Left Behind') were published posthumously beginning in 1828. This included a list of works, a chronology and a list of incipits, as well as correspondences, edited by Carl Theodore Winkler as Theodor Hell.

Sources & References for Carl Maria von Weber:

Zoran Minderovic (All Music)

VF History (notes)

Walker Home School Blog

Wikipedia English

Audio of Weber: Corpora:

Classical Archives   Hyperion   Internet Archive

Naxos   Presto   UCSB (cylinder recordings 1898-1914)

Audio of Weber: Individual:

Abu Hassan (opera [Singspiel] / premiere Munich 4 June 1811 / Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin / Leopold Ludwig / 1951)

Abu Hassan (opera [Singspiel] / premiere Munich 4 June 1811 / The QCO Orchestra / Isaac Selya / Cincinnati / 2013)

Der Freischütz (The Marksman / opera / J 277 /  Op 77 / premiere Berlin 18 June 1821)

March (J 307a / 1826 / Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Caspar Richter / 1987)

March (J 307a / 1826 / Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra / Sebastian Weigle / 1995)

Compositions / Works: Corpora:

Klassika

By Genre: RYM

By Jahns:

Classic Cat

Classical Net

IMSLP

Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns (Carl Maria von Weber in seinen Werken: Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss seiner sammtlichen Compositionen / Berlin / 1871)

Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns(Carl Maria von Weber in seinen Werken: Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss seiner sammtlichen Compositionen / Berlin / 1871)

Musicologie

Orchestra Virtuale del Flaminio

Wikipedia

Operas: Stanford University   Wikipedia

By Opus:

Classic Cat

Classical Net

IMSLP

Orchestra Virtuale del Flaminio

Wikipedia

Performance Histories: Classical Pianists

Compositions: Individual (chronological):

Das Stumme Waldmädchen (The Mute Forest Maiden / premiere Freiberg 24 Nov 1800):