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List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber

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A large concert hall in the Neoclassical style, with six columns and many decorative sculptures
The Schauspielhaus Berlin (now Konzerthaus Berlin) where Weber's most famous opera, Der Freischütz, premiered in 1821

The German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786–1826) is best known for his operas, of which he wrote 10 between 1798 and 1826. His first four exist in various states: Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins (comp. 1798) is completely lost; two fragments survive for Das Waldmädchen (1800); the libretto to Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn (1803) is lost; and only three numbers from Rübezahl (comp. 1804–05) survive. Weber's mature operas – Silvana (1810), Abu Hassan (1811), Der Freischütz (1821), Die drei Pintos (comp. 1820–21), Euryanthe (1823), Oberon (1826) – all survive intact; they were all performed within his lifetime, except Die drei Pintos which was posthumously completed by Gustav Mahler.[1][2] His contributions to the genre were crucial in the development of German Romantische Oper (German Romantic Opera) and its national identity,[3][4] exhibiting much influence on Richard Wagner.[5] Der Freischütz, his most famous and significant work, remains among the most revered German operas.[6]

After his family moved to Munich in 1798, the 13 year old Weber began study with Johann Nepomuk Kalcher, under whose supervision he wrote his first opera, the Singspiel Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins; the work was never performed.[4][7] Two years later in Freiburg, he embarked on his second opera, Das Waldmädchen, to a libretto by Carl von Steinsberg, whose traveling company premiered it the same year.[4][8] The two surviving fragments of the work show little sophistication,[4] although it received moderate success.[8] Weber's next opera, Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn, was written in Salzburg under the supervision of Michael Haydn to a libretto by Josef Türk after Carl Gottlob Cramer's popular novel of the same name.[9][10] Premiered in 1803 in Augsburg, the work did not match the novel's popularity and was subsequently forgotten.[4] In 1804 Weber was appointed Kapellmeister at the Breslau Opera and worked with a libretto by the theatre’s director Johann Gottlieb Rhode (after a story by Johann Karl August Musäus), to produce Rübezahl.[11] The work was never performed and the three extant fragments show little improvement in his craft.[4] After his two year tenure, Weber spent time in modern-day Pokój, Opole Voivodeship and eventually moved to Stuttgart where he began Silvana.[4]

Weber's first operatic success came with Silvana,[12] on a libretto by Franz Carl Hiemer [de] that was reworked from Steinsberg's earlier one to Das Waldmädchen.[13] While its initial premiere in 1810 in Frankfurt was only moderately successful, a Berlin premiere was very well received.[4] When in Stuttgart, Weber and Hiemer had also begun a short Singspiel based on One Thousand and One Nights, Abu Hassan,[14] which premiered in 1811 Munich to a second success for Weber.[4] His operatic composition paused following his appointment as director of the Opera in Prague, but resumed in 1817 when he became director of the Dresden Opera and began work on Der Freischütz, based on Johann Apel's and Friedrich Laun's adaptation of the Freischütz tale.[4][6] Briefly interrupted by a canceled royal commission for an opera entitled Alcindor, Der Freischütz premiered in 1821 in Berlin with a libretto by Johann Friedrich Kind and was extremely well received.[15] Weber immediately began writing the Komische oper (comic opera) Die drei Pintos, to a libretto by Theodor Hell after Carl Seidel’s [de] novel Der Brautkampf, but put it aside when the success of Der Freischütz led to a commission from the prestigious Kärntnertortheater in Vienna.[2] Die drei Pintos was left incomplete for the remainder of his life.[16] His widow later approached Weber's friend and composer Giacomo Meyerbeer about completing the work; he did nothing with the sketches for 20 years. Eventually, Weber's grandson, Carl von Weber, revised the text, and Mahler completed the music, premiering the work in 1888 at the Neues Stadttheater, Leipzig.[17] The Kärntnertortheater commission resulted in the Grosse Heroisch-Romantische Oper (Great Heroic-Romantic opera) Euryanthe, on a libretto by Helmina von Chézy after a 13th-century French romance,[a] which premiered at the Kärntnertortheater in 1823 to much praise.[4] Weber's fame from Der Freischütz led to another important commission, this time from the Royal Opera House, London.[4] For this he composed his final opera and only one in English, Oberon, to a libretto by James Planché, based on Christoph Martin Wieland's epic poem of the same name.[4] The work received much acclaim. Weber died in London less than two months later.[4]

List of operas

Operas by Carl Maria von Weber[19]
Period[b] Title Status Genre and acts Librettist Premiere J.[c]
Op. 		WeV[d]
Date Venue
1798 Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins
(The Power of Love and Wine)[20][e] 		Completely lost[f] Singspiel
Unknown acts 		Unknown Unperformed Anh. 6 C.1
1800 Das Waldmädchen[g]
(The Girl of the Forest)[8][h] 		Fragments[i] Romantische Oper
2 acts 		Steinsberg 24 November 1800 Freiberg, Buttermarkt Anh. 1 C.2
1801–02[j] Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn
(Peter Schmoll and his Neighbours)[10] 		Dialogue lost Opera or Singspiel?[k]
2 acts 		Türk after Cramer March? 1803 Augsburg J. 8
Op. 8 		C.3
1804–05[l] Rübezahl Fragments[m] Opera
2 acts 		Rhode after Musäus Unperformed J. 44–6
 C.4
1808–10 Silvana Survived Romantische Oper
3 acts 		Hiemer [de] after Steinsberg[n] 16 September 1810 Frankfurt J. 87
Score 		C.5
1810–11 Abu Hassan Survived Singspiel
1 act 		Hiemer [de] after One Thousand and One Nights 4 June 1811 Residenz, Munich J. 106
Score 		C.6
1817–21[o] Der Freischütz
(The Freeshooter)[22] 		Survived Romantische Oper
3 acts 		Kind after Apel and Laun 18 June 1821 Schauspielhaus, Berlin J. 277
Op. 77
Score 		C.7
1820–21 Die drei Pintos
(The Three Pintos)[2] 		Incomplete
Completed by Mahler 1887 		Komische Oper
3 acts 		Hell after Seidel [de]
Revisions by C. Weber[p] (text) and Mahler (music) 		20 January 1888 Neues Stadt, Leipzig Anh. 5
Score 		C.8
1822–23 Euryanthe Survived Grosse Heroisch-Romantische Oper
3 acts 		Helmina after a 13th-century French romance[a] 25 October 1823 Kärntnertortheater, Vienna J. 291
Op. 81
Score 		C.9
1825–26 Oberon Survived Romantische Oper
3 acts 		Planché after Wieland[q] 12 April 1826 Royal Opera House, London J. 306
Score 		C.10

Notes

  1. ^ a b An anonymous 13th-century French romance entitled: L'Histoire du très-noble et chevalereux prince Gérard, comte de Nevers et la très-virtueuse et très chaste princesse Euriant de Savoye, sa mye.[18]
  2. ^ Period during which the opera was written
  3. ^ Jähns; catalogue numbers of Weber's works as compiled by Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns (1871)
  4. ^ Catalogue number from Carl-Maria-von-Weber-Gesamtausgabe, an online database of Weber's life and complete works
  5. ^ Alternatively translated as: The Force of Love and Wine[21]
  6. ^ Probably destroyed in a fire at the house of Johann Nepomuk Kalcher, Weber's teacher[4]
  7. ^ Also known as Das stumme Waldmädchen or Das Mädchen im Spessarter Wald
  8. ^ Alternatively translated as: The Forest Maiden[21]
  9. ^ Two fragments survive; the work was previously thought to be completely lost until 2000 when these fragments were discovered by Natalia Gubkina in the Russian archive of the Mariinsky State Theater.[10] Much of the music was probably reworked into Silvana.[4]
  10. ^ Weber revised the overture of Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn as the stand-alone piece Grande ouverture à plusieurs instruments in 1807.[4]
  11. ^ Morgan (2017, p. 14) lists it as a singspiel while Brown (2002a) does not.
  12. ^ Weber revised the overture of Rübezahl as the stand-alone piece Der Beherrscher der Geister in 1801.[4]
  13. ^ Three nos. survive[4]
  14. ^ Hiemer based Silvana on Steinsberg's libretto for Weber's earlier opera, Das Waldmädchen.[13]
  15. ^ Morgan (2017, p. 104) notes that discussion for the work's conception may have begun as early as 1810.
  16. ^ Carl von Weber, the grandson of Carl Maria von Weber
  17. ^ Oberon is Weber's only opera with an English libretto.[4]

References

  1. ^ Morgan 2017, p. 50.
  2. ^ a b c Osborne 2007, p. 597.
  3. ^ Morgan 2017, pp. 103, 132.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Brown 2002a.
  5. ^ Warrack 1976, p. 29.
  6. ^ a b Brown 2002b.
  7. ^ Warrack 1976, p. 32.
  8. ^ a b c Morgan 2017, p. 9.
  9. ^ Warrack 1976, p. 36.
  10. ^ a b c Morgan 2017, p. 14.
  11. ^ Warrack 1976, pp. 54–55.
  12. ^ Warrack 1976, p. 86.
  13. ^ a b Morgan 2017, p. 27.
  14. ^ Morgan 2017, pp. 44, 60.
  15. ^ Osborne 2007, p. 595.
  16. ^ Morgan 2017, p. 135.
  17. ^ Brown 2002c.
  18. ^ Warrack 1976, p. 282.
  19. ^ Information is from Warrack (1976, p. 379) and Brown (2002a) unless otherwise noted.
  20. ^ Morgan 2017, p. 8.
  21. ^ a b Osborne 2007, p. 594.
  22. ^ Morgan 2017, p. 16.

Sources

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