Carl Maria von Weber

Abstract

With a career that began at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, just as a concept of a unified German identity was emerging, Carl Maria von Weber (b. 1786–d. 1826) earned a great deal of fame writing songs for soldiers and students. Since then, Weber’s three late operas, and specifically his Der Freischütz (1821), have long been recognized as central to a narrative surrounding the emergence of a German operatic style. Indeed, Richard Wagner recognized Weber’s influence in his own writings, and later, the hyper-nationalistic elements of Germany laid great credence to that influence in their conception of a culturally superior German art and culture. However, in the late 20th century, critics started to isolate and study the aspects of Weber’s style that he had borrowed from foreign cultures. One particularly striking example is Weber’s adoption of the traditional formal conventions of the Italian Scena (Basevi’s la solita forma) in the 19th century. Despite Weber’s own overt statements against the Italian style, scholars have noted the clear influence of Italian opera on his works. Similarly, many of the very elements that would be cited as prototypically German in Weber’s works—the systems of thematic reference and motivic organization, the greater role of the orchestra in the texture, and the greater demands placed on the singer in terms of volume—are all increasingly cited as French in origin. Thus, the historical understanding of who Weber was and the character of his nationalist identity remains in flux, and Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, and Oberon retain a place in the operatic repertoire. On the other hand, Weber’s prominence as a musician and composer of symphonies, chamber music, and German Art songs has undergone a different path of study. As an early Romantic composer of piano sonatas, linking the delicate ornamentation of Frédéric Chopin (b. 1810–d. 1849) with the Viennese classicism of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1756–d. 1791), Weber has maintained his position on the edge of the mainstream repertoire in this genre, too. His compositions for clarinet as well as his bassoon and horn concertos also remain important parts of those instruments’ repertoires. Yet perhaps his biggest exposure results from the performance of his operatic overtures on the concert stage. In all, looking at individual genres, Weber’s impact is easy to underestimate, but taken as a whole, as an accomplished composer, pianist, conductor, and writer, his works and career made a tremendous impact on classical music in the 19th century.