Overture to Oberon (1826)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
In William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon is King of the Fairies. He is the same character in Carl Maria von Weber’s opera but further resemblances between the two works barely exist. With a libretto that is little more than a tangled hotchpotch, Weber’s Oberon is regarded as being impossible to perform in the modern opera house. Weber was aware of its weaknesses while composing the work in London shortly before he died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. He begged the librettist, James Planche, to provide some continuity between the patchwork of lyrics for arias, but none arrived. The music’s originality and high quality compensated to an extent, but these days most of us know only the overture, the remainder of the opera having been placed in cold storage.
The opening horn call, the whispered responses from the strings and the flickering in the woodwind are magically evocative of an imagined Fairyland. Once our enchanted journey has crossed the line between the spirits and humans, the slow tempo yields to its faster partner and the overture becomes much more earthy and energetic. The wealth of melody and high spirits that follow delight the listener, provide opportunities for virtuoso display, and reaffirm what a stunningly original composer Weber was.
He is regarded as a major precursor of musical romanticism in Germany. Richard Wagner admired his work without reservation, as did a host of others, Gustav Mahler especially. Weber’s influence on nearer contemporaries was also profound. For example, his colourful and daring orchestrations were adopted by Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann. His florid style of writing for piano had a marked influence on the outputs of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, and his evocations of fantasy worlds in opera were seminal to Richard Wagner’s development as was his use of leitmotivs as vehicles for musical cohesion and continuity. And there is one further matter that seems to have escaped the attention of scholars. The overture to Oberon was first performed on 12th April 1826. Felix Mendelssohn’s acclaimed overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was premièred on 6 August in the same year. Did the impressionable 16-year-old Mendelssohn hear or study the score of Weber’s musical passport to Fairyland, and might he have asked himself, ‘Could I possibly… ?’ We shall never know.
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
In William Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oberon is King of the Fairies. He is the same character in Carl Maria von Weber’s opera but further resemblances between the two works barely exist. With a libretto that is little more than a tangled hotchpotch, Weber’s Oberon is regarded as being impossible to perform in the modern opera house. Weber was aware of its weaknesses while composing the work in London shortly before he died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. He begged the librettist, James Planche, to provide some continuity between the patchwork of lyrics for arias, but none arrived. The music’s originality and high quality compensated to an extent, but these days most of us know only the overture, the remainder of the opera having been placed in cold storage.
The opening horn call, the whispered responses from the strings and the flickering in the woodwind are magically evocative of an imagined Fairyland. Once our enchanted journey has crossed the line between the spirits and humans, the slow tempo yields to its faster partner and the overture becomes much more earthy and energetic. The wealth of melody and high spirits that follow delight the listener, provide opportunities for virtuoso display, and reaffirm what a stunningly original composer Weber was.
He is regarded as a major precursor of musical romanticism in Germany. Richard Wagner admired his work without reservation, as did a host of others, Gustav Mahler especially. Weber’s influence on nearer contemporaries was also profound. For example, his colourful and daring orchestrations were adopted by Hector Berlioz and Robert Schumann. His florid style of writing for piano had a marked influence on the outputs of Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, and his evocations of fantasy worlds in opera were seminal to Richard Wagner’s development as was his use of leitmotivs as vehicles for musical cohesion and continuity. And there is one further matter that seems to have escaped the attention of scholars. The overture to Oberon was first performed on 12th April 1826. Felix Mendelssohn’s acclaimed overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream was premièred on 6 August in the same year. Did the impressionable 16-year-old Mendelssohn hear or study the score of Weber’s musical passport to Fairyland, and might he have asked himself, ‘Could I possibly… ?’ We shall never know.