Early Life and Success
Weber was born in 1786 in the town of Eutin, Germany, 20 miles north of Lübeck. His father was a musician and traveling actor, and young Carl first learned to play an instrument while traveling with the caravan. When his uncle, Fridolin, attempted to give Carl, age 3, a music lesson, Fridolin tore the bow from the boy’s little hands and said, “Whatever else may be made of you, you’ll never be a musician!”Despite this, Weber soon showed a genius for music. He grew up to become accomplished in several areas, not only as a composer but as a conductor.
Before Weber’s time, conductors waved violin bows or rolled-up pieces of paper, or even pounded a staff on the floor to keep time. Breaking with this, Weber used a baton—though he held it in the middle, not on the end.
In addition to conducting, he was a great piano virtuoso. Whether waving a baton or playing the keys, he performed with great energy and exhibited a magnetic charisma on stage.
He composed many works, including pieces for the clarinet that are still performed regularly, but Weber’s most important contributions were to opera. The best-known of these today is “Der Freischütz.”
The Romantic Disease
Weber was lame and suffered poor health as a child. This took a more drastic turn when, in 1812, he began developing the symptoms of tuberculosis. What started as “rheumatism” in the chest gradually worsened. In an age where the disease was not yet curable, or even known to be infectious, Weber placed an excessive trust in doctors and would often change treatments based on new opinions.
Tuberculosis, then known as “consumption,” has been called “the romantic disease.” Many important 19th-century artists suffered from it, including the Brontë sisters, Friedrich Schiller, and Anton Chekhov. Due to this association, there was a popular perception that the disease heightened creativity, functioning as a sort of morbid muse.
Weber took on this perception, taking pleasure in discussing his symptoms and even believing that he lived under the influence of an “evil star.” Though there is no medical evidence that tuberculosis sharpens compositional powers, belief can have a powerful influence on reality. Knowing his time might be limited, Weber strained himself through long hours of overwork which contributed to his deterioration.
A Final Opera
“Der Freischütz” became a sensation in London, sparking a “Weber craze.” Charles Kemble, the manager of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, invited the composer to London to write and direct a new opera. As subjects, Kemble offered the choices of Faust (the German scholar who sold his soul to the devil) or Oberon (the fairy king best known from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). Weber settled on the subject of Oberon, and he took English lessons to prepare for his journey to England.
Uncharacteristically for Weber, he went against his doctor’s advice in accepting the commission, since he badly needed money. He threw himself into composition, and, after arriving in London, rehearsals and preparations took a further toll on his health.
Weber was greeted as a celebrity in London, where, in his first public appearance, he conducted the overture to “Der Freischütz” to great acclaim.
“Oberon, or The Elf-King’s Oath” premiered on April 12, 1826 to resounding success. Weber wrote his wife that when he stepped into the orchestra pit, he was met with “shouting, vivats and hurraying, waving of hats and handkerchiefs.” The overture was repeated, and three scenes in the opera were given encores. After it ended, there was “a storm of applause—such an honour as England has never before extended to a composer.”
Inventing the Leitmotif
The main story of “Oberon” drew inspiration less from Shakespeare than from the 1780 epic poem by Christoph Martin Wieland. The libretto, written by James Robinson Planché, was not very inspired. In the words of one of Weber’s biographers, John Warrack, the text is full of artificial dialogue, absurd plot details, and characters that are “mere stuffed costumes.”In this respect, “Oberon” is comparable to Mozart’s “Magic Flute” (“Die Zauberflöte”), whose libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder has many weak points. Weber recognized Planché’s flaws as a writer and also disliked the abundance of spoken scenes, a characteristic of the English genre of semi-opera. But of Weber’s music, there is nothing to complain. “Oberon” is full of gems that transcend its shortcomings.
Although Richard Wagner is often credited with inventing recurring musical motives and themes, it was actually Weber who originated this. In “Oberon,” the title character’s horn serves a unifying dramatic function. The overture begins with the French horn playing a simple three-note “do-re-mi” motif in adagio (at a slow tempo). The string section answers this call, and the woodwinds enter to evoke a “fairy laughter” that sets the supernatural atmosphere for the drama. Throughout the work, Oberon’s horn is again played when characters face moments of danger.
This use of the leitmotif had a profound influence on the adult Wagner, who further developed the technique.
When Weber died, he left behind a 4-year-old son, Max, who would grow up to publish the first biography of his father. Max became a civil engineer rather than a composer, but his scholarly dedication helped keep his father’s memory alive.
Weber’s heroic struggle against terminal illness is an inspiration for all artists who face obstacles to realizing their creativity. His operas are a blessing to the world of classical music.
