Until the beginning of the 19th century, there was no actual German opera in Germany. Up until the 20s. in this genre, throughout Europe, the Italian tradition dominated. The creation and flourishing of the folk-national German romantic opera is associated with the name of Carl Maria von Weber.
The sources for writing his works were ancient legends and folk tales, songs and dances, folklore theater, and various national-democratic literature. Weber's work was strongly influenced by his predecessors, the forerunners of German romanticism: Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann and Ludwig Spohr with their works "Ondine" and "Faust", respectively.
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was born on November 18, 1786 in the Holstein town of Eutin. His father, Franz Anton von Weber, was the head of a traveling theater, and his mother was a singer. The Weber family was related to Mozart. From a young age, Carl studied music with his father. In general, he studied a lot, but unsystematically, with various composers, musicians, music teachers: Johann Geyshkel, Michael Haydn, Georg Joseph Vogler, I. N. Kalcher, I. E. Valesi and others. Weber grew up as a sickly and weak boy, but quickly grasped everything he was taught.
The innate genius and numerous talents justify the exorbitant selfishness of the composer. So, at the age of 18 he already led the orchestra in the theater of the city of Breslau, and at the age of 24 his first successful opera "Sylvanas" was released. During his short life (and Weber died in 1826, just short of his fortieth birthday from a debilitating pulmonary disease), the composer was in the role of musical director of theaters in Dresden and Prague. In parallel, he made numerous concert tours as a pianist, and three operas - "Free Gunner", "Evryant" and "Oberon", became the first examples of the emerging genre of German romanticism.
In addition to his activities as a musician, composer, conductor, Weber wrote critical articles in magazines, reviews of performances, musical works, annotations to his compositions, published an autobiographical novel "The Life of a Musician" and even deeply studied lithography. But the best work of all Weber's work is, without a doubt, the opera "Free Shooter", or as it is also called "Magic Shooter". The opera premiered on June 18, 1821 in Berlin. In its content, this is a romantic interpretation of a folk legend. Here, through music, Weber sings of the beauty of nature and the triumph of noble human feelings, fills the content of the opera with magical contrasts, comparisons of everyday, lyrical and fantastic scenes.
In his personal life, all researchers of the composer's biography note the presence of many novels and theatrical intrigues. But, despite this, for the last 9 years of his life, Weber was married to singer Caroline Brandt. Max Maria Weber, his son, was a civil engineer by profession, and he also wrote a biography of his great father. Carl Maria von Weber entered the history of music as the creator of opera based on German folk artistic traditions. The triumph on the stage of the "Free Shooter", with its fabulously legendary plot and national music in its color, coincided with the general upsurge of the national movement in the country and contributed to it in many ways.
Maria Igumnova
In February 1815, Count Karl von Brühl, director of the Berlin Royal Theatre, introducing Karl Maria von Weber to the Prussian Chancellor Karl August Prince Hardenburg as conductor of the Berlin Opera, gave him the following recommendation: this man stands out not only as a brilliant "passionate composer, he possesses in full of extensive knowledge in the field of art, poetry and literature, and this differs from most musicians. There is no better way to characterize Weber's many gifts.
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was born on November 18, 1786 in Eutin. He was the ninth child of ten children from his father's two marriages. Father - Franz Anton von Weber, without a doubt, had musical abilities. He started his career as a lieutenant, but even on the battlefield he carried a violin with him.
From an early age, Karl got used to a constant nomadic life. From childhood, he grew up as a sickly, weak boy. He started walking only at the age of four. Due to physical handicaps, he was more thoughtful and withdrawn than his peers. He learned, in his words, "to live in his own world, in a world of fantasy, and find in it for himself occupation and happiness."
His father had long cherished the dream of making at least one of his children an outstanding musician. Mozart's example haunted him. Thus, from an early age, Karl began to study music with his father and with his half-brother Fridolin. The irony of fate, but one day Fridolin exclaimed in despair: “Karl, it seems you can become anyone, but you will never become a musician.”
Karl Maria was given as an apprentice to the young bandmaster and composer Johann Peter Geyshkel. Since then, learning has progressed rapidly. A year later, the family went to Salzburg, and Karl became a student of Michael Haydn. Then he composed his first work, which was published by his father, and received a positive review in one of the newspapers.
In 1798 his mother died. Adelaide, the father's sister, took care of Carla. From Austria, the Webers moved to Munich. Here the young man began to take singing lessons from Johann Evangelist Wallishausets and study composition from the local organist Johann Nepomuk Kalcher.
It was also here in Munich that Karl wrote his first comic opera, The Power of Love and Wine. Unfortunately, it was subsequently lost.
However, the restless nature of the father did not allow the Weber family to stay in one place for a long time. In 1799 they arrive in the Saxon city of Freiburg. A year later, in November, the premiere of the first youth opera "The Forest Girl" took place here. In November 1801, father and son arrived in Salzburg. Karl again began to study with Michael Haydn. Soon Weber wrote the third opera - "Peter Schmol and his neighbors." However, the premiere of the opera in Augsburg did not take place, and Karl Maria went on a concert tour with his father. Even then, thanks to his thin and long fingers, the young man achieved such a technique that at that time was available to units.
An attempt to send Karl to study with Joseph Haydn nevertheless failed due to the refusal of the maestro. Therefore, the young man continued his studies with Georg Joseph Vogler. Abbot Vogler maintained in the young talent an interest in folk song and music, especially in the oriental motifs popular at that time, which was later reflected in Weber's work Abu Hasan.
More important, however, was the training in conducting. This allowed Karl in 1804 to lead the orchestra in the theater of the city of Breslau. Not yet eighteen years of age, the conductor seated the orchestra players in a new way, intervened in the productions, introduced separate ensemble rehearsals for learning new parts, as well as general rehearsals. Weber's reforms were received ambiguously even by the public.
Here, Karl had many novels in the theater, among other things, with the prima donna Ditzel. A beautiful life required more and more funds, and the young man got into debt.
His son's debts prompted his father to look for a source of food, and he began to try his hand at copper engraving. Unfortunately, this has become a source of unhappiness. One evening, chilled, Karl took a sip from a wine bottle, not suspecting that his father kept nitric acid there. He was saved by his friend Wilhelm Berner, who urgently called a doctor. The fatal outcome was avoided, but the young man lost his beautiful voice forever. Opponents took advantage of his absence and quickly eliminated all his reforms. Without money, pursued by creditors, the young pianist went on tour. Here he was lucky. The maid of honor of Brelonde, court lady of the Duchess of Württemberg, facilitated his introduction to Eugene Friedrich von Württemberg-Els. Carl Maria took the place of music director at Karlsruhe Castle, built in the forests of upper Silesia. Now he has plenty of time to write. The twenty-year-old composer wrote a trumpet concertino and two symphonies in the autumn of 1806 and the winter of 1807. But the offensive of the Napoleonic army confused all the cards. Soon Karl was to take the place of the private secretary of Duke Ludwig, one of the three sons of Eugene. From the very beginning, this service turned out to be difficult for Weber. The duke, who is experiencing financial difficulties, has repeatedly made Charles a scapegoat. Three years of wild life, when Charles Maria often participated in the revels of his master, ended quite unexpectedly. In 1810, Karl's father came to Stuttgart and brought with him new and considerable debts. It all ended with the fact that, trying to get out of both his and his father's debts, the composer ended up behind bars, however, only for sixteen days. On February 26, 1810, Karl, along with his father, was expelled from Württemberg, but they took a promise from him to return the debts.
This event was of great importance to Karl. In his diary he writes: "Born again."
In a short time, Weber visited first Mannheim, then Heidelberg, and finally moved to Darmdstadt. Here Karl became interested in writing. His greatest achievement was the novel A Musician's Life, in which he gaily and brilliantly described the spiritual life of a composer while composing music. The book was largely autobiographical.
On September 16, 1810, his opera Sylvanas premiered in Frankfurt. The composer was prevented from enjoying the triumph by Madame Blanchard's sensational balloon flight over Frankfurt, which overshadowed all other events. The title role in the opera was sung by the young singer Caroline Brandt, who later became his wife. Inspired by the success and recognition, Carl Maria started the composition "Abu Gasan" in late autumn. He completed his largest instrumental work of that period in C-Dur, opus 11.
In February 1811, the composer went on a concert tour. On March 14, it ended in Munich. Karl stayed there, he liked the cultural environment of the Bavarian city. Already on April 5, Heinrich Josef Berman performed a hastily composed clarinet concertino especially for him. "The whole orchestra has gone mad and wants concerts from me," Weber wrote. Even King Max Joseph of Bavaria commissioned two clarinet concertos and a concerto.
Unfortunately, the matter did not reach other works, because Weber was occupied with other hobbies, and mainly love ones.
In January 1812, while in the city of Gotha, Karl Maria felt severe chest pains. Since that time, Weber's battle with a deadly disease began.
In April, in Berlin, Weber was overtaken by sad news - his father died at the age of 78. Now he was left all alone. However, his stay in Berlin did him good. Along with studies with male choirs, correction and revision of the opera Silvana, he also wrote clavier music. With the great C-Dur sonata he set foot on new ground. A new way of virtuoso playing was born, which influenced the musical art of the entire 19th century. The same applies to his second clavier concerto.
Going on a new tour at the beginning of the next year, Karl recalled with longing: “Everything seems to me a dream: that I left Berlin and left everything that became dear and close to me.”
But Weber's tour came to an abrupt end as soon as it began. As soon as Karl arrived in Prague, he was taken aback by the offer to head the local theater. After some hesitation, Weber agreed. He had a rare opportunity to realize his musical ideas, since from the director of the theater Liebig he received unlimited powers to compose an orchestra. On the other hand, he had a real chance to get rid of his debts.
Unfortunately, soon Karl became seriously ill, so much so that he did not leave the apartment for a long time. After recovering a little, he plunged into work. His working day lasted from six in the morning until midnight.
But the Prague crisis was not limited to illness and hard work. The composer could not resist attempts to bring together flirtatious theatrical ladies. “It is my misfortune that an eternally young heart is beating in my chest,” he sometimes complained.
After new bouts of illness, Weber leaves for spa treatment and often writes from Bad Liebwerdn to Caroline Brandt, who has become his guardian angel. After numerous quarrels, the lovers finally found mutual agreement.
The liberation of Berlin after the Leipzig defeat of Napoleon unexpectedly aroused patriotic feelings in the composer. He composes music for Lützow's Wild Hunt and the Sword Song from Theodor Kerner's collection of poems Lyre and Sword.
However, he soon fell into a depression, caused not only by new attacks of the disease, but also by serious disagreements with Brandt. Weber is inclined to leave Prague, and only the serious illness of the theater director Liebig delayed him in the Czech Republic.
On November 19, 1816, a great event took place in the life of the composer - he announced his engagement to Caroline Brandt. Inspired, in a short time he wrote two sonatas for piano, a large concert duet for claret and piano, and several songs.
At the end of 1817, Weber takes over as musical director of the German Opera in Dresden. Finally, he settled down and not only began to lead a sedentary lifestyle, but also forever ended his increasingly exhausting love affairs. On November 4, 1817, he married Caroline Brandt.
In Dresden, Weber wrote his best work, the opera Free Gunner. He first mentioned this opera in a letter to his then-fiancee Carolina: "The plot is appropriate, creepy and interesting." However, the year 1818 was already ending, and work on the Free Shooter almost did not begin, which is not surprising, because he had 19 orders from his employer, the king.
Carolina was expecting a baby and was in the last month of pregnancy not quite healthy. After much torment, she gave birth to a girl, and Karl barely had time to fulfill orders. As soon as he finished mass on the day of honoring the royal couple, he received a new order - an opera on the theme of fairy tales "A Thousand and One Nights".
In mid-March, Weber fell ill, and a month later his daughter died. Carolina tried to hide the misfortune from her husband.
Soon she herself became seriously ill. Nevertheless, Carolina recovered much faster than her husband, who fell into such a deep depression that he could not write music. Surprisingly, the summer turned out to be productive. In July and August, Weber composed extensively. Only now the work on the "Free Shooter" did not move forward. New, 1820 began again with misfortune - Carolina had a miscarriage. Thanks to friends, the composer managed to overcome the crisis and on February 22 began to complete The Free Gunner. On May 3, Weber was able to proudly announce: “The Hunter's Bride overture is complete, and with it the whole opera. Honor and praise be to God."
The opera premiered on June 18, 1821 in Berlin. A triumphant success awaited her. Beethoven said with admiration about the composer: “In general, a gentle person, I did not expect this from him! Now Weber has to write operas, only operas, one after the other.” Meanwhile, Weber's health was deteriorating. For the first time, his throat bled.
In 1823, the composer completed work on a new opera, Euryanta. He was worried about the low level of the libretto. The premiere of the opera, however, was generally a success. The hall enthusiastically accepted Weber's new work. But the success of the "Free shooter" could not be repeated. The disease progresses rapidly. The composer is haunted by an incessant debilitating cough. In unbearable conditions, he finds the strength to work on the opera Oberon.
On 1 April, Oberon premiered at London's Covent Garden. It was an unparalleled triumph for Carl Maria von Weber. The audience even forced him to take the stage - an event that until then had not happened in the English capital. He died in London on June 5, 1826. The death mask accurately conveys Weber's facial features in some unearthly enlightenment, as if he saw paradise with his last breath.
1. heavenly sign
At the age of twelve, Weber composed his first comic opera, The Power of Love and Wine. The score of the opera was kept in a closet. Soon, in the most incomprehensible way, this cabinet burned down with all its contents. Moreover, except for the closet, nothing in the room was damaged. Weber took this incident as a "sign from above" and decided to give up music forever, devoting himself to lithography.
However, despite the heavenly warning, the passion for music did not go away, and at the age of fourteen Weber wrote a new opera, The Silent Forest Girl. The opera was first staged in 1800. Then it was often staged in Vienna, Prague and even St. Petersburg. After such a very successful start to his musical career, Weber stopped believing in omens and various "signs from above."
2. jealous number 1
Weber's dislike for foreign glory was truly boundless. He was especially implacable towards Rossini: Weber constantly told everyone that Rossini was completely mediocre, that his music was just a fashion that would be forgotten in a couple of years ...
- This upstart Rossini does not even deserve to be talked about! Weber once said.
“Tell him that it would suit me very much,” said Rossinni.
3. motto
The motto of Weber's work was the famous words that the composer asked to be placed in the form of his own autograph on the released engraving with his portrait: "Weber expresses the will of God, Beethoven - the will of Beethoven, and Rossini ... the will of the Viennese"
4. salieri himself
In Breslau, Weber had a tragic accident that almost cost him his life. Weber invited a friend to dinner and sat down to work while waiting for him. Freezing during work, he decided to warm himself with a sip of wine, but in the semi-darkness he took a sip from a wine flask in which Weber's father kept sulfuric acid for engraving work. The composer fell down lifeless. Meanwhile, Weber's friend was late and did not come until nightfall. The composer's window was lit up, but no one answered the knock. A friend pushed open the unlocked door and saw Weber's body lying lifeless on the floor. A broken flask was lying nearby, from which there was a pungent smell. To cries for help, Weber's father ran out of the next room, together they took the composer to the hospital. Weber was brought back to life, but his mouth and throat were terribly burned, and his vocal cords did not work. So Weber lost his beautiful voice. For the rest of his life, he was forced to speak in a whisper.
He once whispered to one of his friends:
- They say that Mozart was ruined by Salieri, but I did without him ...
5. unfortunately, birthday is only once a year...
Weber was very fond of animals. His house resembled a zoo: the hunting dog Ali, the gray cat Maune, the capuchin monkey Schnuf and many birds surrounded the musician's family. The favorite was a large Indian raven - every morning he importantly said to the composer: "Good evening."
One day, his wife Carolina gave him a truly wonderful gift. Especially for Weber's birthday, costumes for animals were sewn, and the next morning a funny procession went to the birthday man's room - congratulations! .. Ali was turned into an elephant with a long trunk and big ears, but silk handkerchiefs replaced him. He was followed by a cat disguised as a donkey, with a pair of slippers instead of bags on her back. A monkey in a magnificent dress hobbled along, a hat with a huge feather coquettishly bouncing on its head ...
Weber jumped with joy like a child, and then something unimaginable began: he forgot about his sores, failures, and even about competing composers ... Animals and happy Weber rushed over chairs and tables, and a serious raven said to everyone an infinite number of times:
- Good evening!
It is a pity that Rossini did not see this ...
6. ugly angel
When The Magic Shooter was staged in Prague, Henrietta Sontag, a very small, charming and extremely timid singer, sang the female lead. She was a girl of angelic beauty, but Weber did not like her too much because of her timidity and insecurity.
- A pretty girl, but still quite thin, - the composer threw up his hands.
7. subtleties of criticism
From time to time, enthusiastic praises appeared in the Parisian newspapers for the greatest of the greatest maestro of all times and peoples - Weber. Moreover, the laudatory articles by an unknown author were written with knowledge of all the subtleties of the composer's music. And it is not surprising, because these praises to Weber were sung by ... Weber himself.
8. maestro and his children
Weber was so in love with himself that, with the consent of his wife, three of his four children were named after the composer's father: Carl Maria, Maria Carolina and Carolina Maria.
1786 - 1826
creative way
German composer, conductor, excellent pianist. He was also a music critic. Wrote critical articles: Musical and Dramatic Notes, autobiographical novel (incomplete) Life of a Musician, reviews. The significance of Weber's work in Western European music is the founder of the national German opera (romantic). Despite Mozart's operas (singspiel) and Beethoven's Fidelio, in Germany, in fact, there was no national opera school, Italian opera dominated. Weber opposed her in reviews. The first German romantic opera was written by Hoffmann - Ondine.
Main works: 10 operas, music for the performances “Turandot” and “Prociosa”, 2 symphonies, overtures, 2 piano concertos, “Concertshtuk” for piano and orchestra, concertos for clarinet, bassoon, horn, chamber ensembles, 4 sonatas for piano, “Invitation to dance”, variations, romances, plays, songs, choral compositions.
life path
From childhood, Weber was in the atmosphere of the theater, because his father was an anterprinter (organizer and bandmaster) in the troupe. Due to constant moving, there was no permanent education, but at the end of the 90s he began to study with Michael Haydn (younger brother of Joseph Haydn) and wrote the first works and operas: the opera “The Forest Girl”, the singspiel “Peter Schmol and his neighbors” .
At the age of 14 he performs as a pianist, and at 17 as a conductor. In 1803 he studied with Abbot Vogler, who instilled in Weber an interest in folk music.
1804-1817 - the formation of operatic creativity. Weber works at various courts and theaters (a bandmaster at the Breslau Opera House, served for several years as the personal secretary of the Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart, directed the opera house in Prague (1813-1816). In Darmstadt, he met with other composers, and the Harmonic Society was formed ", among the composers of which was Meyerbeer. Weber is interested in German literature and German music (song). He began to write critical articles. Operas "Ryubetsal", "Sylvana", "Abu Gassan" appear.
1817-1826 - Mature Dresden period. At this time, Weber works as a conductor and head of the opera house. There is a struggle for the national opera (German), against the Italian. This is a creative period. During this period, Weber creates his best works: sonatas, “Invitation to Dance” (raises the everyday genre to artistic heights). Anticipates Chopin's waltzes, wrote "Concertpiece" for piano and orchestra - program music, a virtuoso concert piece.
1821 - opera "The Magic Shooter". It was staged in Berlin with great success. This is the birth of the national German opera. Genre: romantic singspiel.
1823 - the opera "Evryant". Written for Vienna. A new type of opera is a large romantic knightly opera without spoken dialogues. The plot is based on a medieval legend (13th century). This opera did not receive much recognition. It anticipates Wagner's operas ("Lohengrin").
1826 - the opera "Oberon". Shown in London. Fairy tale opera. Genre: Singspiel. Fantasy meets reality.
"Magic Shooter"
The opera was held in Berlin with tremendous success. This is the first German romantic opera. Genre: romantic singspiel. Libretto - Kinda. According to the folk legend about the black hunter (from Apel's book "The Book of Scary Stories").
The structure of the opera: 3 acts: 1st act - the plot of the drama; 2nd action - development; 3rd act - climax and denouement. There are mass scenes in the 1st and 3rd acts. Act 2 is fantastic. It (the 2nd act) contrasts with the 1st and 3rd acts. In dramaturgy, 3 planes are visible:
1 plan - folk-everyday mass scenes. For them, Weber uses everyday genres, dances, marches, substitute Bohemian themes, intonations of the “golden move” of horns. Clear and simple instrumentation, very simple harmonies, simple melodies that are close to folk themes. He remade the local Bohemian flavor and made it poetic.
Act 1 - choirs and landler, march of the peasants, song of the people.
3 action - choir of girlfriends, choir of hunters.
2 plan - associated with science fiction - the finale of the 2nd act. The music contrasts sharply with the 1st and 3rd acts. This is horror fiction. The orchestra plays an important role. Weber uses completely different expressive means than in the 1st plan. The finale of the 2nd act is the scene in Wolf's Valley. Each bullet is accompanied by a new fantastic vision: a storm, a wild hunt (dogs barking), a wild whirlwind, a battle, etc. Uses a minor key. Tonal plan: c-moll, fis-moll, c-moll. Barking dogs - chords for horns and bassoons. Whirlwind - bassoon and low strings with a clumsy theme in the bass. Weber uses woodwinds in uncharacteristic registers: clarinets - in low, flutes - either very low, either very high, shrill. He also uses trombones, horns and timpani. Weber's orchestral discoveries influenced the work of other composers - Berlioz, Mussorgsky ("Night on Bald Mountain").
3 plan - associated with individual characters:
Characteristics of Max is a typical romantic hero. Aria (I act) is a weak-willed character. Agatha is a more purposeful nature. A large aria is dedicated to her - a portrait in act II of several sections: a recitative introduction, section 1 - of an exalted prayerful nature. The last section is fast, active, very optimistic music, this is the leitmotif of Agatha, which sounds in the overture and ends the whole opera. There are other keynotes as well. One of them is Samiel's leitmotif - the leitmotif of evil forces. There are also late tones. Agatha has a clarinet, Samiel has a flute in a low register. Leitmotifs anticipate the work of Wagner.
In the history of Western European musical culture, Weber's name is associated primarily with the creation of a romantic German opera. The premiere of his "Magic Shooter", held in Berlin on June 18, 1821 under the direction of the author, was an event of historical significance. She put an end to the long domination of foreign, primarily Italian, opera music on the stages of German theaters.
Weber's childhood passed in the atmosphere of a wandering provincial theater. His mother was a singer, and his father was a violinist and leader of a small theater troupe. The excellent knowledge of the stage, acquired in childhood, was later very useful to Weber as an opera composer. Although constant traveling interfered with the systematic study of music, at the age of 11 he became an outstanding virtuoso pianist of his time.
From the age of 18, Weber's independent activity as an opera conductor begins. For more than 10 years, he has been moving from place to place, without a permanent home and experiencing enormous financial difficulties. It was not until 1817 that he finally settled in Dresden, taking over the direction of the German musical theatre. The Dresden period became the pinnacle of his creative activity, when the composer's best operas appeared: "Magic Shooter", "Euryant", "Oberon". Simultaneously with The Magic Shooter, two of Weber's famous program pieces were created - the piano "Invitation to Dance" And "Concert piece" for piano and orchestra. Both works demonstrate the composer's characteristic brilliant concert style.
In search of ways to create a folk-national opera, Weber turned to the latest German literature. The composer communicated personally with many German romantic writers.
Opera "Magic Shooter"
The Magic Shooter is Weber's most popular composition. Its Berlin premiere was a sensational success. Soon after, the opera toured theaters all over the world. There are several reasons for such a brilliant success:
1 -I, the most important, is a reliance on the traditions of the original German culture. Pictures of German folk life with its customs, favorite motifs of German fairy tales, the image of the forest (as common in German folklore as the image of the open steppe in Russian folk art, or the image of the sea in English). The music of the opera is filled with melodies in the spirit of peasant German songs and dances, the sounds of a hunting horn (the most striking example is the temperamental choir of hunters from 3 days, which gained worldwide fame). All this touched the innermost strings of the German soul, everything was associated with national ideals.
“For the Germans ... here, at every step, they have their own, native, both on stage and in music, as familiar from childhood as we, for example, singing “Luchinushka” or “Kamarinsky” ... "- wrote A.N. Serov.
2 . The opera appeared in an atmosphere of patriotic upsurge caused by the liberation from Napoleonic despotism.
3 . The most important feature of The Magic Shooter is that Weber approached the depiction of folk life in a completely new way. Unlike the operas of the 18th century, the characters from the people are shown not in a comedic, emphatically everyday way, but deeply poetic. Everyday scenes of folk life (a peasant holiday, a hunting competition) are written out with amazing love and sincerity. It is no coincidence that the best choral numbers - the choir of hunters, the choir of bridesmaids - have become popular. Some radically changed the traditional circle of intonations of opera arias and choirs.
Plot for his opera, the composer found in the short story the German writer August Apel from the Book of Ghosts. Weber read this short story as early as 1810, but did not immediately take up composing music. The libretto was composed by the Dresden actor and writer I. Kind, using the composer's instructions. The action takes place in a Czech village in the 17th century.
In terms of genre, The Magic Shooter is a folk fairy tale opera with features of a singspiel. Her dramaturgy is based on the interweaving of three lines, each of which is associated with its own range of musical and expressive means:
- fantastic;
- folk-genre, characterizing the images of hunting life and forest nature;
- lyrical and psychological, revealing the images of the main characters - Max and Agatha.
The fantastic line of the opera is the most innovative. She had a tremendous influence on all the music of the 19th century, in particular, on the fantasy of Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Wagner. Its climax is in the finale of Act II (in "Wolf Gorge").
Scene in Wolf's Gorge has a through (free) structure, it consists of a number of episodes independent of the material.
In the 1st, introductory, a mysterious, sinister atmosphere reigns, a choir of invisible spirits sounds. Its creepy, "infernal" (hellish) character is created by extremely laconic expressive means: it is the alternation of two sounds - "fis" and "a" in a monotonous rhythm, harmonized by t and VII in the key of fis-moll.
2nd section - an excited dialogue between Kaspar and Samiel. Samiel is not a singing person, he only speaks, and only in his kingdom - the Wolf's Gorge, although during the opera he quite often appears on stage (passes, disappears). It is always accompanied by a short and very bright leitmotif - an ominous colorful spot (a chord and several abrupt fading sounds in the dull sound of low timbres. These are clarinets in a low register, bassoons and timpani);
Episode 3 (allegro) is dedicated to the characterization of Kaspar, who is anxiously waiting for Max;
The music of the 4th section characterizes the appearance of Max, his fear and mental struggle;
5th, final section - the episode of casting bullets - the culmination of the entire finale. It is solved almost exclusively by orchestral means. Each picturesque stage detail (the appearance of terrible ghosts, a thunderstorm, the "wild hunt", a flame erupting from the earth) receives its original musical characteristic with the help of timbre and harmonic colors. Bizarre dissonances predominate, especially reduced seventh chords, tritone combinations, chromatisms, and unusual tonal comparisons. The tonal plan is built on a reduced seventh chord: Fis - a - C - Es.
Weber opens up new visual possibilities for instruments, especially wind instruments: staccato horns, sustained low sounds of clarinets, unusual timbre combinations. The innovative discoveries of Weber's Wolf Valley had a tremendous impact on all the music of the 19th century, in particular, on the fantasy of Mendelssohn, Berlioz, Wagner.
The images of gloomy fantasy are contrasted with cheerful folk scenes. Their music - somewhat naive, simple-hearted, sincere - is permeated with folklore elements, characteristic melodic turns of everyday songwriting, as well as fairground music of Thuringia.
The folk-genre line is embodied in the mass scenes of the 1st and 3rd acts of the opera. This is a picture of a peasant holiday in a choral introduction, a scene of a competition between hunters. The march sounds like it is being performed by rural musicians. The rustic waltz is distinguished by its underlined unpretentiousness.
The main image of the opera is Max, the first typically romantic hero in music. He is endowed with the features of a psychological split: the influence of Caspar, behind whom are the forces of hell, is opposed by the purity of the loving Agatha. Full disclosure of the image of Max, as well as Agatha, is given in the scene and aria of the first act. This is a great aria-monologue, where a deep spiritual conflict is revealed.
wonderful overture The Magic Shooter is written in sonata form with a slow introduction. It is built on the musical themes of the opera (this is Samiel's sinister leitmotif in the introduction, the theme of "hellish forces" (the main and connecting parts of the sonata Allegro), the themes of Max and Agatha (side part). Pushing the themes of "hellish forces" with the themes of Max and Agatha, the composer logically leads the development to the triumphant theme of Agatha, which sounds like a hymn to happiness and love.
With E.T.A. Hoffmann, Wieland, Tiek, Brentano, Arnim, Jean Paul, W. Müller.
Musical numbers alternate with spoken dialogues. Samiel is a non-singing face. In the spirit of the singspiel, a secondary image of the cheerful, frisky Ankhen is interpreted.
Constance, studied music since childhood. He made his mark as a pianist and then as musical director of theaters in Prague and Dresden.
All the best, viable, democratic in romanticism (aesthetic ideas, new stylistic features of literary and musical works) received its original implementation in Weber's work.
As a composer, he is especially known as the author of the first significant German romantic opera, The Free Gunner.
Carl Maria Friedrich von Weber was born in the small town of Eitin in Holstein, in northern Germany, on December 18, 1786, in the family of a passionate music lover, entrepreneur of itinerant drama troupes Franz Anton Weber.
The childhood years of the future composer were closely connected with the environment and atmosphere of the nomadic provincial German theater, which later determined, on the one hand, the composer's interest in musical and dramatic genres, and on the other hand, professional knowledge of the laws of the stage and a subtle sense of the specifics of musical and dramatic art. As a child, Weber showed equal interest in both music and painting.
Weber's first acquaintance with music was under the guidance of his father and older brother Edmund. In early childhood, the future composer showed equal interest in both music and painting. Despite the difficulties that arose in connection with the frequent moves of the family from one city to another, Franz Anton Weber sought to give his son a professional musical education.
In 1796, in Hildburghausen, Karl Maria borrowed from I. P. Geiskel, in 1797 and in 1801 in Salzburg he studied the basics of counterpoint under the guidance of Mikhail Haydn, in 1798-1800 in Munich he studied composition with the court organist I. N. Kalcher and singing I. E. Valesi (Wallishhauser).
In 1798, under the direction of Mikhail Haydn, Weber wrote six fuguettes for clavier - the composer's first independent opus. This was followed by a large number of new compositions in various genres:
- six variations on an original theme
- twelve allemands and six ecossaises for clavier
- Grand Youth Mass Es-dur
- several songs for voice and piano
- comic canons for three voices
- opera "The Power of Love and Wine" (1798)
- unfinished opera The Silent Forest Girl (1800)
- singspiel "Peter Schmoll and his neighbors" (1801), approved by Michael Haydn
A big shift in the creative development of the composer came in 1803, when, after wandering around many cities in Germany, Weber arrived in Vienna, where he met with the famous music teacher Abbot Vogler. The latter, noticing gaps in Weber's musical-theoretical education, demanded a lot of painstaking work from the young man. In 1804, on the recommendation of Vogler, the seventeen-year-old Weber received a position as director of music (kapellmeister) at the Breslau Opera House. From that moment, a new period (1804-1816) began in the life and work of the composer.
Theater in the life of a young composer
This was one of the most important periods in Weber's evolution, when his worldview and aesthetic views took shape, and his talent as a composer entered a time of bright flowering. 
Working with opera companies, Weber discovered outstanding conducting skills.
Working with troupes of opera houses in Breslavl, Prague, Weber discovered outstanding conductor's abilities and talent as an organizer of the musical and theatrical business. Already in Breslau, at the very beginning of his conducting activity, Weber established a new order for placing musicians in an opera orchestra - by groups of instruments. Weber anticipated the principle of placing instruments in the orchestra, which would become characteristic of the entire 19th and, to a certain extent, of the 20th century.
The eighteen-year-old conductor boldly and principledly carried out his innovations, despite the sometimes stubborn resistance of singers and musicians who adhered to the old traditions that had developed in provincial German theaters.
By 1807-1810, the beginning of literary and musical-critical activity of Weber belongs. He writes articles, reviews of performances, musical works, annotations to his compositions, begins the novel The Life of a Musician (1809).
In the works that appeared during the first period of Weber's independent creative life (1804-1816), the features of the future mature style of the composer are gradually revealed. During this period of creativity, the most artistically significant works of Weber are associated with the musical and dramatic genre:
- romantic opera Silvana (1810)
- singshpil "Abu Gasan" (1811)
- two cantatas and two symphonies (1807)
- a number of overtures and many instrumental works in other genres
- many individual arias, songs, choirs, among which stands out the cycle of heroic songs "Lyre and Sword" to the words of Theodor Koerner (1814, op. 41-43)
Thus, when at the beginning of 1817 Weber took the post of bandmaster of the Deutsche Oper in Dresden, he was already fully prepared to fight for the establishment of the German national musical and dramatic art. That same year, he married one of his former singers, Caroline Brandt.
The last, Dresden period of Weber's life
The last, Dresden period of Weber's life (1817-1826) is the pinnacle in the composer's work. Here his organizing and conducting activity took on an intensive character. The one and a half century tradition of the existence of an Italian opera theater in Dresden, the active opposition of the conductor of the Italian opera troupe F. Morlacchi, the resistance of court circles - all this complicated Weber's work. Despite this, in an unusually short time, Weber managed not only to assemble a German opera troupe, but also to stage a number of excellent performances with the help of a new (and in many ways - professionally insufficiently trained) team (The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Fidelio ", "Jessonda" Spohr and many others). Museum Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden
During this period of Weber's activity, he wrote and staged the best works. Among them, the first place is occupied by the opera "Free Shooter".
A story rooted in folklore about a man who sold his soul to the devil for a few magic bullets, which allowed him to win the shooting competition, and with it the hand of the beautiful lady he loved. The opera presented for the first time everything that was familiar and sweet to the heart of every German. Simple country life with its crude humor and sentimental innocence. The surrounding forest, whose gentle smile hides supernatural horror. And above all - characters: from cheerful hunters and village girls to a simple, valiant hero and the prince who ruled over them. 
The opera "Free Gun" made Weber a national hero
All this grew together with melodic, delightful music and turned into a mirror in which every German could find his reflection. With the help of The Free Gunner, Weber was not only able to free German opera from French and Italian influences, but also laid the foundations for one of the main forms of opera in the 19th century. The brilliant victory of the triumphant premiere of the ingenious "Free Gunner" (June 18, 1821 in Berlin) marked Weber's major achievements on the chosen path, making him a national hero.
Weber then proceeded to create the comic opera Three Pintos, which remained unfinished. Work on the new opera was interrupted by composing music for the play by P.A. Wolf's "Preciosa" (1820), in 1823 the first major heroic-romantic opera "Evryanta", written for Vienna, appeared. It was an ambitious project and a great achievement, but failed due to an unsuccessful libretto.
In 1826, the fabulous Oberon, staged in London, adequately completed a brilliant series of Weber's operatic works. The motive for creating this opera was the desire to provide for the family so that after his death (which, he knew, was not far off), they could continue a comfortable existence. 
In 1826, Weber's brilliant series of operatic works worthily completed the fabulous "Oberon"
In the form of the Oberon there was little of Weber's style, the structure was ponderous for a composer advocating a fusion of theatrical arts with opera. But it was this opera that he filled with the most exquisite music. Despite his rapidly declining health, Weber went to the premiere of his work. "Oberon" received recognition, the composer was honored, but he could hardly walk. Shortly before his scheduled return to Germany on June 5, he was found dead in his room. 
Opera reformer K. Weber
