Carl Maria von Weber: biography, interesting facts, creativity. Carl Maria von Weber - composer, founder of German romantic opera: biography and creativity

Until the beginning of the 19th century, there was no proper German opera in Germany. Up until the 20s. this genre was dominated throughout Europe Italian tradition. The creation and flourishing of 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, folk 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. WITH youth Karl studied music with his father. In general, he studied a lot, but unsystematically, with various composers, musicians, music teachers: Johann Heischkel, 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.

Innate genius and numerous talents justify the composer’s exorbitant egoism. So, at the age of 18 he was already leading the orchestra at the theater in Breslau, and at the age of 24 his first successful opera “Silvana” was published. During his short life (Weber died in 1826 just shy of his fortieth birthday from a debilitating pulmonary disease), the composer served as musical director of theaters in Dresden and Prague. At the same time, he made numerous concert tours as a pianist, and three operas - "Free Shooter", "Euryanthe" and "Oberon" - became the first examples of the emerging genre of German romanticism.

In addition to his activities as a musician, composer, and conductor, Weber wrote critical articles in magazines, reviews of performances, musical works, annotations to his works, published an autobiographical novel “The Life of a Musician” and even deeply studied lithography. But the best work of Weber's entire work is, without a doubt, the opera "Free Shooter", or as it is also called "The Magic Shooter". The opera premiered on June 18, 1821 in Berlin. In its content this is a romantic interpretation folk legend. Here Weber, through music, glorifies the beauty of nature and the triumph of noble human feelings, filling 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 affairs. 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 went down in the history of music as the creator of opera based on German folk artistic traditions. The triumph on the stage of "Free Shooter", with its fabulously legendary plot and national music in its flavor, coincided with the general rise of the national movement in the country and contributed greatly to it.

Maria Igumnova

Famous German composer, conductor, pianist and public figure, which contributed to raising the level of musical life in Germany and increasing the authority and importance of national art, Carl Maria von Weber was born on December 18, 1786 in the Holstein town of Eitin in the family of a provincial entrepreneur, music lover and theater.

Coming from craft circles by origin, the composer’s father loved to flaunt to the public a non-existent title of nobility, a family coat of arms and the prefix “von” to the name Weber.

Karl Maria's mother, who came from a family of wood carvers, inherited excellent vocal abilities from her parents; for some time she even worked in the theater as a professional singer.

Together with the traveling artists, the Weber family moved from place to place, so even in early childhood, Karl Maria got used to the atmosphere of the theater and became acquainted with the customs of the nomadic troupes. The result of such a life was the necessary knowledge of the theater and the laws of the stage for an opera composer, as well as rich musical experience.

Little Karl Maria had two hobbies - music and painting. The boy painted in oils, drew miniatures, he was also good at engraving compositions, and in addition, he knew how to play some musical instruments, including the piano.

In 1798, twelve-year-old Weber was lucky enough to become a student of Michael Haydn, the younger brother of the famous Joseph Haydn, in Salzburg. Lessons in theory and composition ended with the writing, under the guidance of the teacher, of six fuguettes, which, thanks to the efforts of his father, were published in the Universal Musical Newspaper.

The departure of the Weber family from Salzburg caused a change in music teachers. The unsystematic and varied nature of musical education was compensated by the versatile talent of young Karl Maria. By the age of 14, he had written quite a lot of works, including several sonatas and variations for piano, a number of chamber works, a mass, and the opera “The Power of Love and Hate,” which became Weber’s first such work.

Nevertheless, in those years the talented young man gained great fame as a performer and writer. popular songs. Moving from one city to another, he performed his own and other people's works to the accompaniment of a piano or guitar. Like his mother, Carl Maria Weber had a unique voice, significantly weakened by acid poisoning.

Neither the difficult financial situation nor constant travel could seriously affect the creative productivity of the gifted composer. The opera "The Maiden of the Forest" and the Singschpiel "Peter Schmoll and His Neighbors", written in 1800, received favorable reviews from Weber's former teacher, Michael Haydn. This was followed by numerous waltzes, ecosaises, four-hand piano pieces and songs.

Already in Weber's early, immature operatic works, a certain creative line can be traced - an appeal to the national democratic genre of theatrical art (all operas are written in the form of a singspiel - an everyday performance in which musical episodes and spoken dialogues coexist) and an attraction to fantasy.

Among Weber's many teachers, the collector of folk melodies, Abbot Vogler, the most popular scientific theorist and composer of his time, deserves special attention. Throughout 1803, the young man, under the guidance of Vogler, studied the work of outstanding composers, made a detailed analysis of their works and gained experience to write his great works. In addition, Vogler's school contributed to Weber's growing interest in folk art.

In 1804, the young composer moved to Breslavl, where he received a position as conductor and began to renovate opera repertoire local theater. His active work in this direction met resistance from singers and orchestral players, and Weber resigned.

However, a difficult financial situation forced him to agree to any offers: for several years he was a bandmaster in Karlsruhe, then - the personal secretary of the Duke of Württemberg in Stuttgart. But Weber could not say goodbye to music: he continued to compose instrumental works and experimented in the genre of opera (“Silvana”).

In 1810, the young man was arrested on suspicion of participation in court scams and expelled from Stuttgart. Weber again became a traveling musician, traveling with concerts to numerous German and Swiss cities.

It was this talented composer who initiated the creation of the “Harmonious Society” in Darmstadt, designed to support and promote the works of its members through propaganda and criticism in the press. The society's charter was drawn up, and the creation of a “musical topography of Germany” was also planned, allowing artists to correctly navigate in a particular city.

During this period, Weber's passion for folk music intensified. In his free time, the composer went to the surrounding villages to “collect melodies.” Sometimes, impressed by what he heard, he immediately composed songs and performed them to the accompaniment of a guitar, causing exclamations of approval from the listeners.

During the same period of creative activity, the composer’s literary talent developed. Numerous articles, reviews and letters characterized Weber as an intelligent, thoughtful person, an opponent of routine, and at the forefront.

Being a champion of national music, Weber paid tribute and foreign art. He especially highly valued the creativity of such French composers revolutionary period, like Cherubini, Megul, Grétry and others. Special articles and essays were dedicated to them, and their works were performed. Of particular interest in the literary heritage of Carl Maria von Weber is the autobiographical novel “The Life of a Musician,” which tells the story of the difficult fate of a vagabond composer.

The composer did not forget about music. His works of 1810 – 1812 are distinguished by greater independence and skill. An important step on the path to creative maturity was the comic opera “Abu Hassan,” which traces the images of the master’s most significant works.

Weber spent the period from 1813 to 1816 in Prague as the head of the opera house, the following years he worked in Dresden, and everywhere his reform plans met stubborn resistance among theater bureaucrats.

The growth of patriotic sentiment in Germany in the early 1820s proved to be a saving grace for the work of Carl Maria von Weber. Writing music for the romantic-patriotic poems of Theodor Kerner, who participated in the 1813 war of liberation against Napoleon, brought the composer the laurels of a national artist.

Another patriotic work by Weber was the cantata “Battle and Victory,” written and performed in 1815 in Prague. Attached to it summary content that contributes to a better understanding of the work by the public. Subsequently, similar explanations were compiled for larger works.

The Prague period marked the beginning of the creative maturity of the talented German composer. The works he wrote at this time deserve special attention. piano music, into which new elements of musical speech and style texture were introduced.

Weber's move to Dresden in 1817 marked the beginning of a settled family life (by that time the composer had already married the woman he loved, former Prague opera singer Caroline Brandt). Active activity An advanced composer, even here she found few like-minded people among influential persons of the state.

In those years, preference was given to traditional Italian opera in the Saxon capital. Created at the beginning of the 19th century, the German national opera was deprived of the support of the royal court and aristocratic patrons.

Weber had to do a lot to establish the priority of national art over Italian. He managed to assemble a good team, achieve its artistic coherence and stage production of Mozart’s opera “Fidelio”, as well as works by French composers Megul (“Joseph in Egypt”), Cherubini (“Lodoisku”) and others.

The Dresden period became the pinnacle of Carl Maria Weber's creative activity and the final decade of his life. During this time, the best piano and opera works: numerous sonatas for piano, “Invitation to the Dance”, “Concerto-Stück” for piano and orchestra, as well as the operas “Freischütz”, “The Magic Shooter”, “Euryanthe” and “Oberon”, which indicated the path and directions for the further development of the art of opera Germany.

The production of The Magic Shooter brought Weber worldwide fame and fame. The idea of ​​writing an opera based on the folk tale about the “black hunter” originated with the composer back in 1810, but intense public activity prevented the implementation of this plan. Only in Dresden did Weber again turn to the somewhat fabulous plot of The Magic Marksman; at his request, the poet F. Kind wrote a libretto for the opera.

Events take place in the Czech region of Bohemia. Main actors The works are the hunter Max, the daughter of the count's forester Agatha, the reveler and gambler Kaspar, Agatha's father, Kuno, and Prince Ottokar.

The first act begins with the joyful greetings of the winner of the shooting competition, Kilian, and the sad lamentations of the young hunter, defeated in the preliminary tournament. A similar fate at the end of the competition disrupts all Max’s plans: according to an ancient hunting custom, his marriage to the beautiful Agatha will become impossible. The girl's father and several hunters console the unfortunate man.

Soon the fun stops, everyone leaves, and Max is left alone. His solitude is violated by the reveler Kaspar, who sold his soul to the devil. Pretending to be a friend, he promises to help the young hunter and tells him about magic bullets that should be cast at night in the Wolf Valley - a cursed place visited by evil spirits.

Max has doubts, however, cleverly playing on the young man’s feelings for Agatha, Kaspar persuades him to go to the valley. Max leaves the stage, and the clever gambler triumphs in advance of his deliverance from the approaching hour of reckoning.

The second act takes place in the forester's house and in the gloomy Wolf Valley. Agatha is sad in her room; even the cheerful chatter of her carefree, flirtatious friend Ankhen cannot distract her from her sad thoughts.

Agatha is waiting for Max. Seized with gloomy forebodings, she goes out onto the balcony and calls on the heavens to dispel her worries. Max enters, trying not to scare his lover, and tells her the reason for his sadness. Agata and Ankhen persuade him not to go to the terrible place, but Max, who made a promise to Kaspar, leaves.

At the end of the second act, a gloomy valley opens to the eyes of the audience, the silence of which is interrupted by the ominous cries of invisible spirits. At midnight, the black hunter Samiel, the messenger of death, appears in front of Kaspar, who is preparing to cast witchcraft spells. Kaspar's soul must go to hell, but he asks for a reprieve, sacrificing Max to the devil instead, who tomorrow will kill Agatha with a magic bullet. Samiel agrees to this sacrifice and disappears with a clap of thunder.

Soon Max comes down from the top of the cliff into the valley. The forces of good are trying to save him by sending images of his mother and Agatha, but it’s too late - Max sells his soul to the devil. The finale of the second act is the scene of casting the magic bullets.

The third and final act of the opera is dedicated to last day competition, which should end with the wedding of Max and Agatha. The girl who saw at night prophetic dream, again in sadness. Ankhen’s efforts to cheer up her friend are in vain; her concern for her beloved does not go away. The girls soon appear and present Agatha with flowers. She opens the box and instead of a wedding wreath, she finds a funeral dress.

There is a change of scenery, marking the finale of the third act and the entire opera. In front of Prince Ottokar, his courtiers and the forester Kuno, the hunters demonstrate their skills, among them Max. The young man must make the last shot; the target becomes a dove flying from bush to bush. Max takes aim, and at that moment Agatha appears behind the bushes. Magic force moves the muzzle of the gun to the side, and the bullet hits Kaspar, who was hiding in a tree. Mortally wounded, he falls to the ground, his soul going to hell, accompanied by Samiel.

Prince Ottokar demands an explanation for what happened. Max talks about the events of the past night, the angry prince sentences him to exile, the young hunter must forever forget about his marriage to Agatha. The intercession of those present cannot mitigate the punishment.

Only the appearance of a bearer of wisdom and justice changes the situation. The hermit pronounces his verdict: to postpone the wedding of Max and Agatha for a year. Such a magnanimous decision becomes the cause of general joy and rejoicing, all those gathered praise God and his mercy.

The successful conclusion of the opera corresponds to the moral idea, presented in the form of a struggle between good and evil and the victory of good forces. There is a certain amount of abstraction and idealization of real life, but at the same time there are moments in the work that meet the requirements of progressive art: display folk life and the uniqueness of its way of life, appealing to the characters of the peasant-burgher environment. Fiction driven by commitment to folk beliefs and legends, devoid of any mysticism; in addition, the poetic depiction of nature brings a fresh spirit to the composition.

The dramatic line in “The Magic Shooter” develops sequentially: Act I is the beginning of the drama, the desire of evil forces to take possession of the wavering soul; Act II - the struggle between light and darkness; Act III is the climax, ending with the triumph of virtue.

Dramatic action here it unfolds on musical material, moving in large layers. To reveal the ideological meaning of the work and unite it with the help of musical and thematic connections, Weber uses the principle of leitmotif: a short leitmotif, constantly accompanying the character, concretizes one or another image (for example, the image of Samiel, personifying dark, mysterious forces).

A new, purely romantic means of expression is the mood common to the entire opera, subordinated to the “sound of the forest” with which all the events taking place are connected.

The life of nature in The Magic Shooter has two sides: one of them, associated with the idyllically depicted patriarchal life of hunters, is revealed in folk songs and melodies, as well as in the sound of horns; the second side, associated with ideas about the demonic, dark forces of the forest, manifests itself in a unique combination of orchestral timbres and an alarming syncopated rhythm.

The overture to The Magic Shooter, written in sonata form, reveals ideological plan the entire work, its content and course of events. Here, in contrasting comparison, the main themes of the opera appear, which are at the same time musical characteristics main characters who are developed in portrait arias.

The orchestra is rightfully considered the strongest source of romantic expressiveness in The Magic Shooter. Weber managed to identify and use certain features and expressive properties of individual instruments. In some scenes the orchestra plays an independent role and is the main means musical development operas (scene in Wolf Valley, etc.).

The success of The Magic Shooter was stunning: the opera was staged in many cities, and arias from this work were sung on city streets. Thus, Weber was rewarded handsomely for all the humiliations and trials that befell him in Dresden.

In 1822, the entrepreneur of the Viennese court opera house F. Barbaia invited Weber to compose a grand opera. A few months later, Evritana, written in the genre of a knightly romantic opera, was sent to the Austrian capital.

A legendary plot with some mystical mystery, a desire for heroism and special attention to psychological characteristics characters, the predominance of feelings and reflection on the development of action - these features outlined by the composer in this work later become characteristic features of German romantic opera.

In the fall of 1823, the premiere of “Eurytana” took place in Vienna, which was attended by Weber himself. Although it caused a storm of delight among adherents of the national art, the opera did not receive as wide recognition as The Magic Shooter.

This circumstance had a rather depressing effect on the composer; in addition, the severe lung disease inherited from his mother made itself felt. The increasingly frequent attacks caused long breaks in Weber's work. Thus, between the writing of “Eurytana” and the start of work on “Oberon”, about 18 months passed.

The last opera was written by Weber at the request of Covent Garden, one of the largest opera houses in London. Realizing the proximity of death, the composer strove to finish his life as soon as possible. last piece, so that after his death the family would not be left without a means of subsistence. The same reason forced him to go to London to direct the production of the fairy tale opera Oberon.

In this work, consisting of several separate paintings, fantastic events and real life, everyday German music coexists with “oriental exoticism”.

When writing Oberon, the composer did not set himself any special dramatic goals; he wanted to write a cheerful extravaganza opera filled with a relaxed, fresh melody. The colorfulness and lightness of the orchestral color used in the writing of this work had a significant influence on the improvement of romantic orchestral writing and left a special imprint on the scores of such romantic composers as Berlioz, Mendelssohn and others.

The musical merits of Weber's last operas found their most vivid expression in the overtures, which also received recognition as independent program symphonic works. At the same time, certain shortcomings of the libretto and dramaturgy limited the number of productions of Eurytana and Oberon on the stages of opera houses.

Hard work in London, coupled with frequent overloads, completely undermined the health of the famous composer; July 5, 1826 was the last day of his life: Carl Maria von Weber died of consumption before reaching the age of forty.

In 1841, on the initiative of leading public figures in Germany, the issue of transferring ashes was raised talented composer to his homeland, and three years later his remains returned to Dresden.

“The world is where the composer creates!” - this is how K. M. Weber, an outstanding German musician, outlined the field of activity of the artist: composer, critic, performer, writer, publicist, public figure of the early 19th century. And indeed, we find Czech, French, Spanish, and oriental themes in his musical and dramatic works, and in his instrumental compositions we find stylistic features of Gypsy, Chinese, Norwegian, Russian, and Hungarian folklore. But the main work of his life was the German national opera. In the unfinished novel “The Life of a Musician,” which has tangible biographical features, Weber brilliantly characterizes, through the lips of one of the characters, the state of this genre in Germany:

To be honest, the situation with the German opera is very deplorable, it suffers from convulsions and cannot stand firmly on its feet. A crowd of assistants is busy around her. And yet she, having barely recovered from one fainting spell, falls again into another. Moreover, by making all sorts of demands on her, she was so inflated that not a single dress fits her anymore. It is in vain that gentlemen remodelers, in the hope of decorating it, put on it either a French or an Italian caftan. It doesn't suit her, either front or back. And the more you sew new sleeves onto it and shorten the flaps and tails, the worse it will hold up. In the end, several romantic tailors came up with the happy idea of ​​choosing domestic material for it and, if possible, weaving into it everything that fantasy, faith, contrasts and feelings have ever created among other nations.

Weber was born into a musician's family - his father was an opera conductor and played many instruments. The future musician was shaped by the environment in which he found himself from early childhood. Franz Anton Weber (uncle of Constance Weber, wife of W. A. ​​Mozart) encouraged his son’s passion for music and painting, introduced him to the intricacies performing arts. Classes with famous teachers - Michael Haydn, brother of the world famous composer Joseph Haydn, and Abbot Vogler - had a noticeable influence on the young musician. The first attempts at composing date back to that time. On Vogler's recommendation, Weber entered the Breslau Opera House as conductor (1804). It starts independent life in art, tastes and beliefs are formed, and major works are conceived.

Since 1804, Weber has worked in various theaters in Germany and Switzerland, and has served as director of the opera house in Prague (since 1813). During the same period, Weber’s connections were established with the largest representatives of the artistic life of Germany, who largely influenced his aesthetic principles(I. W. Goethe, K. Wieland, K. Zelter, T. A. Hoffman, L. Tieck, C. Brentano, L. Spohr). Weber is gaining fame not only as an outstanding pianist and conductor, but also as an organizer, a bold reformer of musical theater, who established new principles for placing musicians in an opera orchestra (according to groups of instruments), new system rehearsal work in the theatre. Thanks to his activities, the status of the conductor changes - Weber, taking on the role of director, head of the production, participated in all stages of the preparation of the opera performance. An important feature of the repertoire policy of the theaters he headed was the preference for German and French operas, in contrast to the more usual predominance of Italian ones. In the works of the first period of creativity, style features crystallized that later became defining - song and dance thematics, originality and colorful harmony, freshness of orchestral color and interpretation of individual instruments. Here is what G. Berlioz wrote, for example:

And what an orchestra that accompanies these noble vocal melodies! What inventions! What most skillful research! What treasures such inspiration reveals to us!

Among the most significant works of this time are the romantic opera “Silvana” (1810), the singspiel “Abu Hasan” (1811), 9 cantatas, 2 symphonies, overtures, 4 piano sonatas and concertos, “Invitation to the Dance”, numerous chamber instrumental and vocal ensembles, songs (over 90).

The final, Dresden period of Weber's life (1817-26) was marked by the appearance of his famous operas, and its real culmination was the triumphant premiere of The Magic Shooter (1821, Berlin). This opera is not only a brilliant work of composition. Here, as if in focus, the ideals of the new German opera art, affirmed by Weber and then becoming the basis for the subsequent development of this genre, are concentrated.

Musical and social activities required solving not only creative problems. Weber, during his work in Dresden, managed to carry out a large-scale reform of the entire musical and theatrical business in Germany, which included both a targeted repertoire policy and the preparation of a theatrical ensemble of like-minded people. The implementation of the reform was ensured by the musical and critical activity of the composer. The few articles he wrote contain, in essence, a detailed program of romanticism, which established itself in Germany with the advent of The Magic Shooter. But in addition to its purely practical orientation, the composer’s statements are also special, original, clothed in brilliant art form musical literature, foreshadowing the articles of R. Schumann and R. Wagner. Here is one of the fragments of his “Margin Notes”:

The apparent incoherence of the fantastic, reminiscent not so much of an ordinary musical play written according to the rules, but of a fantastic play, can be created... only by the most outstanding genius, the one who creates his own world. The imaginary disorder of this world actually contains an internal connection, permeated with the most sincere feeling, and you just need to be able to perceive it with your feelings. However, the expressiveness of music already contains a lot of uncertainty, individual feeling has to invest a lot into it, and therefore only individual souls tuned to literally the same tone will be able to keep up with the development of feeling, which occurs this way and not otherwise, which presupposes this such and not other necessary contrasts, for which only this one opinion is true. Therefore, the task of a true master is to reign supreme over both his own and other people’s feelings, and to reproduce the feeling that he conveys as permanent and endowed only those flowers and nuances that immediately create a certain holistic image in the listener’s soul.

After The Magic Shooter, Weber turns to the genre comic opera(“The Three Pintos”, libretto by T. Hell, 1820, unfinished), writes music for P. Wolf’s play “Preciosa” (1821). The main works of this period are the heroic-romantic opera “Euryanthe” (1823) intended for Vienna, based on the plot of the French knightly legend and the fairy-tale-fantasy opera Oberon, commissioned by the London Covent Garden Theater (1826). The last score was being completed by the already seriously ill composer right up to the very day of the premiere. The success was unheard of in London. Still, Weber considered some alterations and changes necessary. He didn't have time to do them anymore...

The main work of the composer's life was opera. He knew what he was trying to achieve; he had achieved the ideal image of her:

...I’m talking about the opera that a German craves, and this is a self-contained artistic creation, in which the shares and parts of related and generally all used arts, soldered completely into one whole, disappear as such and to a certain extent are even destroyed, but they are building a new world!

Weber managed to build this new - and for himself - world...

V. Barsky

The ninth son of an infantry officer who devoted himself to music after his niece Constanze married Mozart, Weber received his first music lessons from his half-brother Friedrich, then studied in Salzburg with Michael Haydn and in Munich with Kalcher and Valesi (composition and singing). At the age of thirteen he composed his first opera (which has not come down to us). A short period of work with his father in musical lithography followed, then he improved his knowledge with Abbot Vogler in Vienna and Darmstadt. Moves from place to place, working as a pianist and conductor; in 1817 he married the singer Caroline Brand and organized a German opera theater in Dresden, as opposed to the Italian opera theater under the direction of Morlacchi. Exhausted by extensive organizational work and terminally ill, after a period of treatment in Marienbad (1824), he staged the opera Oberon (1826) in London, which was received with enthusiasm.

Weber was still a son of the 18th century: sixteen years younger than Beethoven, he died almost a year before him, but he seems to be a more modern musician than the classics or Schubert... Weber was not only a creative musician, a brilliant, virtuoso pianist, conductor famous orchestra, but also a great organizer. In this he was like Gluck; only he had a more difficult task, because he worked in the squalid surroundings of Prague and Dresden and had neither the strong character nor the undeniable fame of Gluck...

In the field of operatic art, he turned out to be a rare phenomenon in Germany - one of the few natural opera composers. His vocation was determined without difficulty: from the age of fifteen he knew what the stage required... His life was so active, so eventful that it seems much longer than Mozart’s life, but in reality it was only four years” (Einstein).

When Weber presented Freissmarks in 1821, he significantly anticipated the romanticism of composers such as Bellini and Donizetti, who would appear ten years later, or Rossini, who staged William Tell in 1829. In general, 1821 was significant for the preparation of romanticism in music: at this time Beethoven composed the Thirty-first Sonata op. 110 for piano, Schubert introduces the song “The King of the Forest” and begins the Eighth Symphony, “Unfinished.” Already in the overture of "Free Shooter" Weber moves towards the future and frees himself from the influence of the theater of the recent past, Spohr's Faust or Hoffmann's Ondine, or the French opera that influenced these two of his predecessors. When Weber approached Euryante, Einstein writes, “his sharpest antipode, Spontini, had in a sense already cleared the way for him; at the same time, Spontini only gave the classical opera seria colossal, monumental proportions thanks to crowd scenes and emotional stress. In “Euryanthe” a new, more romantic tone appears, and if the public did not immediately appreciate this opera, then it was deeply appreciated by the composers of subsequent generations.” The work of Weber, who laid the foundations of the German national opera (along with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”), determined the double meaning of his operatic heritage, which Giulio Confalonieri writes well about: “As a true romantic, Weber found in legends and folk legends a source of music devoid of notes, but ready to sound... Along with these elements, he also wanted to freely express his own temperament: unexpected transitions from one tone to the opposite, a daring convergence of extremes that coexist with each other in accordance with the new laws of romantic Franco-German music , were brought to the limit by the composer, whose state of mind, due to consumption, was constantly restless and feverish.” This duality, which seems to contradict stylistic unity and actually violates it, gave rise to a painful desire to leave, by virtue of the very life choice, from the last meaning of existence: from reality - with it, perhaps, only in the magical “Oberon” is reconciliation suggested, and even then partial and incomplete.

In February 1815, Count Karl von Brühl, director of the Royal Theater of Berlin, introducing Karl Maria von Weber to the Prussian Chancellor Karl August Prince of Hardenburg as conductor of the Berlin Opera, gave him the following recommendation: this man stands out not only as a brilliant “passionate composer, he has full of extensive knowledge in the field of art, poetry and literature, and this sets him apart from most musicians.” There is no better way to describe 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 began 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 his physical disabilities, he was more thoughtful and withdrawn than his peers. He learned, in his words, "to live in own world, in a world of fantasy, and find occupation and happiness in it.”

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 is that one day Fridolin exclaimed in despair: “Karl, it seems you can become anything you want, but you will never become a musician.”

Karl Maria was apprenticed to the young bandmaster and composer Johann Peter Heischkel. From then on, training progressed rapidly. A year later, the family went to Salzburg, and Karl became a student of Michael Haydn. At the same time, he composed his first work, which his father published, and received a positive review in one of the newspapers.

In 1798, his mother died. Father's sister Adelaide took care of Karl. From Austria the Webers moved to Munich. Here the young man began taking singing lessons from Johann Evangelist Wallishausz and studying composition from the local organist Johann Nepomuk Kalcher.

Here in Munich, 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 come to the Saxon city of Freiburg. A year later, in November, the first youth opera “The Forest Girl” premiered here. In November 1801, father and son arrived in Salzburg. Karl began studying with Michael Haydn again. Soon Weber wrote his third opera, Peter Schmoll 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 a technique that was available to only a few at that time.

An attempt to send Karl to study with Joseph Haydn nevertheless failed due to the maestro’s refusal. Therefore, the young man continued his studies with Georg Joseph Vogler. Abbot Vogler supported the young talent's interest in folk songs and music, primarily in oriental motifs popular at that time, which was later reflected in Weber's work “Abu Hasan”.

More important, however, was learning to conduct. This allowed Karl to lead the orchestra in the theater of Breslau in 1804. Not yet eighteen years old, the conductor seated the orchestra members in a new way, intervened in the productions, and introduced separate ensemble rehearsals, as well as dress rehearsals, for learning new parts. Weber's reforms were received ambiguously even by the public.

Here Karl had many affairs in the theater, among other things, with the prima donna Dietzel. Beautiful life demanded more and more funds, and the young man fell into debt.

His son's debts prompted his father to search 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, feeling cold, 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. A fatal outcome was avoided, but the young man lost his beautiful voice. His absence was taken advantage of by opponents who quickly eliminated all his reforms. Without money, pursued by creditors, the young pianist went on tour. He was lucky here. The maid of honor Brelonde, lady-in-waiting of the Duchess of Württemberg, facilitated his introduction to Eugen Friedrich von Württemberg-Els. Karl Maria took the place of music director at Karlsruhe Castle, built in the forests of upper Silesia. Now he has a lot of time to write. During the autumn of 1806 and winter of 1807, the twenty-year-old composer wrote a concertina for trumpet, as well as two symphonies. But the offensive of Napoleonic army confused all the cards. Soon Karl was to take the place of private secretary of Duke Ludwig, one of Eugene's three sons. This service turned out to be difficult for Weber from the very beginning. Tester financial difficulties The Duke more than once made Charles a scapegoat. Three years wild life, when Karl Maria often participated in his master’s feasts, ended quite unexpectedly. In 1810, Karl's father arrived in Stuttgart and brought with him new and considerable debts. It all ended with the fact that, trying to get out of both his own and his father’s debts, the composer ended up behind bars, though only for sixteen days. On February 26, 1810, Karl and his father were expelled from Württemberg, but they made him promise to repay his debts.

This event was of great importance to Karl. In his diary he will write: “Born again.”

Behind a short time Weber first visited Mannheim, then Heidelberg and finally moved to Darmdstadt. Here Karl got carried away writing activity. His greatest achievement was the novel A Musician's Life, in which he hilariously and brilliantly described the composer's spiritual life while composing music. The book was largely autobiographical in nature.

On September 16, 1810, the premiere of his opera Silvana took place in Frankfurt. The composer was prevented from enjoying his triumph by Madame Blanchard's sensational hot air 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 success and recognition, Karl Maria began the composition “Abu Hasan” in late autumn. He completed his largest instrumental work at that time, 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 Joseph Berman performed a hastily composed concertino for clarinet especially for him. “The whole orchestra has gone crazy and wants concerts from me,” wrote Weber. Even King Max Joseph of Bavaria commissioned two concertos for clarinet and concerto.

Unfortunately, the matter did not come to 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 pain. From that time on, Weber's battle with a fatal disease began.

In April, in Berlin, Weber received sad news - his father died at the age of 78. Now he was left completely alone. However, his stay in Berlin did him good. Along with classes with male choirs, correcting and reworking the opera “Silvana”, he also wrote keyboard music. With the Grand Sonata in C-Dur he stepped onto 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 keyboard concerto.

Setting off at the beginning next year on a new tour, Karl recalled with melancholy: “Everything seems like a dream to me: that I left Berlin and left everything that had become dear and close to me.”

But Weber's tour was unexpectedly interrupted as soon as it began. As soon as Karl arrived in Prague, he was dumbfounded by the offer to head the local theater. After some hesitation, Weber agreed. He imagined rare opportunity realize his musical ideas, since from the director of the Liebig Theater he received unlimited authority to form an orchestra. On the other hand, he now has a real chance to get rid of his debts.

Unfortunately, Karl soon became seriously ill, so much so that he did not leave the apartment for a long time. Having recovered 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 flirtatious theater ladies together. “It’s my misfortune that an eternally young heart beats in my chest,” he sometimes complained.

After new attacks of illness, Weber left for spa treatment and from Bad Liebwerdn often wrote to Caroline Brandt, who became his guardian angel. After numerous quarrels, the lovers finally found mutual agreement.

The liberation of Berlin after Napoleon's defeat in Leipzig unexpectedly awakened patriotic feelings in the composer. He composes music for “Lützow’s Wild Hunt” and “Sword Song” from Theodor Kerner’s collection of poems “Lyre and Sword”.

However, he soon fell into depression, caused not only by new attacks of illness, but also by serious disagreements with Brandt. Weber was inclined to leave Prague, and only the serious illness of the theater director Liebig kept him in the Czech Republic.

On November 19, 1816, something happened in the composer’s life big event- he announced his engagement to Caroline Brandt. Inspired, he is for short term writes two sonatas for piano, a large concert duet for claret and piano, and several songs.

At the end of 1817, Weber took up the post of musical director of the German opera in Dresden. He had finally settled down and not only began to lead a sedentary life, but also put an end to his increasingly debilitating love affairs. On November 4, 1817, he married Caroline Brandt.

In Dresden, Weber wrote his best work - the opera Free Shooter. He first mentioned this opera in a letter to his then-fiancée Caroline: “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.

Caroline was expecting a child and was not entirely healthy in the last month of pregnancy. After much suffering, she gave birth to a girl, and Karl barely had time to fulfill orders. He had barely finished the mass for the day of honoring the royal couple when a new order arrived - an opera on the theme of the Arabian Nights fairy tales.

In mid-March, Weber fell ill, and a month later his daughter died. Caroline tried to hide her misfortune from her husband.

Soon she herself became seriously ill. Nevertheless, Caroline 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. Weber composed a lot in July and August. But work on “Free Shooter” was not moving forward at all. The New Year 1820 began again with misfortune - Caroline had a miscarriage. Thanks to his friends, the composer managed to overcome the crisis and on February 22 began completing “Free Shooter.” On May 3, Weber was able to proudly declare: “The Overture of The Hunter's Bride is completed, and with it the entire opera. Honor and praise be to the Lord."

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 never expected this from him! Now Weber must write operas, only operas, one after another.” Meanwhile, Weber's health deteriorated. For the first time his throat began to bleed.

In 1823, the composer completed work on a new opera, Euryanta. He was worried low level libretto. Nevertheless, the premiere of the opera was generally successful. The hall enthusiastically accepted new job Weber. But the success of “Free Shooter” could not be repeated. The disease is rapidly progressing. The composer is plagued by an incessant, debilitating cough. In unbearable conditions, he finds the strength to work on the opera Oberon.

On April 1, the premiere of Oberon took place in London's Covent Garden. It was an unprecedented triumph for Carl Maria von Weber. The audience even forced him to go on stage - an event that had never happened before in the English capital. He died in London on June 5, 1826. The death mask accurately conveys Weber's facial features in some kind of unearthly enlightenment, as if he saw heaven 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 opera score was kept in a closet. Soon the most incomprehensibly this closet 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 abandon music forever, devoting himself to lithography.
However, despite the heavenly warning, his passion for music did not pass and at the age of fourteen Weber wrote a new opera, “The Dumb Forest Girl.” The opera was first staged in 1800. Then it was staged quite often in Vienna, Prague and even St. Petersburg. After such a very successful start musical career Weber stopped believing in omens and various “signs from above.”

2. envious person No. 1

Weber's dislike for other people's fame was truly boundless. He was especially uncompromising 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 doesn’t even deserve to be talked about! - Weber once said.
“Tell him that this would suit me very much,” Rossinni responded to this.

3. motto

The motto of Weber's work was famous words, which the composer asked to place as his own autograph on the published engraving with his portrait: “Weber expresses the will of God, Beethoven - the will of Beethoven, and Rossini ... the will of the Viennese”

4. Salieri to himself

In Breslau, Weber had a tragic incident that almost cost him his life. Weber invited a friend to dinner and sat down to work while waiting for him. Having frozen while working, he decided to warm up with a sip of wine, but in the semi-darkness he took a sip from the wine flask in which Weber's father kept sulfuric acid for engraving work. The composer fell lifeless. Weber's friend, meanwhile, was late and arrived only after nightfall. The composer's window was lit, but no one answered the knock. The friend pushed open the unlocked door and saw Weber's body lying lifeless on the floor. A broken flask lay nearby, giving off a pungent odor. Weber’s father ran out of the next room in response to cries for help, and 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 were ineffective. Thus Weber lost his beautiful voice. For the rest of his life he was forced to speak in a whisper.
He once said in a whisper to one of his friends:
- They say that Mozart was ruined by Salieri, but I managed without him...

5. Unfortunately, birthdays only come once a year...

Weber loved animals very much. His house resembled a zoo: the hunting dog Ali, gray cat Maune, the capuchin monkey Schnoof and many birds surrounded the musician’s family. The big Indian raven was a favorite - every morning he said solemnly to the composer: “Good evening.”
One day, his wife Caroline gave him a truly wonderful gift. Costumes for the animals were made especially for Weber’s birthday, and the next morning a funny procession went to the birthday boy’s room to congratulate him!.. Ali was turned into an elephant with a long trunk and large ears, his nopon was replaced by silk handkerchiefs. Behind him was a cat dressed as a donkey, with a pair of slippers instead of bags on its back. Next came the monkey. fluffy dress, a hat with a huge feather bounced coquettishly on her head...
Weber jumped for joy like a child, and then something unimaginable began: he forgot about his illnesses, failures, and even about his competing composers... The animals and happy Weber rushed around the chairs and tables, and the serious raven said to everyone an infinite number of times:
- Good evening!
It's a pity that Rossini didn't see this...

6. ugly angel

When The Magic Shooter was staged in Prague, the lead female role was sung by Henrietta Sontag, a very small, charming and extremely timid singer. She was a girl of angelic beauty, but Weber did not like her too much because of her timidity and uncertainty.
“She’s a pretty girl, but still quite thin,” the composer shrugged.

7. subtleties of criticism

From time to time, enthusiastic praise of the greatest of the greatest maestros of all times, Weber, appeared in Parisian newspapers. Moreover, the laudatory articles of the unknown author were written with knowledge of all the intricacies of the composer’s music. And it is not surprising, since these praises of 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 their father-composer: Carl Maria, Maria Carolina and Caroline Maria.

Constance, studied music since childhood. He made his mark as a pianist and later as musical director of theaters in Prague and Dresden.

All the best, viable, democratic in romanticism ( aesthetic ideas, new stylistic features literary and musical works) received its original implementation in the works of Weber.

As a composer, he is especially famous as the author of the first significant German romantic opera, Freeshot.

Carl Maria Friedrich von Weber was born in the small town of Eytin in Holstein, northern Germany, on December 18, 1786 in the family of a passionate music lover and entrepreneur of traveling dramatic 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 subsequently determined, on the one hand, the composer’s interest in musical and dramatic genres, and on the other, 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 music and painting.

In 1796 in Hildburghausen, Karl Maria studied with I. P. Geishkel, in 1797 and in 1801 in Salzburg he studied the basics of counterpoint under the guidance of Michael Haydn, in 1798-1800 in Munich he studied composition with the court organist I. N. Kalcher and singing from I. E. Valesi (Wallishauser).

In 1798, under the direction of Michael Haydn, Weber wrote six fuguettes for clavier - the composer's first independent opus. This was followed by a large number of new works in different genres:

• six variations on an original theme
• twelve allemandes and six ecosaises for the clavier
• Great 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 Dumb Forest Girl” (1800)
• Singspiel "Peter Schmoll and His Neighbors" (1801), approved by Michael Haydn

Big shift in creative development The composer's breakthrough came in 1803, when, after wandering around many cities in Germany, Weber arrived in Vienna, where he met 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, seventeen-year-old Weber received the position of director of music (kapellmeister) at the Breslau Opera House. From that moment on, a new period began (1804-1816) 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 the evolution of Weber, when his worldview and aesthetic views were taking shape, and his talent as a composer was entering a period of bright flowering. While working with opera companies, Weber discovered outstanding conducting abilities

Working with opera theater troupes in Breslau and Prague, Weber discovered outstanding conducting abilities and talent as an organizer of musical and theatrical affairs. Already in Breslau, at the very beginning of his conducting career, Weber established a new order of placing musicians in the opera orchestra - according to groups of instruments. Weber anticipated the principle of placing instruments in an orchestra, which would become characteristic of the entire 19th and, to a certain extent, 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.

The years 1807-1810 marked the beginning of Weber's literary and musical critical activity. He writes articles, reviews of performances, musical works, annotations to his works, and begins the novel “The Life of a Musician” (1809).

In the works that appeared during the first period of independent creative life Weber (1804-1816), the features of the future mature style of the composer are gradually revealed. During this period of creativity, Weber’s most significant artistic works were associated with the musical and dramatic genre:

• romantic opera "Silvana" (1810)
• Singspiel "Abu Hasan" (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 the cycle of heroic songs “Lyre and Sword” to the words of Theodor Koerner (1814, op. 41-43) stands out

Thus, when at the beginning of 1817 Weber took the position of conductor of the Deutsche Oper in Dresden, he was already fully prepared for the struggle to establish 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 peak in the composer's work. His organizational and conducting activities took on an intensive character here. The century and a half 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 period of 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 prepared) team (“The Abduction from the Seraglio”, “The Marriage of Figaro” by Mozart, “Fidelio”) ", "Yessonda" Spohr and many others).

Museum Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden During this period of Weber's activity he wrote and staged best works

. Among them, the first place is occupied by the opera “Free Shooter”. The story, rooted in folklore, is about a man who sold his soul to the devil for a few magic bullets that allowed him to win a shooting competition, and with it his hand., which he loved. The opera presented for the first time everything that was familiar and dear to the heart of every German. Simple village life with its crude humor and sentimental naivety. The surrounding forest, whose gentle smile hides supernatural horror. And above all - the characters: from cheerful hunters and village girls to a simple, valiant hero and the prince who ruled over them.
The opera Free Shooter 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 Shooter, Weber was not only able to free German opera from French and Italian influence, but also laid the foundations for one of the main forms of opera of the 19th century. The brilliant victory of the triumphant premiere of the brilliant “Free Shooter” (June 18, 1821 in Berlin) marked Weber’s major achievements on his chosen path, making him a national hero.

Next, Weber began creating a comic opera, The Three Pintos, which remained unfinished. Work on the new opera was interrupted by the composition of music for the play by P.A. Wolf's "Preciosa" (1820), in 1823 the first great heroic-romantic opera "Euryanthe" appeared, written for Vienna. It was an ambitious project and a great achievement, but failed due to an unsuccessful libretto.

In 1826, Weber's brilliant series of operatic works was worthily completed by the fabulous Oberon staged in London. The motive for creating this opera was the desire to provide for his 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 was worthily completed by the fabulous Oberon.

The form of "Oberon" had little of Weber's style, the structure was ponderous for a composer who advocated fusion performing arts with opera. But it was this opera that he filled with the most exquisite music. Despite his rapidly failing health, Weber went to the premiere of his work. "Oberon" received recognition, the composer was feted, but he could barely walk. Shortly before his planned return to Germany, on June 5, he was found dead in his room. Opera reformer K. Weber