A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Weber, Gottfried

WEBER, Gottfried, Doctor of Laws and Philosophy, composer, theorist and practical musician, was born in 1779 at Freiesheim near Mannheim, and studied and travelled until, in 1802 he settled in Mannheim as a lawyer and holder of a Government appointment. It waa here that his namesake, Carl Maria von Weber, sought a refuge after his banishment from Würtemberg (1810), that, in the house of Gottfried's father an asylum was found for old Franz Anton until his death in 1812, and that a lasting friendship was formed between Gottfried Weber, then aged 31, and Carl Maria, eight years his junior. A year previously the lawyer, proficient on the piano, flute, violoncello, and well versed in the scientific branches of musical knowledge, had founded, out of two existing societies, the 'Museum,' a band and chorus of amateurs who, under his able direction and with some professional help, did excellent work. Gottfried's influence gained for the young composer a hearing in Mannheim, and the artists and amateurs, carried away by the spirit and fire of their conductor, did much towards establishing Carl Maria's fame in their city. For a lengthy account of the relations, both lively and severe, between these distinguished men, their influence on each other's work, their pleasant wanderings in company with other choice spirits, singing their newest songs to the guitar as serenades; their establishment of a so-called secret society (with high aims) of Composer-literati, in which Gottfried adopted the pseudonym of Giusto; and of their merry meetings at the 'Drei Könige' or at Gottfried's house—the reader may be referred to Max v. Weber's life of his father (Carl Maria). When circumstances had parted them, constant correspondence showed the strength and quality of their mutual sympathy. Some of Gottfried's best songs had been inspired by this intercourse, and were no doubt exquisitely interpreted by his (second) wife, née v. Dusch. Besides these songs, strophic in form and sometimes provided with guitar accompaniment, Weber's compositions include three Masses, other sacred music, sonatas, and concerted pieces for various instruments. In the intervals of founding the Mannheim Conservatoire, superintending the Court Church musical services, and doing occasional duty as conductor at Mainz, the genial lawyer laid the basis of his reputation by a profound study of the theory of music, the result of which appeared in the 'Versuch einer geordneten Theorie' (about 1815), of which translations have since appeared in French, Danish and English (Warner, Boston, 1846, and J. Bishop, London, 1851); 'Allgemeine Musiklehre'; and other volumes, and articles published in 'Caecilia,' the musical periodical published by Schott in Mainz, and edited by Gottfried Weber from its beginning in 1824 until his death, September 21, 1839.^[1] [See vol. i. 294.] Weber's examination of musical theories led to his work on time-measurements and the 'tempo-interpreter' [see vol. ii. 319a], and his study of acoustics to certain improvements or inventions in wind-instrument making. A full list of his writings and compositions is given in Mendel's Lexicon xi. 297.

[ L. M. M. ]

1. It appears that vol. xx. of July 1839 was followed only in 1842 by vol. xxi., the first edited by Dehn.