The music to Oberon, though the work of a man dying by inches, bears no traces of mental exhaustion. Indeed it is delightfully fresh and original throughout, and entirely different from all the rest of Weber's compositions. The keynote of the whole is its picture of the mysteries of Elf-land, and the life of the spirits of air, earth, and water. True, this note is touched in Der Freischütz and Euryanthe, but in Oberon it is struck with full force, and vibrates with an almost intoxicating sweetness. What Weber did in this direction was absolutely new, and a valuable addition to his art, and many composers have followed in the same track. His melody, the chords of his harmony, the figures employed, the effects of colour so totally unexpected—all combine to waft us with mysterious power into an unknown land. Anybody acquainted with the Adagio of the overture will see what we mean. Of a charm almost unparalleled is the introduction to the 1st Act, with the elves flitting hither and thither, softly singing as they keep watch over Oberon's slumbers. The 2nd Act is specially rich in delicious pictures of nature, now in her tender and dreamy, now in her savage and sublime, moods.[1] Puck's invocation of the spirits, the roar of the tempest—the most powerful representation of a storm in music excepting Beethoven's in the Pastoral Symphony—the magnificent picture in Reiza's grand scena of the gradual calming of the waves beneath the rays of the setting sun; lastly, the finale, with the mermaids' bewildering song, and the elves dancing in the moonlight on the strand,—these are musical treasures which have not yet been exhausted. Mendelssohn, Gade, Bennett, drew the inspiration for their romantic scenes of a similar kind from 'Oberon,' but none of them have attained the depth or the individuality of their prototype. Even Schumann trod in his footsteps in isolated passages of 'Paradise and the Peri,' the ballad 'Vom Pagen und der Königstochter,' and 'Manfred.' Of German opera composers I say nothing; their imitation of him is patent.
Through the hazy atmosphere of this land of sprites and fairies, we discern the outlined features of two contrasting races and countries Western chivalry and Oriental life. In the finale of the 1st Act, the opening of the 2nd, and the dance of slaves in the 3rd, we have, sketched by a master-hand, the dullness, inertness, and yet imaginativeness of the Oriental disposition. The melody sung by the guard of the harem in the 1st Act is Arabian, that in the 3rd Act at the commencement of the dance of Almanzor's slaves, Turkish, both used with great skill to give a local colouring. From the mass of these stupid, indolent, sensual Orientals, Reiza and Fatima stand out with all the greater charm. They seem in a sense the embodiment of all that is beautiful in the East, and their connection with the Frankish knights forms a link between the East and West. The brilliant and energetic knights form the strongest contrast to the Orientals. This is suggested with irresistible force in the Allegro of the overture, and further emphasised in the body of the opera, in Huon's grand air in E♭ ('I revel in hope') and the splendid march at the close. In Euryanthe Weber had already shown his gift for the chevalresque, but it comes out here with a difference. 'In Oberon,' as Rochlitz well puts it, 'the leading characteristics are gentleness, friendly feeling, and cheerfulness, with no lack of energy, spirit, or movement. The general impression is not exciting, agitating, disturbing, but elevating, soothing, and calming.' Had Weber been permitted to complete the German revision, it might possibly have been the crown of all his operas? As it is, its immortality is assured.[2]
11. Next after Weber's operas come into consideration his Lieder, the Lied-form playing, as was natural with a German, so important a part in his operas. His Lieder bear unmistakable traces of that dramatic element which runs through everything he wrote. He left 78 German Lieder for single voice with PF. or guitar accompaniment, besides two or three Italian canzonets, a French romance, and a song from Lalla Rookh, 'From Chindara's warbling fount I come,' his last composition, with the accompaniment merely sketched in.[3] We do not include his 10 Scotch airs arranged with accompaniment for PF., flute, violin, and cello. Among the part-songs should be singled out 16 Lieder for men's voices, and 3 Volkslieder for 2 voices with accompaniment.
The poets from whom Weber took his words are Matthison, Herder, Bürger, Voss, Kotzebue, Tieck, Schenkendorf, and Körner. Of these, with the exception of Körner, he set but one or two, sometimes only one, poem apiece. Goethe's name does not appear at all, which, considering the antipathy between the two, may not have been accidental. Unknown or unimportant writers of verse, such as Muchler, Gubitz, Kannegiesser, occur pretty frequently. The greater part of the verses composed by him, and the finest, are Volkslieder.
It was at the suggestion of Vogler that Weber first made a study of the songs of the people, and this study, added to his own intuitive perception of what was intrinsically good and individual in popular music, enabled him to hit off the characteristic tone of the Volkslied as nobody had done before. 'Mein Schatz ist auf die Wanderschaft hin,' 'Herzchen, mein Schätzchen, bist tausendmal mein,' 'Wenn ich ein Vöglein war,' 'Ich hab' mir eins erwahlet,' 'O Berlin, ich muss dich lassen,' 'Sie nichts mit den alten Weibern,' are songs in which every variety of feeling is expressed with a freshness and originality rarely met with. His musical
- ↑ May not the elves and sprites be intended for personifications of the forces of nature?
- ↑ The full score has been published in an edition de luxe by Schlesinger of Berlin.
- ↑ Schlesinger of Berlin has published a complete edition in 2 vols. of Weber's songs. Two or three unimportant ones for single voice are omitted, but the 2-part songs, Italian duets, numerous choruses for men's voices (arranged), part-songs for various voices with accompaniments, bring up the number to 100.
