Carl Maria von Weber, 1786-1826. Overture to the opera ``Der Freischütz.'' Completed 1820, first performance June 18th, 1821, in Berlin. Scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tympani, and strings.
Although today he is considered a relatively minor composer, Carl Maria von Weber was once successful and popular, and had a significant influence on later German composers, including two of those to be heard on today's concert. Born into a family of accomplished musicians, Weber showed early promise, but failed to respond to his father's tutelage and hopes of producing another Mozart. However, a few years later a more appropriate teacher was found and Weber began to blossom. He was fortunate to live in a musically bountiful era, and subsequently took instruction from some of his best-known contemporaries, including both Michael and Franz Joseph Haydn. Like many others of his day, he began giving concerts and writing music at an early age, and was appointed Kapellmeister (roughly, music director) of the theater at Breslau when he was only 17.
A number of positions followed over the years, until in 1817 Weber received his final appointment, that of Kapellmeister at the Dresden Opera, and soon began work on his seventh opera, ``Der Freischütz'' (literally, ``The Freeshooter''), a tale of a hunter who bargains with the devil to acquire a supply of bullets that can be guided to their target by the marksman's will. Although the libretto is poetically weak, the music of the opera is continuously inventive and engaging, and the work was an immediate success throughout Germany. The overture (composed after the rest of the opera was complete, as was common) weaves together several of the work's most important themes in a rousing introduction to the action and to Weber's melodic talents.
© 1995, Geoff Kuenning
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