What would conductors do without these three overtures of Weber? They
are to them in time of perplexity what _Cavalleria Rusticana_ and
_Pagliacci_ are to opera managers. And yet, in spite of countless
performances, the overture to _Der Freischütz_ is not stale. The part
song for the horns still charms the ear, although it is now associated
with “when the sun glorious” and other sacred words for service in the
meeting house. The Samiel motive is still dramatically sinister and
brings back memories of the red-cloaked fiend as we have seen him on the
German stage. And the clarinet theme, typical of Max, is still worthy of
the famous praise of Berlioz. When there is talk of this overture there
is frequently a reference to an article about it written by Douglas
Jerrold. Was this article ever republished in an edition of Jerrold’s
works? Has anyone now living ever read it?
* * *
_Der Freischütz_, a romantic opera in three acts, book by Friedrich
Kind, music by Weber, was performed at Berlin, June 18, 1821. Weber
wrote in his diary that the opera was received with “incredible
enthusiasm; Overture and Folksong were encored; fourteen out of
seventeen music pieces were stormily applauded. Everything went
exceedingly well, and was sung _con amore_. I was called before the
curtain and took Mad. [_sic_] Seidler and Mlle. [_sic_] Eunike with me
as I could not get hold of the others. Verses and wreaths came flying.
‘_Soli Deo Gloria_.’” Some of these verses were malicious, and reflected
on Spontini, much to Weber’s distress.
Weber began work on the overture on February 22, 1820. On May 13 he
noted in his diary: “Overture of _Die Jägersbraut_ finished, and with it
the whole opera. God be praised, and to Him alone be the glory” (_Die
Jägersbraut_ was the original title of the opera; it was kept until into
the year 1820, when Weber changed it to _Der Freischütz_ at the advice
of Count Bruhl, Intendant of the Berlin Court theaters). Weber heard the
music for the first time at a rehearsal of the Dresden Orchestra, June
10, 1820. This was the first music of the opera that he heard.
We have mentioned the success of this overture at Berlin, when it was
played as the prelude to the opera and under Weber’s direction; a
success that dumfounded the followers of Spontini and settled the future
of German opera in the capital. And so, wherever the overture was
played, the effect was overwhelming—as in London, where the opera was
first performed in English, July 22 (?), 1824, at the English opera
house. W. T. Parke wrote: “The music of this opera is such a continued
display of science, taste, and melody as to justify any praises bestowed
on it. The overture embraces most of the subjects of the airs in the
opera, ingeniously interwoven with each other, and is quite original.
The grandeur of some passages and the finely contrasted simplicity of
others produced an effect which was irresistible. It was vehemently
encored.”
Much has been written about the overture, from the rhapsody of Douglas
Jerrold to Wagner’s critical remarks concerning the true reading. The
enthusiasm of Berlioz is well known: “The overture is crowned Queen;
today no one dreams of disputing it. It is cited as the model of the
kind. The theme of the slow movement and that of the _allegro_ are sung
everywhere. There is one theme that I must mention, because it is less
noticed, and also because it moves me incomparably more than all the
rest. It is that long, groaning melody, thrown by the clarinet over the
tremolo of the orchestra, like unto a far-off lamentation scattered by
the winds in the depths of the forest. It strikes home to the heart; and
for me, at least, this virginal song, which seems to breathe skyward a
timid reproach, while a somber harmony shudders and threatens, is one of
the most novel, poetic, and beautiful contrasts that modern art has
produced in music. In this instrumental inspiration one can already
recognize easily a reflection of the character of Agathe, which is soon
to develop in all its passionate purity. The theme is borrowed, however,
from the part of Max. It is the cry of the young hunter at the moment
when, from his rocky height, he sounds with his eyes the abysses of the
infernal glen. Changed a little in outline, and orchestrated in this
manner, the phrase is different both in aspect and accent.” Compare with
this the remarks of Berlioz in the section on the clarinet in his
“Treatise on Instrumentation.” The clarinet, he says, has the precious
faculty of producing “distance, echo, an echo of echo, and a twilight
sound.... What more admirable example could I quote of the application
of some of these shadowings than the dreamy phrase of the clarinet,
accompanied by a tremolo of stringed instruments in the midst of the
_allegro_ of the overture to _Freischütz_? Does it not depict the lonely
maiden, the forester’s fair betrothed, who, raising her eyes to heaven,
mingles her tender lament with the noise of the dark woods agitated by
the storm? O Weber!!”
The overture begins _adagio_, C major, 4-4. After eight measures of
introduction there is a part song for four horns. This section of the
overture is not connected in any way with subsequent stage action. After
the quarter the Samiel motive appears, and there is the thought of Max
and his temptation. The main body of the overture is _molto_ _vivace_, C
minor, 2-2. The sinister music rises to a climax, which is repeated
during the casting of the seventh bullet in the Wolf’s Glen. In the next
episode, E flat major, themes associated with Max (clarinet) and Agathe
(first violins and clarinet) appear. The climax of the first section
reappears, now in major, and there is use of Agathe’s theme. There is
repetition of the demoniac music that introduces the _allegro_, and
Samiel’s motive dominates the modulation to the _coda_, C major,
_fortissimo_, which is the apotheosis of Agathe.