The overture is not without a certain old-fashioned but veritable pomp;
it has the spirit of ceremony which the admirers of Weber call “the
chivalric spirit.” It would be perhaps an idle task for an ultra-modern
to insist that the only music in this overture that appeals to the men
and women of the younger generation is that of the short episode which
was originally intended to accompany a pantomimic scene on the stage, a
scene of old-fashioned romantic melodrama, with tomb, kneeling heroine,
gliding ghost, and an eavesdropping, intriguing woman. In these few
mysterious measures Weber thought far beyond his period. The
ultra-modern might say that the rest of the music is decorative and that
the decorations are substantial till they are cumbrous; that the
melodies are like unto a cameo brooch worn by a woman who remembers
nights of coquetry and dances long out of fashion; that the few measures
of counterpoint show Weber as a plodding amateur. Nevertheless, the
conventionally jubilant swing and the impetuous pace still make their
way in a concert hall.
* * *
_Euryanthe_, grand heroic-romantic opera in three acts, book founded by
Helmina von Chezy on an old French tale of the thirteenth century,
“Histoire de Gérard de Nevers et de la belle et vertueuse Euryant de
Savoye, sa mie”—a tale used by Boccaccio (_Decameron_, second day, ninth
novel) and Shakespeare (_Cymbeline_)—music by Weber, was produced at the
Kärnthnerthor Court Opera Theater, Vienna, October 25, 1823. The
composer conducted. Domineco Barbaja, manager of the Kärnthnerthor and
the An der Wien theaters, had commissioned Weber to write for the former
opera house an opera in the style of _Der Freischütz_. Weber had several
librettos in mind before he chose that of _Euryanthe_; he was impressed
by one concerning the Cid, by Friedrich Kind. The two quarreled. Then he
thought of the story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, as told by Ludwig
Rellstab, but this subject had tempted many composers before him.
Helmina von Chezy, living in Dresden when Weber was there, had written
the text of “Rosamunde” to which Schubert set music. The failure of this
work apparently did not frighten Weber from accepting a libretto from
her. She had translated a version of the old French tale mentioned above
for a collection of medieval poems (_Sammlung romantischer Dichtungen
des Mittelalters_), edited by Fr. Schlegel, which was published at
Leipsic in 1804. She entitled her version, “Die Geschichte der
Tugendsamen Euryanthe von Savoyen” (The Story of the Innocent Euryanthe
of Savoy). The original version is in the _Roman de la Violette_, by
Gilbert de Montreuil.
As soon as the text of the first act was ready (December 15, 1821),
Weber began to compose the music. He wrote a large portion of the opera
at Hosterwitz. The opera was completed without the overture on August
29, 1823. Weber began to compose the overture on September 1, 1823, and
completed it at Vienna on October 19 of that year. He scored the
overture at Vienna, October 16-19, 1823.
Weber wrote to his wife on the day after the first performance, “My
reception, when I appeared in the orchestra, was the most enthusiastic
and brilliant that one could imagine. There was no end to it. At last I
gave the signal for the beginning. Stillness of death. The overture was
applauded madly; there was a demand for a repetition; but I went ahead,
so that the performance might not be too long drawn out.”
Max Maria von Weber, in the life of his father, gives a somewhat
different account. A grotesque incident occurred immediately before the
performance. There was a tumult in the parterre of the opera house.
There was laughing, screaming, cursing. A fat, carelessly dressed woman,
with a crushed hat and a shawl hanging from her shoulders, was going
from seat to seat, screaming out: “Make room for me! I am the poetess!”
It was Mme von Chezy, who had forgotten to bring her ticket and was thus
heroically attempting to find her seat. The laughter turned into
applause when Weber appeared in the orchestra, and the applause
continued until the signal for the beginning was given. “The performance
of the overture,” says Max von Weber, “was not worthy of the usually
excellent orchestra; indeed, it was far inferior to that at the dress
rehearsal. Perhaps the players were too anxious to do well, or, and this
is more probable, perhaps the fault was in the lack of sufficient
rehearsal. The ensemble was faulty—in some places the violins actually
played false—and, although a repetition was demanded by some, the
impression made by the poetic composition was not to be compared with
that made later in Berlin, Dresden, and the Gewandhaus concert in
Leipsic.” Yet Max von Weber says later that Count Brühl wrote the
composer, January 18, 1824, that the overture played for the first time
in Berlin in a concert by F. L. Seidel hardly made any impression at
all. To this Weber answered, January 23: “That the overture failed is
naturally very unpleasant for me. It must have been wholly misplayed,
which I am led to believe from the remarks about its difficulty. The
Vienna orchestra, which is in no way as good as that of Berlin,
performed it _prima vista_ without any jar to my satisfaction, and, as
it seemed, with effect.”
The overture begins E flat, _allegro marcato, con molto fuoco_, 4-4,
though the half note is the metronomic standard indicated by Weber.
After eight measures of an impetuous and brilliant exordium the first
theme is announced by wind instruments in full harmony, and it is
derived from Adolar’s phrase: “_Ich bau’ auf Gott und meine Euryanth’_”
(Act I, No. 4). The original tonality is preserved. This theme is
developed brilliantly until, after a crashing chord, B flat, of full
orchestra and vigorous drumbeats, a transitional phrase for violoncellos
leads to the second theme, which is of a tender nature. Sung by the
first violins over sustained harmony in the other strings, this theme is
associated in the opera with the words, “_O Seligkeit, dich fass’ ich
kaum!_” from Adolar’s air, “_Wehen mir Lüfte Ruh’_” (Act II, No. 12).
The measures of the exordium return, there is a strong climax, and then
after a long organ-point there is silence.
The succeeding short _largo_, charged with mystery, refers to
Eglantine’s vision of Emma’s ghost and to the fatal ring. Eglantine has
taken refuge in the castle of Nevers and won the affection of Euryanthe,
who tells her the tragic story of Emma and her betrothed, Udo; for the
ghost of Emma, sister of Adolar, had appeared to Euryanthe and told her
that Udo had been her faithful lover. He fell in battle. As life was to
her then worthless, she took poison from a ring, and was thereby
separated from Udo; a wretched ghost, she was doomed to wander by night
until the ring should be wet with the tears shed by an innocent maiden
in her time of danger and extreme need (Act I, No. 6). Eglantine steals
the ring from the sepulcher. She gives it to Lysiart, who shows it to
the Court, swearing that he had received it from Euryanthe, false to
Adolar. The music is also heard in part in Act III (No. 23), where
Eglantine, about to marry Lysiart, sees in the madness of sudden remorse
the ghost of Emma, and soon after reveals the treachery.
In _Euryanthe_, as in the old story of Gérard de Nevers, in the tale
told by Boccaccio, and in _Cymbeline_, a wager is made over a woman’s
chastity. In each story the boasting lover or husband is easily
persuaded to jealousy and revenge by the villain bragging of favors
granted to him.
For these three overtures, Weber used the customary orchestration of
wood-winds in twos, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones,
kettledrums, and strings.—EDITOR.
RALPH VAUGHAN
WILLIAMS
(Born at Down Ampney on the Borders of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire,
England, on October 12, 1872)