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.