WEBER, Carl Maria von 1786-1826

Euryanthe. Grosse romantische Oper in 3 Aufzügen. Dichtung von Helmine von Chezy, geb: Freyinn von Klencke. In Musik gesetzt und Seiner Majestät Franz I. Kaiser von Oesterreic,h König von Ungarn und Böhmen, der Lombardey und Venedig, Galizien und Lodomerien; Erzherzog von Oesterreich .&. &. &. in tiefster Ehrfurcht zugeeignet von Carl Maria von Weber, Königl. sächsischen Hofkapellmeister und Direktor der Königl. deutschen Oper &. &. Vollständiger vom Componisten verfertigter Clavier-Auszug. ... Eigenthum der Verleger. ... Preis f 10_ Conv. M. [Piano-vocal score]

Wien: bei S. A. Steiner und Comp: (Graben Nro. 272 im Paternostergässchen) [PNs S: u: C: 4519-4545], [1824].

Oblong folio. Contemporary half dark brown calf with dark brown speckled paper boards, red edges. Original mid-blue publishers printed wrappers bound in with decorative border to upper and publisher's catalogue listing arrangements of selections from the opera to lower. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (cast list and table of contents), 4-223, [i] (blank) pp.

Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped. Slightly worn; occasional soiling, foxing, and minor stains; small tear to blank lower margin of pp. 111/112 repaired with archival tape.

First Edition. Jähns 291. CPM Vol. 60, p. 15. Hirsch IV, 1290. Hoboien 15, 361.

Euryanthe was first performed in Vienna at the Theatre am Kärntnertor on 25 October 1823.

"For all the weaknesses in the libretto ... Euryanthe is a mature and advanced musical drama, one which was deeply admired by later Romantic composers including Schumann, Liszt and Wagner." TNG Vol. 20, p. 255.

Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and critic. "A prototypical 19th-century musician-critic, he sought through his works, words, and efforts as performer and conductor to promote art and shape emerging middle-class audiences to its appreciation. His contributions to song, choral music, and piano music were highly esteemed by his contemporaries, his opera overtures influenced the development of the concert overture and symphonic poem, and his explorations of novel timbres and orchestrations enriched the palette of musical sonorities. With the overwhelming success of his opera Der Freischütz in 1821 he became the leading exponent of German opera in the 1820s and an international celebrity. A seminal figure of the 19th century, he influenced composers as diverse as Marschner, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Meyerbeer, Berlioz, and Liszt. ...

... Like its predecessor [Der Freischütz], Euryanthe involves distinct dramatic spheres with contrasting musical colours. The overarching world of medieval chivalry is suggested by a level of seriousness, artifice, elegance, and brilliance not found in Der Freischütz. Against this chivalric background the dramatic and musical opposition of good and evil is once again crucial to the dramaturgy, the former represented by the troubadour-knight Adolar and his beloved, Euryanthe, and the latter by Lysiart and his accomplice Eglantine. Another dramatic plane is inhabited by the ghost of Adolar’s sister Emma, the principal element added by Chézy and Weber to the original plot. Slow, chromatic, and seemingly aimless music for divisi muted violins and violas characterizes the ethereal but restless existence of a spirit condemned to eternal wandering; with Emma’s redemption at the end of the opera, however, this music is transformed into a diatonic form.

While Euryanthe’s dependence on Der Freischütz is evident in a number of ways, there are also features in the later opera that go beyond its predecessor. Weber himself noted in his correspondence with Brühl the more active role for the chorus in Euryanthe. The larger-than-life passions elicit a higher degree of chromaticism throughout the opera than in the earlier work. Because of its through-composed status as a ‘grand opera’, the tonal organization and instrumentation of Euryanthe were planned with greater ingenuity than ever, and groups of pieces often form extended scene complexes with a clear sense of dramatic and musical progression towards a local climactic goal (e.g. nos.1–4, 12–13, 17–20). And where dialogue separates the formal pieces, Weber composed a flexible, expressive type of accompanied recitative that has little in common melodically or harmonically with conventional approaches to recitative (A.A. Abert, P(v)1967)." Michael C. Tusa in Grove Music Online.

Item #41137

Price: $385.00  other currencies