Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/416

400 violently back among my fellow-men, I shall become the most abominable Philistine on the face of the earth' (Jan. 29, 1814). 'The few composers and scholars who live here groan for the most part under a yoke, which has reduced them to slavery, and taken away the spirit which distinguishes the true free-born artist' (May 5). The outward advantages of his position he fully acknowledged. 'I reason myself by main force into a sort of contentment, but the naturally cheerful state of mind which steels all one's nerves, and sends one's spirits bubbling up of themselves, that one cannot give oneself' (April 22).

After bringing out seven more operas between April 19 and June 26 (1814), Weber, who had been out of health for some time, went on July 8 to take the baths at Liebwerda. But the impulse to join the great world was too strong to allow him to stay there, and, pushing on, he arrived in Berlin on Aug. 3, a couple of days before the King of Prussia's return from the Allied Armies' victorious expedition to Paris after the battle of Leipzig. Unlike Prague, where a few official ceremonies formed all the notice taken of the great victory over Napoleon, Berlin was in a tumult of joy, and Weber had before him the spectacle of a great people hailing their reconquered freedom with transport. He was carried away like the rest, and thoroughly enjoyed it. To increase his happiness he met with an enthusiastic reception from his friends, whose circle now included Tieck and Brentano, with whom he had formed an intimacy in Prague in 1813. Brentano began to arrange a libretto on the Tannhäuser legend for him, but other things intervened, and the work was laid aside. He gave a concert on Aug. 24, and received permission to invite the King, the Crown-Prince, and other princes and princesses. Several great personages were interested in him, and there was some talk of making him Capellmeister of the Court Opera, in place of Himmel, who had just died. 'Silvana' was given again on Sept. 5, and Weber left Berlin, happy in many a proof of heartfelt sympathy, and loaded with impressions destined to bear fruit later on.

At that period patriotic songs were naturally enough the order of the day, and in this direction Weber could hardly fail to be led. An invitation from the Duke took him to Gotha on Sept. 11, and the next day to Gräfentonna, the Duke's hunting-seat. Here, finding a little repose for the first time for many months, he composed on the 13th two Lieder from Körner's 'Leyer und Schwert,' followed by eight others during the journey home and in the first few months after his return. Six of these are for four men's voices, and four for a single voice and PF., and in them he has recorded the impressions made on his mind by the surging national movement. It was his first opportunity of showing how great a power he had of absorbing the feelings of the masses and giving them artistic expression. The effect of these songs on the whole people of Germany, and especially on the youth, was extraordinary. Wherever they were sung they roused the most fervid enthusiasm. All the other patriotic compositions, in which the time abounded, paled before the brilliancy, swing, and pathos of these Songs of War and Fatherland. Weber's own cantata even yields to them in effect. The choruses from the 'Leyer und Schwert' are still among the most favourite of such works for men's voices, and are indeed so bound up with the development of the male choral societies in Germany that only with them can they cease to be heard.

Before his trip to Berlin Weber had entered into closer relations with Caroline Brandt, but there were difficulties in the way of marriage. Caroline, a talented soubrette, and a good deal spoiled by the public, was somewhat whimsical, and had imperfect views both as to the dignity of art in itself, and Weber's importance as an artist. Neither did she like his requiring her to leave the stage before they married. This uncertainty about an object he so ardently desired added to his discontent with Prague, and made him anxiously look out for some opening which should lead to his removal. In the meantime he made use of his summer holiday in 1815 for an expedition to Munich, and it was there that the news of the battle of Waterloo reached him. The outburst of joy and enthusiasm which followed incited him to a great composition in honour of the event. Gottfried Wohlbrück the actor provided him with the words, and in August, before leaving Munich, he wrote the first two numbers of 'Kampf und Sieg.' The last two days of his stay were embittered by a letter from Caroline, conveying her conviction that they had better part. This seems to justify what Weber had written to Gänsbacher, 'I see now that her views of high art are not above the usual pitiful standard namely, that art is but a means of procuring soup, meat, and shirts.' Her 'conviction' however did not last long. When Weber returned to Prague her real affection for him overcame all scruples, and he was able to look forward with confidence to a time when she should be all his own. 'Lina,' he writes, 'is behaving extremely well, and honestly trying to become better. If God will only bestow on me some post without cares, and with a salary on which a man can live; and if she is as brave in a year and a day as she is at this moment, she is to leave the stage, and become my faithful Hausfrau. You shake your head! A year is a long time, and a person who can hold out so long is really brave.' The cantata was quickly completed, and performed for the first time at Weber's benefit concert (Dec. 22). The immediate effect was very great, though, for reasons hereafter to be explained, not so lasting as that of the Körner songs. Beethoven had composed one of his great orchestral pictures in honour of the battle of Vittoria, and this had been performed shortly before in Prague. At the close of 'Kampf und Sieg,' General Nostiz went up to Weber and said