Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/428

412 mutual recognition, Rübezahl standing by and making his reflections. The manner in which he has treated this scene indicates very clearly the state of Weber's development at the time. The phantoms evoked from the turnips sing like mortals, in strains differing in no degree from those of the princess. Twenty years later such a scene would inevitably have produced a series of the most individual tone-pictures, contrasting sharply with everything of mortal interest. As it is, the future dramatist and composer is but in the chrysalis-stage, and the quintet is merely a very lively and effective stage-scene, with some clever passages in it (the middle subject 'schön sind der sterblichen Gefühle,' particularly fine), but with no traces of Weber's individuality.

4. With the next opera, 'Silvana,' we take leave of boyish compositions, and reach a higher stage of development. Silvana and Abu Hassan form the middle group of Weber's dramatic works, while Freischütz, Preciosa, Euryanthe, and Oberon, constitute the third and last. We have stated already that in Silvana he used some material from Das Waldmädchen, the libretto of which has been lost, except the few verses preserved in the score. Hiemer's story is as follows:—

This opera, with its medieval romanticism, is the precursor of Euryanthe, and therefore of great interest in Weber's development. Independent of this, however, its merit as a work of art is considerable, and I believe the time will come when it will again find a home in the theatres of Germany. To ridicule the piece as hyper-romantic and old-fashioned is a mistake, arising chiefly from our habit of looking down upon the romanticism so much in vogue at the beginning of the century. We forget that an opera-libretto is something very different from the long-drawn-out romance of chivalry, and that the falsity and childishness which repel in a novel need find no place in a libretto, even though it be founded on the same situations. The story of Silvana deals with emotions which are natural, true, and intelligibly expressed, and the situations are not less fitted for musical treatment because they belong to a bygone period seen through a legendary haze, but still an heroic period of great and lasting interest. Another point in favour of Hiemer's poem is that the plot develops itself naturally and intelligibly, the interest is well kept up, and there is the necessary variety of sensation. That Weber transferred to it musical ideas from Das Waldmädchen can be verified in two instances only, one being the overture, the autograph of which is docketed 'renovata il 23 Marzo, 1809,' a term which must necessarily apply to the Waldmädchen overture. The 'renovation' cannot have been of a very startling nature, judging by the music, which is neither interesting nor original. The second case is the air assigned to Krips the Squire, 'Liegt so ein Unthier ausgestreckt ' (No. 2), the opening of which is identical with a ritornel in one of the 'Waldmädchen' fragments. It may therefore be assumed that the adaptation of old material was of a very limited description. The fact of there having been any adaptation at all may partly explain the extreme inequality between the separate numbers in Silvana, but we must also take into account the inevitable distractions and interruptions among which it was composed at Stuttgart. The opera undoubtedly does not give the impression of having been conceived all at once, and this damages the general effect.

The progress in dramatic characterisation made by Weber since Rübezahl and Peter Schmoll is obvious. The knights of the period are more or less typical personages, and do not require much individualising. A composer's chief difficulty would lie in maintaining the particular tone adapted to each character consistently throughout the drama, and in this Weber has succeeded thoroughly. Count Adelhart especially, and Krips the Squire, are drawn with a master hand. The power of indicating a character or situation by two or three broad strokes, afterwards so remarkable in Weber, is clearly seen in Silvana. For instance, the very first bar of the duet between Mechthilde and Adelhart, 'Wag' es, mir zu widerstreben' (Act ii. No. 9), seems to put the violent, masterful knight bodily before us. Another crucial point is the winding up of a denouement, by massing the subjects together in a general movement which shall keep the interest of the spectator at a stretch; and of this we have an excellent specimen in the Finale of Act ii.