The Complete Opera Book Part 7

Act II opens with a delightful duet for _Agathe_ and _Aennchen_ and a charmingly coquettish little air for the latter (Comes a comely youth a-wooing). Then comes _Agathe's_ princ.i.p.al scene. She opens the window and, as the moonlight floods the room, intones the prayer so simple, so exquisite, so expressive: "Leise, leise, fromme Weise" (Softly sighing, day is dying).

[Music]

This is followed, after a recitative, by a rapturous, descending pa.s.sage leading into an ecstatic melody: "Alle meine Pulse schlagen"

(All my pulses now are beating) as she sees her lover approaching.

[Music]

The music of the Wolf's Glen scene long has been considered the most expressive rendering of the gruesome that is to be found in a musical score. The stage apparatus that goes with it is such that it makes the young sit up and take notice, while their elders, because of its navete, are entertained. The ghost of _Max's_ mother appears to him and strives to warn him away. Cadaverous, spooky-looking animals crawl out from caves in the rocks and spit flames and sparks. Wagner got more than one hint from the scene. But in the crucible of his genius the glen became the lofty Valkyr rock, and the backdrop with the wild hunt the superb "Ride of the Valkyries," while other details are transfigured in that sublime episode, "The Magic Fire Scene."

After a brief introduction, with suggestions of the hunting chorus later in the action, the third act opens with _Agathe's_ lovely cavatina, "And though a cloud the sun obscure." There are a couple of solos for _Aennchen_, and then comes the enchanting chorus of bridesmaids. This is the piece which Richard Wagner, then seven years old, was playing in a room, adjoining which his stepfather, Ludwig Geyer, lay in his last illness. Geyer had shown much interest in the boy and in what might become of him. As he listened to him playing the bridesmaids' chorus from "Der Freischutz" he turned to his wife, Wagner's mother, and said: "What if he should have a talent for music?"

In the next scene are the spirited hunting chorus and the brilliant finale, in which recurs the jubilant melody from _Agathe's_ second act scene.

The overture to "Der Freischutz" is the first in which an operatic composer unreservedly has made use of melodies from the opera itself.

Beethoven, in the third "Leonore" overture, utilizes the theme of _Florestan's_ air and the trumpet call. Weber has used not merely thematic material but complete melodies. Following the beautiful pa.s.sage for horns at the beginning of the overture (a pa.s.sage which, like _Agathe's_ prayer, has been taken up into the Protestant hymnal) is the music of _Max's_ outcry when, in the opera, he senses rather than sees the pa.s.sage of _Zamiel_ across the stage, after which comes the sombre music of _Max's_ air: "Hatt denn der Himmel mich verla.s.sen?" (Am I then by heaven forsaken?). This leads up to the music of _Agathe's_ outburst of joy when she sees her lover approaching; and this is given complete.

The structure of this overture is much like that of the overture to "Tannhauser" by Richard Wagner. There also is a resemblance in contour between the music of _Agathe's_ jubilation and that of _Tannhauser's_ hymn to Venus. Wagner worshipped Weber. Without a suggestion of plagiarism, the contour of Wagner's melodic idiom is that of Weber's.

The resemblance to Weber in the general structure of the finales to the first acts of "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin" is obvious. Even in some of the leading motives of the Wagner music-dramas, the student will find the melodic contour of Weber still persisting. What could be more in the spirit of Weber than the ringing _Parsifal_ motive, one of the last things from the pen of Richard Wagner?

Indeed the importance of Weber in the logical development of music and specifically of opera, lies in the fact that he is the founder of the romantic school in music;--a school of which Wagner is the culmination. Weber is as truly the forerunner of Wagner as Haydn is of Mozart, and Mozart of Beethoven. From the "Freischutz" Wagner derived his early predilection for legendary subjects, as witness the "Flying Dutchman," "Tannhauser," and "Lohengrin," from which it was but a step to the mythological subject of the "Ring" dramas.

"Der Freischutz" is heard far too rarely in this country. But Weber's importance as the founder of the romantic school and as the inspired forerunner of Wagner long has been recognized. Without this recognition there would be missing an important link in the evolution of music and, specifically, of opera.

EURYANTHE

Opera in three acts by Weber. Book, by Helmine von Chezy, adapted from "L'Histoire de Gerard de Nevers et de la belle et vertueuse Euryanthe, sa mie." Produced, Vienna, Karnthnerthor Theatre (Theatre at the Carinthian Gate), October 25, 1823. New York, by Carl Anschutz, at Wallack's Theatre, Broadway and Broome Street, 1863; Metropolitan Opera House, December 23, 1887, with Lehmann, Brandt, Alvary, and Fischer, Anton Seidl conducting.

CHARACTERS

EURYANTHE DE SAVOIE _Soprano_ EGLANTINE DE PUISET _Mezzo-Soprano_ LYSIART DE FOReT _Baritone_ ADOLAR DE NEVERS _Tenor_ LOUIS VI _Ba.s.s_

_Time_--Beginning of the Twelfth Century.

_Place_--France.

Act I. Palace of the King. Count _Adolar_ chants the beauty and virtue of his betrothed, _Euryanthe._ Count _Lysiart_ sneers and boasts that he can lead her astray. The two n.o.blemen stake their possessions upon the result.

Garden of the Palace of Nevers. _Euryanthe_ sings of her longing for _Adolar_. _Eglantine_, the daughter of a rebellious subject who, made a prisoner, has, on _Euryanthe's_ plea, been allowed the freedom of the domain, is in love with _Adolar._ She has sensed that _Euryanthe_ and her lover guard a secret. Hoping to estrange _Adolar_ from her, she seeks to gain _Euryanthe's_ confidence and only too successfully.

For _Euryanthe_ confides to her that _Adolar's_ dead sister, who lies in the lonely tomb in the garden, has appeared to _Adolar_ and herself and confessed that, her lover having been slain in battle, she has killed herself by drinking poison from her ring; nor can her soul find rest until someone, innocently accused, shall wet the ring with tears.

To hold this secret inviolate has been imposed upon _Euryanthe_ by _Adolar_ as a sacred duty. Too late she repents of having communicated it to _Eglantine_ who, on her part, is filled with malicious glee.

_Lysiart_ arrives to conduct _Adolar's_ betrothed to the royal palace.

Act II. _Lysiart_ despairs of accomplishing his fell purpose when _Eglantine_ emerges from the tomb with the ring and reveals to him its secret. In the royal palace, before a brilliant a.s.sembly, _Lysiart_ claims to have won his wager, and, in proof, produces the ring, the secret of which he claims _Euryanthe_ has communicated to him. She protests her innocence, but in vain. _Adolar_ renounces his rank and estates with which _Lysiart_ is forthwith invested and endowed, and, dragging _Euryanthe_ after him, rushes into the forest where he intends to kill her and then himself.

Act III. In a rocky mountain gorge _Adolar_ draws his sword and is about to slay _Euryanthe_, who in vain protests her innocence. At that moment a huge serpent appears. _Euryanthe_ throws herself between it and _Adolar_ in order to save him. He fights the serpent and kills it; then, although _Euryanthe_ vows she would rather he slew her than not love her, he goes his way leaving her to heaven's protection. She is discovered by the _King_, who credits her story and promises to vindicate her, when she tells him that it was through _Eglantine_, to whom she disclosed the secret of the tomb, that _Lysiart_ obtained possession of the ring.

Gardens of Nevers, where preparations are making for the wedding of _Lysiart_ and _Eglantine_. _Adolar_ enters in black armour with visor down. _Eglantine_, still madly in love with him and dreading her union with _Lysiart_, is so affected by the significance of the complete silence with which the a.s.sembled villagers and others watch her pa.s.s, that, half out of her mind, she raves about the unjust degradation she has brought upon _Euryanthe_.

_Adolar_, disclosing his ident.i.ty, challenges _Lysiart_ to combat. But before they can draw, the _King_ appears. In order to punish _Adolar_ for his lack of faith in _Euryanthe_, he tells him that she is dead.

Savagely triumphant over her rival's end, _Eglantine_ now makes known the entire plot and is slain by _Lysiart_. At that moment _Euryanthe_ rushes into _Adolar's_ arms. _Lysiart_ is led off a captive.

_Adolar's_ sister finds eternal rest in her tomb because the ring has been bedewed by the tears wept by the innocent _Euryanthe_.

The libretto of "Euryanthe" is accounted extremely stupid, even for an opera, and the work is rarely given. The opera, however, is important historically as another stepping-stone in the direction of Wagner.

Several Wagnerian commentators regard the tomb motive as having conveyed to the Bayreuth master more than a suggestion of the Leitmotif system which he developed so fully in his music-drama.

_Adolar_, in black armour, is believed to have suggested _Parsifal's_ appearance in sable harness and accoutrements in the last act of "Parsifal." In any event, Wagner was a close student of Weber and there is more than one phrase in "Euryanthe" that finds its echo in "Lohengrin," although of plagiarism in the ordinary sense there is none.

While "Euryanthe" has never been popular, some of its music is very fine. The overture may be said to consist of two vigorous, stirringly dramatic sections separated by the weird tomb motive. The opening chorus in the _King's_ palace is sonorous and effective. There is a very beautiful romanza for _Adolar_ ("'Neath almond trees in blossom"). In the challenge of the knights to the test of Euryanthe's virtue occurs the vigorous phrase with which the overture opens.

_Euryanthe_ has an exquisite cavatina ("Chimes in the valley"). There is an effective duet for _Euryanthe_ and _Eglantine_ ("Threatful gather clouds about me"). A scene for _Eglantine_ is followed by the finale--a chorus with solo for _Euryanthe_.

_Lysiart's_ recitations and aria ("Where seek to hide?"), expressive of hatred and defiance--a powerfully dramatic number--opens the second act. There is a darkly premonitory duet for _Lysiart_ and _Eglantine_.

_Adolar_ has a tranquil aria ("When zephyrs waft me peace"); and a duet full of abandon with _Euryanthe_ ("To you my soul I give"). The finale is a quartette with chorus. The hunting chorus in the last act, previous to the _King's_ discovery of _Euryanthe_, has been called Weber's finest inspiration.

Something should be done by means of a new libretto or by re-editing to give "Euryanthe" the position it deserves in the modern operatic repertoire. An attempt at a new libretto was made in Paris in 1857, at the Theatre Lyrique. It failed. Having read a synopsis of that libretto, I can readily understand why. It is, if possible, more absurd than the original. Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" is derived from the same source as "Euryanthe," which shows that, after all, something could be made of the story.

OBERON,

OR THE ELF-KING'S OATH

Opera in three acts, by Weber. Words by James Robinson Planche.

CHARACTERS

OBERON _Tenor_ t.i.tANIA _Mute Character_ PUCK _Contralto_ DROLL _Contralto_ HUON DE BORDEAUX _Tenor_ SCHERASMIN, his esquire _Baritone_ HAROUN EL RASCHID _Baritone_ REZIA, his daughter _Soprano_ FATIMA, her slave _Soprano_ PRINCE BABEKAN _Tenor_ EMIR ALMANSOR _Baritone_ ROSCHANA, his wife _Contralto_ ABDALLAH, a pirate _Ba.s.s_ CHARLEMAGNE _Ba.s.s_

In a tribute to Weber, the librettist of "Oberon" wrote a sketch of the action and also gave as the origin of the story the tale of "Huon de Bordeaux," from the old collection of romances known as "La Bibliotheque Bleue." Wieland's poem "Oberon," is based upon the old romance and Sotheby's translation furnished Planche with the groundwork for the text.

According to Planche's description of the action, _Oberon_, the Elfin King, having quarrelled with his fairy partner, _t.i.tania_, vows never to be reconciled to her till he shall find two lovers constant through peril and temptation. To seek such a pair his "tricksy spirit,"

_Puck_, has ranged in vain through the world. _Puck_, however, hears sentence pa.s.sed on _Sir Huon_, of Bordeaux, a young knight, who, having been insulted by the son of _Charlemagne_, kills him in single combat, and is for this condemned by the monarch to proceed to Bagdad, slay him who sits on the _Caliph's_ left hand, and claim the _Caliph's_ daughter as his bride. _Oberon_ instantly resolves to make this pair the instruments of his reunion with his queen, and for this purpose he brings up _Huon_ and _Scherasmin_ asleep before him, enamours the knight by showing him _Rezia_, daughter of the _Caliph_, in a vision, transports him at his waking to Bagdad, and having given him a magic horn, by the blasts of which he is always to summon the a.s.sistance of _Oberon_, and a cup that fills at pleasure, disappears.

_Sir Huon_ rescues a man from a lion, who proves afterwards to be _Prince Babekan_, who is betrothed to _Rezia_. One of the properties of the cup is to detect misconduct. He offers it to _Babekan_. On raising it to his lips the wine turns to flame, and thus proves him a villain. He attempts to a.s.sa.s.sinate _Huon_, but is put to flight. The knight then learns from an old woman that the princess is to be married next day, but that _Rezia_ has been influenced, like her lover, by a vision, and is resolved to be his alone. She believes that fate will protect her from her nuptials with _Babekan_, which are to be solemnized on the next day. _Huon_ enters, fights with and vanquishes _Babekan_, and having spellbound the rest by a blast of the magic horn, he and _Scherasmin_ carry off _Rezia_ and _Fatima_. They are soon shipwrecked. _Rezia_ is captured by pirates on a desert island and brought to Tunis, where she is sold to the _Emir_ and exposed to every temptation, but she remains constant. _Sir Huon_, by the order of _Oberon_, is also conveyed thither. He undergoes similar trials from _Roschana_, the jealous wife of the _Emir_, but proving invulnerable she accuses him to her husband, and he is condemned to be burned on the same pyre with _Rezia_. They are rescued by _Scherasmin_, who has the magic horn, and sets all those who would harm _Sir Huon_ and _Rezia_ dancing. _Oberon_ appears with his queen, whom he has regained by the constancy of the lovers, and the opera concludes with _Charlemagne's_ pardon of _Huon_.

The chief musical numbers are, in the first act, _Huon's_ grand scene, beginning with a description of the glories to be won in battle: in the second act, an attractive quartette, "Over the dark blue waters,"

_Puck's_ invocation of the spirits and their response, the great scene for _Rezia_, "Ocean, thou mighty monster, that liest like a green serpent coiled around the world," and the charming mermaid's song; and, in the third act, the finale.

As is the case with "Euryanthe," the puerilities of the libretto to "Oberon" appear to have been too much even for Weber's beautiful music. Either that, or else Weber is suffering the fate of all obvious forerunners: which is that their genius finds its full and lasting fruition in those whose greater genius it has caused to germinate and ripen. Thus the full fruition of Weber's genius is found in the Wagner operas and music-dramas. Even the fine overtures, "Freischutz,"

"Euryanthe," and "Oberon," in former years so often found in the cla.s.sical concert repertoire, are played less and less frequently. The "Tannhauser" overture has supplanted them. The "Oberon" overture, like that to "Freischutz" and "Euryanthe," is composed of material from the opera--the horn solo from _Sir Huon's_ scena, portions of the fairies, chorus and the third-act finale, the climax of _Rezia's_ scene in the second act, and _Puck's_ invocation.

In his youth Weber composed, to words by Heimer, an amusing little musical comedy ent.i.tled "Abu Ha.s.san." It was produced in Dresden under the composer's direction. The text is derived from a well-known tale in the _Arabian Nights_. Another youthful opera by Weber, "Silvana,"

was produced at Frankfort-on-Main in 1810. The text, based upon an old Rhine legend of a feud between two brothers, has been rearranged by Ernst Pasque, the score by Ferdinand Lange, who, in the ballet in the second act, has introduced Weber's "Invitation a la Valse" and his "Polonaise," besides utilizing other music by the composer. The fragment of another work, a comic opera, "The Three Pintos," text by Theodor h.e.l.l, was taken in hand and completed, the music by Gustav Mahler, the libretto by Weber's grandson, Carl von Weber.

Why Some Operas are Rarely Given

There is hardly a writer on music, no matter how advanced his views, who will not agree with me in all I have said in praise of "Orpheus and Eurydice," the princ.i.p.al Mozart operas, Beethoven's "Fidelio," and Weber's "Freischutz" and "Euryanthe." The question therefore arises: "Why are these works not performed with greater frequency?"