Rezension des Oberon von Carl Maria von Weber, London (1826)

WEBER’S OBERON.

The representation of an opera composed for the British stage by a foreign artist of celebrity residing abroad, but purposely called to London to superintend and perfect the production on our boards, forms so important an event in the musical history of this country, that we consider it as part of our critical functions to offer some observations on the work in question; more particularly as in the dramatic report on the opera of Oberon, inserted in our miscellany for the last month, the author, although slightly hinting at the impression which the music produced on his own feelings, modestly left the judgment of its merits to the department of musical criticism.

We have more than once witnessed the representation, and listened to the music, not only with intense curiosity and deep attention, but with all the favourable prepossession which a familiarity with other works of Mr. Von Weber, and a high sense of some of the beauties of his Freyschütz – the only absolutely successful opera he has produced – could inspire; and, we must own, our opinion does not materially differ from that which our modest colleague ventured to put forth. In short, we were disappointed.

That a work of such extent, written by such an author, should not present tokens of his genius, and some beauties of the higher order, is a supposition scarcely probable; but transient flashes of the former, and stray gleams of the latter, in a production of such magnitude – rari nantes in gurgite vasto – are not sufficient to con¦statute a classic whole: and this, as far as our opinion goes, is the case with Oberon.

We fully acknowledge the musical genius of Weber; we appreciate the intensity and depth of his feelings, no less than the solidity of his science; but we cannot help thinking his genius to be of a wild, irregular description. It is not the well ordered, the beauteously organised genius of Mozart, where every breath is sweet melody, where every thought is in kindred keeping with others; where all is order, symmetry, and tendency to the perfection of a whole; nor does the style and manner of Weber, in this respect, reach the similar, though, in comparison with Mozart, less transcendant qualifications of his countrymen – Winter, Mayer, or Mayerbeer. Weber’s muse rather resembles – and the resemblance is forcible – the unfettered, the eccentric, and often divinely inspired conceptions of Beethoven, many of whose instrumental works are masterly, but who has not been successful in opera-composition (Fidelio).

Mozart, Winter, Mayer, and Mayerbeer, have been in Italy; to which country, in our opinion, they are indebted for the graces, the good melody, the tasteful regularity, the symmetry, which their classic works display. Not so Beethoven; and, from what we have seen of Mr. Von Weber’s compositions, we should also doubt whether the rays of an Ausonian sun have shed their genial warmth on his frame. If it were not presumption to offer advice to an individual so highly gifted, we should wish Mr. Von Weber would resolve on a pilgrimage to the land | of song, were it only for the sake of his health, which is precious to the art, and seems to be delicate. There, we will not deny, he would meet with a considerable proportion of “sing-song” music, not equal to his own, and altogether common-place; but still here is no lack in Italy of music of a superior order; and even from the common-place sing-song, heard on the spot, and under favourable circumstances, advantages are to be derived. In the midst of a nation, born, as it were, with a taste for what is truly melodious, regular, well poised, and well proportioned in music, a tramontane genius is sure to imbibe, insensibly and involuntarily, some of that better taste, and to divest itself of much of its hyperborean rigidity, contrapuntality, and profundity.

To return to Oberon; we think it, as a whole, considerably inferior to the Freyschütz. The latter, not to speak of the universally popular Iaeger-chorus, and the bride’s maids song, has five or six other pieces in which considerable regularity of keeping is united to sweet, distinct, and more or less original cantilena. This, we conceive, is not the case in Oberon; and, to a certain degree, we can account for it. The subject itself of the Freyschütz was more favourable, and, we are sure, a greater favourite with the author. It had its supernatural agency too; bit that supernatural agency was truly German; and its quantum, moreover, was limited, so as to leave room for a fair portion of domestic and rural portraiture – altogether essentially German likewise. In this respect, therefore, the picture had a due degree of variety; there was sufficient scope for the mirthful, the tender, the pathetic, and the awful. In Oberon, all is grandiose, all is superhuman, from the fairy revels at the outset, to the discomfiture of Almanzor’s Auto da fe. The plot is quite similar to that of a Christmas pantomime: Miss Paton the Columbine, Mr. Bland the Falry‡ – any thing but spiritual; Mr. Braham the particoloured hero – somewhat less agile to be sure. To find suitable music for such an uninterrupted succession of marvel is an arduous problem, the successful solution of which we should pronounce to be next to desperate, but for the solitary instance afforded by Mozart’s Magic Flute, an opera, the text of which, with all its extravagance, had infinite advantages over Oberon.

The same subject, it is true, composed as an opera by Wranitzky upwards of thirty years ago, still retains possession of the German stage, and several of the airs have maintained their universal popularity to this day. But there are ¦ differences of feature and treatment in the poem, including a considerable degree of comic humour, which rendered the task of Wranitzky less difficult. The music, although less elaborate, and perhaps less intellectual, than Weber’s, is very fascinating to a mixed audience; and we doubt whether in this country it would not be more generally relished. That it would be more readily understood, there is no question.

As to the poem of our Oberon, Mr. Planché’s labour, which he modestly present as “fragile threads on which the composer had to string his valuable pearls,” has its merits. The dialogue, as our colleague states, is easy, and the songs have more meaning and pertinent expression than the usual operatic texts – too much of meaning, we fear! The preparation of those “threads to string the pearls on” is of the highest importance to the composer. On this matter we have stated our views at some length in a paper specially devoted to an Enquiry into the principles of the Beautiful in Music. * We shall, therefore, merely observe in this place, that the most paramount requisite in the poetry for opera songs is simplicity – simplicity of thought, simplicity of diction, simplicity of metre. Next to this, brevity is essential; short songs and short lines! As to the subjects of the songs, the more they have reference to the action of the drama and identify themselves with it, the better: let them depict the feelings naturally arising out of the incidents; that’s all! and let them beware of of straying, not only into absolutely extraneous matter, but even into subjects of a more remote connexion with the immediate subject of the scene; above all, let the poet abstain from descriptive texts. Of the observance of all these rules and its happy results, we find the best models in the librettos of most Italian operas, especially in those of Metastasio; of their transgression in almost every particular, Oberon furnishes many instances. The lyric texts want simplicity in the various respects above adverted to: they are often too lengthy, often too descriptive and extraneous; and, wherever this is the case, the composer seems to have laboured, and has invariably proved less successful; nay, in songs suffering under this disadvantage, whenever the poet, after indulging in such aberrations, comes, as it were, home again, we have observed the music to improve correspondingly. |

This will be found to be the case, among other instances, in Miss Paton’s grand scena, “Ocean, thou mighty monster,” and to great degree in the scena of Mr. Braham, “Yes, even Love to Fame must yield,” a descriptive battle-piece, ending with the favourite “Victory!” no doubt, made to order.

There are other songs of Mr. Braham’s which, although the objection as to unfavourable contents does not apply to them, proved upon the whole, ineffective. Of this description are the invocation, “Ruler of this awful hour,” which, in spite of some fine ideas, is heavy and irregular. Another song, “I revel in hope,” is desultory and unconnected as to plan. The same remark applies to Miss Paton’s first song, which is too tame and melancholy. Here, and in many other instances, the composer shows too great a partiality for the minor keys, which, from the languor they induce, should be used with a sparing hand, even where the text seems apparently to justify the choice. Mr. Von Weber is at all time laudably faithful to his text; he adheres to it almost verbally. This is by no means necessary; an expression of the general feeling fulfils every aesthetical desideratum; and where the poetry is rather of a sombre hue, too rigid and adherence to even its general import, mostly proves disadvantageous to the music; witness, among several other instances in this opera, Oberon’s song, “Fatal oath,” and the first portion of Fatima’s air, “A lonely Arab Maid;” the latter part of it, where the text was more encouraging, is very sweet and interesting.

Of concerted pieces, there is a great deficiency in this opera; one trio, and one quartet, if we do not mistake; both which are good. The choruses, likewise, form a valuable portion of the opera, as evincing the genius and science of the composer in a striking degree, both in regard to originality of conception, attractive melody, and forcible as well as skilful harmonic treatment. The opening chorus, “Light as fairy foot can fall,” is a beautiful gem. The chorus at the end of the second act also deserves unqualified praise; and, without mentioning others full of interest, the chorus sung in Roshana’s chamber, where Mr. Braham stands inanimate, like a fish out of water, met with great and well-merited applause. That scene altogether, interspersed as it is with ballet and chorus, must be pronounced a masterly and delightful composition; not inferior to one in the “Crociato,” to which it bears considerable resemblance.

The finales scarcely can lay claim to that term; – they are of slight texture. We are aware that in this respect the vocal strength of the company, and perhaps the text, imposed certain restraints; but more, we conceive, might have been achieved, even with the limited means at command. We must, however, not pass over an air of Miss Paton’s in the finale of the first act, “Yes, my lord, my joy, my blessing,” which is one of the best in the opera, and the ecstatic climax in which these very words are set, at this moment vibrates in our ears. A song of Madame Vestris, “Oh Araby, dear Araby,” we had nearly omitted. The quick movement of it is generally encored, and the originality and singularity of its conception and accompaniments are striking. Its oddity, perhaps, is a little too recherché, and in its cadencial structure there is a smack of the favourite Greek modes of our composer’s magnus Apollo, the Abbé Vogler. But such cadences should be left the sacred property of the church style, from which they are borrowed.

Besides the marches, which are very energetic and original, and the overture, which borrows largely from the opera, and is neither clear nor regular as to plan, there is a considerable quantum of mere instrumental music of a dramatic character introduced in the course of the piece. Of this we disapprove. There is music enough in the present opera, not to resort to such additional and illegitimate an expedient, which lowers the dignity of operatic composition, and savours too much of the melo-drama.

Here our limits compel us to conclude. We have candidly, and without any bias, given a conscientious opinion; and we have been the more cautious in pronouncing our judgment, as the nightly overflow, during nearly thirty consecutive representations, appeared to vouch for the favourable opinion which the public entertained of this production. In a musical point of view, the performance reflects high credit on the talents and exertions of the establishment. Difficult as the score is, the orchestra masters it with great correctness and precision; and intricate portion of Mr. Von Weber’s labour, are executed skilfully, and with the best effect.