Nachruf auf Carl Maria von Weber

Carl M. Von Weber. – On Monday morning this great composer was found dead on his pillow, his head resting on his hand as calmly as if in sleep. He had, ever since he came amongst us, been in a declining and very precarious state of health; and, of late, when we saw him, the conviction was forced upon us, that he could hardly hope to revisit his native land. He had fixed on Wednesday last, however, to make the effort, when death closed his mortal career, and gave his ashes to that country where those of Handel rest.

From the statement of Weber’s confidential friend who accompanied him to England, we may venture to say, that he has left no works of moment in manuscript, excepting one which has long been anxiously looked for in Germany. The title of this work was to have been Künstlerleben (Life of Artist)T, and one of its main objects was a narration of the principal incidents of his own life, intersperced with remarks on the great musical works and greatest composers of past and modern times, &c. Certain it is, that he has been long employed on this work, and that he was in the habit of keeping a regular journal, which, it is supposed, chiefly related to it. He was one of those very few German musicians, who were as good authors as they were composers; and his frequent contributions, both to the Leipzig Musical Gazette, and, subsquentely to the establishment of the German Opera at Dresden, to the Abendzeitung (evening paper) of that capital, he was well trained and skilled for a production of the kind we have mentioned. It was first announced in 1820, in Brockhaus’s well-known Encyclopedia; and as Weber furnished Brockhaus with material for the sketch of his life, he must himself have given the first notice of it. Every lover of the art must wish for its speedy appearance.