Euryanthe
Music by Carl Maria von Weber · libretto by Helmina von Chézy · premiered 1823
Euryanthe (J. 291, Op. 81) is a German grand heroic-romantic opera by Carl Maria von Weber, first performed at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna on 25 October 1823. Though acknowledged as one of Weber's most important operas, the work is rarely staged because of the weak libretto by Helmina von Chézy (who, incidentally, was also the author of the failed play Rosamunde, for which Franz Schubert wrote music). Euryanthe is based on the 13th-century French romance L'Histoire du très-noble et chevalereux prince Gérard, comte de Nevers et la très-virtueuse et très chaste princesse Euriant de Savoye, sa mye. Only the overture, an outstanding example of the early German Romantic style (heralding Richard Wagner), is regularly played today. Like Schubert's lesser-known Alfonso und Estrella, of the same time and place (Vienna, 1822), Euryanthe parts with the German Singspiel tradition, adopting a musical approach without the interruption of spoken dialogue characteristic of earlier German language operas such as Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Beethoven's Fidelio, and Weber's own Der Freischütz. The autograph manuscript of the opera is preserved in the Saxon State and University Library Dresden.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Euryanthe", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (c. 18 November 1786 – 5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic in the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Best known for his operas, he was a crucial figure in the development of German Romantische Oper (German Romantic opera). Throughout his youth, his father, Franz Anton, relentlessly moved the family between Hamburg, Salzburg, Freiberg, Augsburg and Vienna. Consequently, he studied with many teachers—his father, Johann Peter Heuschkel, Michael Haydn, Giovanni Valesi, Johann Nepomuk Kalcher, and Georg Joseph Vogler—under whose supervision he composed four operas, none of which survive complete. He had…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Carl Maria von Weber", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Carl Maria von Weber
- Abu Hassan (1810)
- Der Freischütz (1810)
- Oberon (1825)
- Die drei Pintos (1888)