A comprehensive guide to Weber's DER FREISCH TZ, featuring Principal Characters in the opera, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, and an insightful and in depth Commentary and Analysis by Burton D. Fisher, noted opera author and lecturer."
A comprehensive study guide for Carl Maria on Weber's DER FREISCHUTZ, a Singspiel featuring Principal Characters,Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, a new Libretto translation with German-English side-by-side, and Burton D. Fisher's insightful and in depth Commentary and Analysis.
(Faber Piano Adventures ). Adult Piano Adventures Classics Book 1 celebrates great masterworks of Western music, including symphony themes, opera gems, and classical favorites. The melodies of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, and other master composers are arranged at just the right level for adult beginners and for those who are returning to the keyboard. Section 1 features piano arrangements with minimal hand position changes, and many selections include an optional duet part. Section 2 introduces the I, IV, and V7 chords in the key of C major, harmonizing themes such as Sibelius's Finlandia, Schubert's The Trout, and Mendelssohn's Spring Song. Section 3 presents the primary chords in the key of G major, with arrangements of Vivaldi's Autumn (from The Four Seasons), Mozart's theme from The Magic Flute, Lizst's Liebestraum, and more.
Stephen C. Meyer details the intricate relationships between the operas Der FreischÃ1⁄4tz and Euryanthe, and contemporary discourse on both the "Germany of the imagination" and the new nation itself. In so doing, he presents excerpts from a wide range of philosophical, political, and musical writings, many of which are little known and otherwise unavailable in English. Individual chapters trace the multidimensional concept of German and "foreign" opera through the 19th century. Meyer's study of Der FreischÃ1⁄4tz places the work within the context of emerging German nationalism, and a chapter on Euryanthe addresses the opera's stylistic and topical shifts in light of changing cultural and aesthetic circumstances. As a result, Meyer argues that the search for a new German opera was not merely an aesthetic movement, but a political and social critique as well.
The first edition of John Warrack's study of Weber was published in 1968 and quickly became recognized as the standard 'life and works' - indeed the best book on Weber in any language. The second edition was produced in 1976 to mark the 150th anniversary of Weber's death in London, and is reissued here. John Warrack's study gives a detailed account of the life in which the music is discussed (with analysis and music examples) in chronological order. It is a scholarly study based on first-hand research in German and other archives, but it is also elegantly written, and fully alive to general cultural and historical implications. It is a book for the music-lover as well as the scholar. This second edition contains a new concluding chapter, an important select bibliography of over 100 entries, and a useful family tree which was not in the first edition.
Scholars have long recognized Carl Maria von Weber as the father of the German Romantic and Nationalist music. The success of his opera Der Freischütz almost single handedly brought German operatic style onto the world stage, competing with and challenging established operatic traditions in France and Italy. Indeed the overtures to his last three operas, Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, and Oberon initiated the genre of the concert overture and are a part of the standard repertoire for most modern symphony orchestras. His works in other genres, including his various concerti and chamber works also stand as centerpieces in the modern concert hall. In Experiencing Carl Maria von Weber: A Listener's Companion, Joseph Morgan walks readers through the many masterpieces that comprise Weber's oeuvre, providing key insights by integrating critical points in the composer's life with the burgeoning Romantic and Nationalist movements in Germany that Weber's music came to champion. Morgan brings to life the musical character of Weber's most important compositions, from his most popular works such as his programme work Aufforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance), his majestic solo pieces, and his path-breaking song cycle DieTemperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten (Temperaments on the Loss of a Lover). At every turn, Morgan brings together biographical, political, aesthetic, and historical matters to inform our understanding of Weber's compositional genius. From the virtuosity of his piano works and their influence on Liszt and Chopin to his relationships with composers from the earliest parts of the 19th century, including Giacomo Meyerbeer, Franz Schubert and Beethoven, Experiencing Carl Maria vonWeber reveals not only the compositional genius of this figure in Romantic music, but his achievements as well as a conductor, music director, and critic who lent his powerful support to his musical peers on stage and page.
At the age of four, Wilhelm Richard Wagner made his first impression on the theatrical world when he pounded on a bass drum and stopped the performance at the Dresden Playhouse-right in the midst of his stepfather's lines. This ill-fated incident put a temporary stop to Richard's nights backstage, and the punishment was almost more than exuberant little "Dicker" could bear. No more trunks to explore, no more wigs to try on, no more lights and music and dancing. He had so loved being a part of his adored stepfather's professional life. But there were golden and impressionable years ahead for young Richard. He came under the haunting spell of Weber's opera, Der Freischutz, and copied the entire score on his own music sheets to memorize. He avidly read Shakespeare's plays and vowed he would write even greater tragedies. He staged puppet shows, wrote poetry, and dreamed fantastic dreams. One of the most profound influences on Richard's youth was a Beethoven symphony, heard for the first time in Leipzig. The mighty music thundered in his mind as he walked from the concert hall, and it was characteristic of him that he determined, then and there, to become a great composer. Always headstrong and impatient with guidance from others, Richard struggled daily with the rules of harmony and counterpoint, while his instructors discouraged his dream. Throwing traditional methods aside, the future composer of Lohengrin and Tristan and Isolde went directly to the great masters' works and copied their music, note by note, until it became a part of him. More than anything else he wanted to write operas-his own stories set to music, sung and acted. As Opal Wheeler's light-hearted and lively biography reveals, Richard Wagner is an amazing example in music history-one of the few composers of stature who learned his art from the untutored study of the masterpieces of his day.