BEETHOVEN 200 YEARS AGO TODAY: Saturday, October 25, 1823

Heniksten writes to Prince Nikolai Galitzin in St. Petersburg, forwarding Beethoven’s receipt for 50 gold ducats for his copy of the Missa Solemnis. Heniksten reminds the prince that although the commissioned quartets have not been completed, the fee for the first one was used to pay for the Mass, so he will need to replenish the funds before the first quartet arrives. [The score of the Mass is shipped under separate cover.]

Brandenburg Letter 1749, Albrecht Letter 337. The letter is not known to survive, but it was copied from the Heniksten archives by Thayer and printed in TDR V, p.556.

This morning’s Vienna Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Nr. 86 at 684 hypes the new opera, Euryanthe, by Carl Maria von Weber to be premiered this evening. The notice promises the most interesting alternation of wonderful, beautiful effects, and artistic, poetic treatment of the singing voices. “We look forward to attending the first presentation of an opera, which promises to flourish as a new laurel branch in the unfading wreath of German composition.”

The critic was to be disappointed. Euryanthe dispenses with the old German Singspiel style of alternating vocal pieces with spoken words as used by Mozart, and is fully in the grand opera tradition; everything is sung. Based on a 13th-century French romance about a woman who is victim of a scheme to show she is unfaithful, the libretto by Helmina von Chézy is flimsy, and the action frequently ridiculous. The opera is considered far too long and lasts only twenty performances. Franz Schubert famously complained a few days later, “This is not music.”

The review of tonight’s premiere in the November 1, 1823 AMZ fills the entire newspaper, Nr.88, 697-704, and the review continues through the next three issues, Nrs.89-91, 705-724. The audience in Vienna was eager for the new work from Weber. His appearance to conduct was the signal for loud applause, for his Der Freischütz had put the public into the friendliest mood. While approving of the performance, the critic (almost certainly editor Friedrich August Kanne) wrote “The long exposition in the third scene, rightly set at an Adagio, exhausted the patience of the spectators and did damage to the first act.” Otherwise the reviewer lavishes praise on the performances, and describes the thunderous applause that the premiere received. The critic does concede that it suffers from excessive gloominess and scenes that should have been light and gracious are presented as tragic. The Adagio in the Overture is also too long, and he complains the themes of the Overture have no relationship with the rest of the opera. Significant cuts, especially to the recitatives, would probably be to the opera’s benefit.

“The impression of the first performance was not altogether favorable to the work, and a large part of this result must be assigned to the lack of rehearsals. The second performance was less well attended than expected, but the performance gained depth in certain places…The third presentation on Sunday was more frequented, and the excellent singers received great honors.”

The reviewer admits that the public is divided about the merits of the work. Kanne is irritated that Weber’s genius is not being recognized, and that there is a dismissive attitude towards German opera in general. Yet Der Freischütz is still performed to acclaim, Mozart fills the houses and loud applause echoes at the works of Glück. The ghosts of the great composers who lived in Vienna and created their works under the eyes of the Viennese may prevent the public from appreciating something new. He concludes by suggesting that better musical education is needed in Vienna.

Euryanthe is far better regarded today, and even though rarely performed on stage due to its libretto, it is considered one of Weber’s masterworks. Weber anticipates Wagner in his use of leitmotifs, such as chromaticism associated with the villains.

As a result of the disastrous opening, the manager of the Kärntertor Theatre is sacked, and Schubert’s opera Fierrabras, D.796, intended to follow Euryanthe in the festival of German opera, goes unperformed and is shelved for for many years. It did not premiere until 1897, and even then it suffered the indignity of major cuts and added ballets. Schubert was not paid by the theater on this commission either. It is actually the third opera by Schubert, though the first is incomplete. Like Fierrabras, neither of those others were performed during the composer’s lifetime. The first performance of the complete opera Fierrabras as written by Schubert did not occur until 1988, 160 years after his death, under the direction of Claudio Abbado.

The Overture to Euryanthe is here performed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting the London Symphony Orchestra: