Weber, CARL MARIA FRIEDRICH ERNST VON, composer and pianist (1786-1826), came of a noble Austrian family whose musical proclivities seem to have grown with the decay of fortune. His father, Franz Anton von Weber, who began life as a soldier, excelled in violin-playing; likewise his uncle Fridolin, whose daughter Constance became the wife of Mozart. Well advanced in a chequered career, Franz Anton married at Vienna in 1785 his second wife, Genovefa von Brenner, a singer of reputation. Returning thence to Eutin, near Lübeck, where but lately he had been Kapellmeister, he was glad to accept the humbler post of director of the town band. Carl Maria was born December 18 (?), 1786; and soon afterwards the restless father finally left Eutin with his wife and boy to wander from town to town at the head of a small dramatic company. The child was afflicted with hip-disease; but as soon as he could sit at the piano he was industriously plied with music lessons in the hope that he might rival the wonders of Mozart's early childhood. Other subjects were not neglected; and if his father's occupation conducted little to solid progress, the boy at least enjoyed endless opportunities of acquainting himself with the details of stage management. Carl Maria's serious training began in 1796 under Heuschkel of Hildburghausen, with whom he laid the foundations of his future skill at the keyboard. At Salzburg in 1798 he was taught by Michael Haydn and (now motherless) at Munich by Kalcher, to whose instructions in composition and pianoforte-playing were added singing lessons with Valesi. His very early productions young Weber for the most part destroyed; but portions of his second opera, Das Waldmädchen, written and produced at Freiberg before he was fourteen, he afterwards incorporated in Silvana, a work of greater maturity.
At Vienna in 1803 Carl Maria was warmly welcomed as a pupil by the Abbé Vogler, who obtained for him the conductorship of the opera at Breslau. This post Weber held for two years, adding to his already intimate knowledge of matters theatrical, and giving evidence of rare talent for organisation. As orchestral conductor he displayed powers truly surprising in one of his years, while he increased his mastery of the pianoforte to the highest pitch of excellence. On the other hand, Weber was oppressed by pecuniary difficulties. His salary was hardly £90 a year, his mode of life careless, and his father dependent upon him. To make matters worse, an accidental draught of poison imperilled his life and ruined his fine voice. Soon after his recovery he left Breslau at the invitation of Duke Engene of Württemberg for Schloss Carlsruhe, where he passed some happy months devoted to composition and the direction of the duke's band. His host subsequently had him appointed secretary to his brother, Duke Ludwig, at Stuttgart; but the position entailed many duties and pleasures sadly detrimental to his artistic development. Weber's plight soon became even worse than at Breslau, and at last his career in Stuttgart was brought to a tragic conclusion. During a rehearsal of his opera Silvana he was arrested on a charge of fraud. His innocence was clearly proved; banishment, nevertheless, followed on February 26, 1810. The injustice acted as a tonic, and was the means of restoring Weber to his proper domain.
The next twelve months he spent at Mannheim and Darmstadt in familiar converse with Vogler and his friends Gausbächer and Meyerbeer, composing meantime the operetta Abu Hassan. Three concertos were written at Munich in 1811 for Baerman, the celebrated clarinettist, with whom he made a lengthened concert tour, the news of his father's death reaching him in Berlin. Early in 1813 he settled at Prague as Kapellmeister of the opera, charged by the manager with the entire reorganisation of the company, and well repaid by the complete success of his administration. During a visit to Gotha he composed two magnificent patriotic songs to words from Körner's Leier und Schwert, and eventually eight others. Later, the victory of Waterloo inspired him with the cantata Kampf und Sieg, performed December 22, 1815.
In 1816, having resigned his post at Prague, he was invited by the king of Saxony to undertake the direction of the German opera at Dresden. The venture was an entirely new one, Italian opera having been so far in undisputed possession. Weber began by taking the local amateurs into his confidence through the medium of the press, explaining the object he had in view and the conditions necessary to success. He had to organise an efficient chorus and (more difficult task) to engage his leading artists. The orchestra, too, needed some reform. All this was not easily done; but tact, combined with theatrical omniscience, soon won for the new director the loyal co-operation of his staff and the admiration of all save the partisans of Morlacchi, the Italian Kapellmeister. After a few months Weber's appointment was confirmed for life, and to his other duties he was called upon to add the frequent direction of the music at the Chapel Royal. On November 4, 1817, he was happily married at Prague to Carolina Brandt, the famous singer. In 1818 he wrote his Mass in E flat, the Jubel cantata and overture, and the Mass in G for the royal golden wedding in 1819. Der Freischütz, begun in 1817, was not complete till May 1820. The applause which greeted its production at Berlin, on June 18, 1821, was echoed in other places; in London it was played simultaneously at three theatres. Friedrich Kind, who wrote the libretto, having chosen to quarrel with Weber, he accepted for his next opera, Euryanthe, the literary co-operation of Frau Helmina von Chezy. The work was produced at Vienna, October 25, 1823, the first three performances, conducted by the composer, being enthusiastically received; but it did not long survive his departure. In Dresden, Leipzig, and Berlin Euryanthe met with the appreciation due to the grandest of Weber's dramatic creations.
But his disappointment at the comparative failure of the effort into which he had put his whole strength occasioned a long period of depression, from which he roused himself only to write his final masterpiece, Oberon, undertaken at the request of Charles Kemble for Covent Garden Theatre. The subject was chosen by Weber himself, and the English libretto written by J. R. Planché. Kemble's offer of £1000 doubtless weighed with the composer, now nearing his end and anxious for the future of his wife and family. But it was far from being his only consideration. So determined was he to do his best that, ill as he was, he took more than 150 lessons in English.
March 1826 saw Weber in London, the guest of Sir George Smart, and busy with rehearsals at Covent Garden. The first performance of Oberon on April 12 was the crowning triumph of his life. During the next few weeks he conducted frequently at the theatre and played at many concerts. Such labour proved too much for his exhausted frame. He died during the night of June 4, and was buried at St Mary's, Moorfields, whence in 1844 his remains were removed to Dresden.
Weber has a special claim to fame as founder of German romantic opera. In this he was the direct forerunner of Richard Wagner, whose principles he anticipated not only by giving due prominence to other than purely musical considerations, but by writing music thoroughly in harmony with the character of the incidents represented. More or less tentatively exemplified in Der Freischütz, the conditions are fully carried out in Euryanthe, where dramatic recitative and declamation take the place of the spoken dialogue of its predecessor. But in other branches of composition he holds a high place, and has influenced every one of his successors.
Besides the works already mentioned he composed some earlier operas, the music to Preciosa, the overture Beherrscher der Geister, two symphonies, three concerts (including the Concertstück in F minor), several sonatas, &c. for the pianoforte, as well as a goodly number of scenas, dramatic pieces, cantatas, and songs, for a summary of which the reader is referred to Dr Spitta's excellent article in Grove's Dictionary of Music. Weber's pupil, Sir Julius Benedict, has left an interesting sketch of his master in the 'Great Musicians' series, edited by Francis Hueffer. See also German works by Jähns (Berl. 1871, and Leip. 1873) and Reissmann (Berl. 1882).