Carl Maria von Weber

Overture to Euryanthe, J. 291

            History is cruelly reductive, and it is the natural state of our collective memory that it often bears little resemblance to the balance of affairs that characterized the past.  Whole lives, bodies of creative work, and popular acclaim of significant artists commonly disappear from our experience—or survive in a cartoonish reflection that often singles out only one or two works of art from a vigorous and influential personal oeuvre.  Lucky is he who survives the winnowing out process.   Carl Maria von Weber has barely survived that process, and he, one of the most well-known conductors and members of the musical community of the first half of the nineteenth century, is now remembered for only a few of his voluminous compositions.  The overture to his penultimate ope

Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn, J. 8

            History is cruelly reductive, and it is the natural state of our collective memory that it often bears little resemblance to the balance of affairs that characterized the past.  Whole lives, bodies of creative work, and popular acclaim of significant artists commonly disappear from our experience—or survive in a cartoonish reflection that often singles out only one or two works of art from a vigorous and influential personal oeuvre.  Lucky is he who survives the winnowing out process.   Carl Maria von Weber has barely survived that process, and he, one of the most well-known conductors, composers, and members of the musical community of the first half of the nineteenth century, is now remembered for only a few of his many compositions.