Weber, Carl Maria von, (1786-1826)

announcing the most complete triumph a composer can ever experience, relating that the premiere was accompanied by almost unheard-of enthusiasm, and that the overture and folksong were encored, noting that fourteen numbers were applauded, some three times, and that at the end he was showered with bouquets, laurel wreaths and poems; Weber also records the equally successful second performance, recounts the love with which everybody sang and played, informs him that he is writing these few words in order to show him that he has not forgotten his friends, notifies him of his concert in the Berlin Schauspielhaus on 25 June and of his arrival in Dresden on 1 July, and encloses with the letter a preliminary review of the first performance [INCLUDED HERE: published in Königlich privilegirte Berlinische Zeitung von Staats- und gelehrten Sachen, No. 74 (21 June 1821)] ("...Um Ihrer herzlichen Theilnahme willen freut es mich doppelt Ihnen den vollkommensten Triumph melden zu können, den ein Componist zu erleben im Stande ist...")

1 page, 4to (23 x 19cm), autograph address-panel on verso, traces of seal, seal tear, with a newspaper cutting (see above) and an engraved portrait of Weber by Carl Mayer, Berlin, 21 June 1821

Anon., 'Ungedruckte Briefe Carl Maria von Webers', Allgemeiner Anzeige, Erfurt, 6. Beiblatt, Nr. 162 (12. Juni 1904); WeGA, Digitale Edition (version 3.1.0, 30 June 2017)

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The triumphant premiere of Weber's opera Der Freischütz was one of the most notable first performances in music history. The composer's elated description was written for his friend the Dresden clarinettist Gottlob Roth (1794-1828).

The autograph has apparently not been consulted by modern Weber scholarship; the transcription of the letter in the Carl Maria von Weber Gesamtausgabe (WeGA) differs from the original in a few places.