Der Freischütz Overture

Der Freischütz is the one Weber opera that is as good the promise of its overture - unlike, say, Euryanthe or Oberon which are so disastrously let down by inept libretti. An instant success on its first performance in Berlin in 1821, within a few years Der Freischütz had been performed in every major opera house in Europe. Johann Friedrich Kind’s libretto has its weaknesses, too, but it is effectively designed for the stage and it presents a clear conflict between the forces of good and evil against the romantic background of the great German forest. The duality is no less clear in Weber’s score, which is based on a corresponding long-term harmonic conflict between bright C major and dark C minor.

The Overture condenses the narrative complexities of the three acts of the opera into a masterfully constructed miniature tone poem. The Adagio introduction sets the scene in the forest with mysteriously slow-moving lines on strings and woodwind and idealised hunting calls on the four horns. Just before the tempo changes, the sinister sound of the forces of evil are heard in eerie harmonies on strings and clarinets and dull thuds on the timpani - material derived from the famous “Wolf’s Glen” scene in the second act. The Molto vivace begins in C minor with anxious syncopations on the strings and an unhappy theme to be sung by the forester hero Max in the first act. The force of good enters only when, after a clarinet solo that spreads light into the prevailing gloom, a brilliantly radiant melody associated with Max’s betrothed Agathe is introduced by violins and clarinet and then taken up by other woodwind. Dramatic exchanges between the main themes are interrupted by a change of scene back to the “Wolf’s Glen,” at which point the forces of evil seem to be in the ascendant. But, after a long pause and a massive chord of C major, Agathe’s redemptive melody makes its exuberant and ultimately triumphant return.

Of all Weber’s operas, the only one to have retained a regular place in the repertoire is Der Freischütz, which was first performed in Berlin in 1821 and within a few years had been performed in every major opera house in Europe. The problem with most of the others was not the music - which, as we know from the overtures to, say, Euryanthe and Oberon, is uncommonly inspired - but the libretti. While Johann Friedrich Kind’s libretto for Der Freischütz has it weaknesses too, it is effectively designed for the stage and it presents a clear conflict between the forces of good and evil against the romantic background of the great German forest. The duality is no less clear in Weber’s score, which is based on a corresponding long-term conflict between the keys of C major and C minor.

The Overture condenses the narrative complexities of the three acts of the opera into a masterfully constructed miniature tone poem. The Adagio introduction sets the scene in the forest with mysteriously slow-moving lines on strings and woodwind and idealised hunting calls on the four horns. Just before the tempo changes, the sinister sound of the forces of evil are heard in eerie harmonies on strings and clarinets and dull thuds on the timpani - material derived from the famous “Wolf’s Glen” scene in the second act. The Molto vivace begins in C minor with anxious syncopations on the strings and an unhappy theme sung by the forester hero Max in the first act. The force of good enters only as a second subject when, after a clarinet solo that spreads light into the prevailing gloom, a brilliantly radiant melody associated with Max’s betrothed Agathe is introduced by violins and clarinet and then taken up by other woodwind. A development section that sets the main themes against each other but the recapitulation that gets only as far as the first subject before it is interrupted by a recall of the sinister “Wolf’s Glen” material. The forces of evil seem to have won. But, after a long pause and a massive chord of C major, Agathe’s redemptive melody makes its exuberant and ultimately triumphant return.