by her when she was watching for the moment of his return. Mr. Moscheles, who was at Dresden in the month of October, wrote to a friend in London *:-" I visited poor Weber's widow, and found her still inconsolable for the loss of her husband. She burst into tears as soon as she saw me. What has been rumoured here, and even in England, as to their not having lived happily together, is, I can assure you, a calumny. He has left two fine young boys." The envenomed tongue of detraction none can escape; but if ever there was a case in which such rumours were utterly groundless and malignant, it was that of Weber. Besides the two boys whom he left, he had three children, who died in their infancy. Weber's character may be gathered from the foregoing sketch, brief as it is, of the circumstances of his life. He was modest, gentle, and affectionate; possessed of a strong intellect, and much firmness. His mind was highly cultivated, and his knowledge of literature considerable. In the earlier part of his life, he exercised his pen, with some distinction, as a critic, in the musical journals of the period; and left, at his death, an unfinished work, entitled Tonkünstlers Leben, eine Arabeske, (the Life of a Composer, an Arabesque,) which was published, after his death, by the guardian of his children, along with an autobiographical sketch of his life, and fragments of his correspondence. This production, as its title indicates, is written in that fantastic and incoherent style to which the German literati are somewhat too much addicted: there is, too, a vague and misty air about the general speculations, also characteristic of the German literary school, which frequently renders the aim and meaning of the author difficult to come at; and there is a good deal * Harmonicon, Dec. 1826. of laborious and over-strained humour. With all this, there are many acute and profound observations on musical subjects; and the whole is interesting, as throwing light on the intellectual constitution of a great artist. If the author of the Freischütz, Euryanthe, and Oberon, has not raised himself to the level of Beethoven and Mozart, he is but a little lower than these mighty masters. His powerful and original genius was strengthened by a profound knowledge of his art, and his mind was enriched and fertilized, (if the expression may be allowed,) not only by a most extensive study of the works of the greatest composers, but by the closest observation of all the phenomena of nature from which musical impressions are derived. From these sources, his strong and active imagination was stored with materials which, as he lived, only became more and more exhaustless. None of his works exhibit such a richness of ideas as Oberon, a piece that was written when his body, wasted by disease, was sinking into the grave. Though, however, this opera may be considered the greatest of his compositions, containing strains the most tender, romantic, and impassioned, magnificent choral harmonies, and novel and beautiful orchestral effects,— and though, among those who are capable of appreciating the highest efforts of art, it has even exalted the reputation of the author of the Freischütz, yet it has never excited those mingled feelings of amazement and delight with which that unique production was everywhere hailed. Weber's fancy loved to wander in the regions of enchantment, and to embody the wild and fantastic images of German superstition. "Like Salvator," to adopt the language of the best criticism on the genius of Weber we have yet met with*, "he gloried in Foreign Quarterly Review, for 1831. delineating the wild and savage aspects of nature, and in wandering, like Beethoven, in her sullen and more gloomy recesses. The romantic turn of his mind, inspired by his early studies, rendered the wild legend of the Freischütz perhaps the most suitable subject on which he could have employed his talents. In depicting, or rather in aggravating, the horrors of the wolf's glen, with its fearful omens, and all its unearthly sights and sounds, -in painting the grief and despair of his hero, and the gloomy, demoniacal spirit of the lost and abandoned Caspar, he found full scope for his peculiar talent. Were we to compare him with any of our romance writers, we should say that he possessed, though mingled with and controlled by a finer taste and far greater discretion, a congeniality of soul with Monk Lewis and Mrs. Radcliffe; and, rich as the dramatic literature of his country is in tales of superstition and diablerie, we think it to be regretted that he did not, at least, furnish us with another romantic opera from that prolific source." Some of the most powerful passages in Oberon afford striking manifestations of this peculiar turn of the author's genius. Among these are the incantation scene,-" Spirits of air," and the fiend-like chorus, mingled with shouts of laughter, of the evoked demons; the chorus which forms the finale to the second act; and the scene in which the hero is tempted by evil spirits. In all these, we recognize in every note the author of the Freischütz. Weber's instrumental accompaniments are stronger than those of Mozart. Whether this species of colouring has reached its height, or whether it will continue to increase in strength, it seems hardly possible to conjecture. Every succeeding generation of dramatic composers has added variety, richness, and force, to the effects of the orchestra; and accompaniments, at first thought too predominant and overpowering, have come, in course of time, to be considered thin and feeble. It is grievous to think that the divine harmonies of Mozart himself may share this fate; yet, when once the accompaniments of Weber and Spohr shall be on a level with the generally-established standard of taste, those of Mozart must necessarily be below it. This, indeed, is in some measure the case already; and the time may come when the present style of orchestral writing shall give way to new forms of instrumentation, as yet undreamed of. There may, indeed, be a point beyond which the tide of innovation cannot reach, and at which it must remain, or begin to ebb. But the history of music affords no indication of any such point; and the tide still flows on as fast and as steadily as ever. One thing, however, may be said. However endless may be the changes caused by the enlargement of the bounds of harmony, and by discoveries in the use and combination of instruments, those innovations which consist in a mere accession of noise, have already reached their limit. The human tympanum can bear nothing beyond the beating of drums, and braying of trumpets and trombones, introduced by the followers of the Rossini school; and the temporary vogue of a fashion of composing which is a mere cloak for ignorance and incapacity, appears to be passing away. 372 CHAPTER XIX. LIVING GERMAN MUSICIANS.-SPOHR. — HUMMEL.-RIES.— MOSCHELES.-NEUKOMM. - MAYERBEER. MENDELSSOHN. SCHNEIDER.-THE MODERN GERMAN SCHOOL. THERE are many living German musicians, whose names have acquired an European celebrity. Among these, the following are the most distinguished. In 1820, LOUIS SPOHR has acquired great fame, both as a performer on the violin, and as a composer. on the invitation of the Philharmonic Society, he visited London, and justified, by his performances, the reputation he had gained, of being the first violinist of the age. He was peculiarly distinguished for his pure and delicate tone, the smoothness and facility of his execution, his expression, and the vocal character of his style. As a composer, he was first distinguished by his concertos, quartets, and other instrumental pieces; but he afterwards turned his attention to dramatic, and, more recently, to sacred music. By his operas of Faust, Jessonda, and Zemire and Azor, he has raised himself to the highest rank among the composers for the theatre; and his oratorio of The Last Judgment is not surpassed, in the sublimity of many of its parts, by anything that has appeared since the days of Handel. Though it never descends from the solemnity which belongs to the subject, yet it possesses great variety of expression,-passing from the most awful and terrible effects to strains of the deepest pathos and melancholy. The words of this oratorio have been translated and adapted to the music, in a most judicious and masterly manner, by Mr. Edward Taylor; and its performance, in whole or in part, is now indispensable at all our great music meet |