whom his contemporaries admired, and posterity venerates, was formed. Although somewhat isolated socially, his gifts and his amiable disposition attracted round him a small circle of musical people. Carl Ebell was one of the number, but his closest friends were F. W. Berner and J. W. Klingohr, both little older than himself, and both admired pianists, Berner being also chief organist of the church of St. Elizabeth, a talented composer, and in a certain sense, a pupil of Vogler's. The three young men formed a close bond, and endeavoured to make their intimacy mutually profitable. Klingohr's strong points were sweetness, correctness, and grace; Berner's, power, and depth of thought; Weber excelled in brilliancy, fascination, and unexpectedness. In genius he far surpassed the others, but Berner had had the solid training which he lacked. All three exercised themselves diligently in extempore playing, then justly considered the highest qualification for a good pianoforte-player and organist. In this branch also Weber proved the most gifted; in spite of risky harmonies, and even awkward counterpoint, detected by critical hearers, he carried all before him by the charm of his melodies, and the originality of his whole musical nature. He had also acquired considerable skill on the guitar, on which he would accompany his own mellow voice in songs, mostly of a humorous character, with inimitable effect. This talent was often of great use to him in society, and he composed many Lieder with guitar accompaniment. His fine voice, however, he nearly lost in Breslau. One day, in the early part of 1806, he had invited Berner to spend the evening with him, and play over the newly-completed overture to 'Rübezahl,' but on Berner's arrival he found his friend insensible on the floor. Wanting a glass of wine he had taken by mistake some nitric acid, used by his father for experiments in etching. He was with difficulty restored to consciousness, when it was found that the vocal organs were impaired, and the inside of the mouth and air-passages seriously injured. He recovered after a long illness, but his singing-voice remained weak, and even his speaking-voice never regained its full power. Beyond a few numbers of 'Rübezahl,' Weber composed little in Breslau. An 'Overtura Chinesa,' lost in its original form, was re-modelled in 1809 as the overture to 'Turandot.'
After his withdrawal from the theatre he remained at Breslau without any regular employment, living on the hard-earned proceeds of music-lessons. Having his father to provide for, and encumbered with debts accumulated while he was endeavouring to live a somewhat fast life on a salary of 600 thalers a year (about £90), he found himself hard pressed, and determined to try a concert-tour. One of his pupils, Fräulein von Belonde, was lady-in-waiting to the wife of Duke Eugene of Wirtemberg, then living at Schloss Carlsruhe in Silesia, where he kept up a great deal of music. The lady's influence procured for Weber the title of Musik-Intendant, which would, it was hoped, be a help to him on his tour, but that prospect having been destroyed by the war, the Duke invited Weber to Schloss Carlsrühe. Here he found not only a refuge for himself, his father, and an aunt, but a most desirable atmosphere for the cultivation of his art. He took up his abode there about midsummer, and though the Duke was summoned to the army in September, the war was expected to be so soon over that at first no change was made in the peaceful life at the Castle. In these few months Weber wrote a considerable number of instrumental pieces, chiefly for the excellent artists who composed the small chapel of the Duke. To January 1807 belong two orchestral symphonies (his only ones, both in C major[1]), and these had been preceded by some variations for viola and orchestra (Dec. 19), and a small concerto for horn and orchestra (Nov. 6, 1806). Possibly, too, the well-known variations on Bianchi's 'Vien qua, Dorina bella' belong to the last few weeks at Carlsruhe.[2] This happy time came to an end in February 1807, after Napoleon's decisive victory over the Prussians, when the state of universal insecurity made it necessary to dismiss the band. But the Duke, with true nobility of mind, showed himself anxious to provide for his musicians, and through his intervention Weber was installed as private secretary at Stuttgart to Duke Ludwig, brother to Duke Eugene, and to the king (Frederic) of Wirtemberg. As things were, he could not hesitate to accept a post which promised him, even at the cost of a temporary exile from his art, a certain income, doubly necessary now that he had his father to provide for. As he was not required at Stuttgart till September 1, he made use of the interval after his departure from Carlsruhe on February 23, for a concert-tour. The war made concerts a matter of great difficulty, but, after several vain attempts, he succeeded at Anspach, Nuremberg, Bayreuth, and Erlangen. He then turned in the direction of Stuttgart, where he arrived July 17, and entered on his new post August 1.
Duke Ludwig was a frivolous man of pleasure, who habitually spent more than his income, and did not scruple to resort to underhand and desperate expedients to extricate himself from his embarassments. The corruption of morals at the dissipated court of Stuttgart was terrible, and Weber's position was a dangerous one from many points of view. His duties were to manage the Duke's private correspondence, keep his accounts, furnish him, sometimes by most unpleasant means, with money to satisfy or put off his numerous creditors—all things for which Weber was too ignorant and inexperienced,
- ↑ See Jähns. Nos. 50 and 51.
- ↑ Weber states in his autobiographical sketch that he composed at Schloss Carlsruhe 2 Symphonies, several Concertos, and 'Harmoinestücke' (pieces for wind without strings). If we include the viola variations, much in the form of a concerto, we get 2 concertos, but the Harmoniestücke are missing. A 'Tusch' (flourish of trumpets) of 4 bars, for 20 trumpets, printed by Jähns No. 47 A, p. 61, probably counted as one of them.
