Weber's personality had a singular charm. He had social polish and versatility, a fund of humor and gayety, and a magnetic instinct. The very irregularity of his early life gave him social and mental experience, including mastery of dramatic technique and knowledge of the spirit of the German people. Intellectually he was alert in several fields, with a bent toward literary production. He dabbled in novel-writing, besides planning various works about music, such as a dictionary, a history, a periodical and some critical essays. He was sensitive to the rising spirit of Teutonic nationalism, which he fed by stirring patriotic songs. He was the first musical spokesman for the fanciful and romantic strain in German imagination—the taste for the magical and miraculous, for gnomes, fairies and goblins.
Though undoubtedly reckless in his youth, his later years were full of earnestness, and he won the respect of a wide circle. His one important pupil was Benedict (d. 1885), later active in England.
Weber's works include (a) 7 operas (1800-26), with sketches for two others, incidental numbers for several more and many detached dramatic pieces, besides several cantatas (notably Kampf und Sieg, 1815); (b) 4 piano-sonatas (1812-22), 8 sets of variations, many polonaises, rondos and dances, with lesser pieces for four hands; (c) 2 piano-concertos (1810-12), the famous Concertstück (1821), violin-sonatas, concertos for clarinet, bassoon and horn, and several other concerted works; (d) 2 symphonies (1806-7), 3 detached overtures (besides about 10 with dramas), and a few other orchestral works; (e) over 100 songs of various degree and about 20 noted part-songs for male voices; (f) 2 masses (1818-19).
172. The Romantic Opera.—The word 'romantic' has different
shades of meaning according to the connection in which it
is used, and, to some extent, according to the prepossessions of
the one using it. As applied to literature and kindred fine arts
the term implies that the subject chosen is unusual and fanciful,
that the treatment is unconventional and exciting, and that
the total spirit is freely expressive of the artist's personality and
mood. In all these regards 'romantic' stands opposed to 'academic'
or 'classical.' Minds differ in their predisposition toward
one or the other, and in certain periods one or the other predominates
as a norm. The opening decades of the 19th century
were strongly marked by extensive movements that are generally
recognized as romantic. These were nowhere stronger
than in Germany.
The rise of the German romantic opera was a symptom of the age. It had clear relations with the trend of German poetry, fiction and criticism. Its literary type was the romance or the fairy-tale. The materials of this type were explicitly fanciful, often impossibly extraordinary. The indispensable ele-
