´óÏó´«Ã½

Donald Macleod looks at Weber’s last months, spent in London overseeing his opera Oberon while his health was failing.

Weber’s relationship with European cities mirrored his life and work, from the restless wandering of his earlier years, to the way his life changed after the success of his opera Der Freischütz. And in his final months he travelled to London to compose and produce another major opera, Oberon, but would die after giving its first performances.

Weber had an unerring ability to cause offence. He got involved in multiple love affairs that caused him problems. He was also very good at racking up debts. These traits unfold as we follow Weber’s picaresque journeys around Europe, flitting from city to city: sometimes chasing opportunities, sometimes in disgrace, at other times escorted away under armed guard.

In this episode, Donald Macleod explores Weber’s last years in reverse, from the last song he wrote, bedridden in London, to his performances of his new opera Oberon at Covent Garden, and before that - to the agonising choice that faced him, between providing for his family in travelling to London, and protecting his dangerously enfeebled health.

Weber’s interpersonal relationships were seldom dull, and in the course of this episode he spends time with Beethoven, and works with the poet Helmina von Chézy, who he described as a "suave poetess but unbearable woman".

Oberon, J306: Overture
Dresden Staatskapelle
Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor

Oberon, J306
Act III: O Araby dear
Act III: Mourn thou poor heart
Hillevi Martinpelto (Reiza)
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner, conductor

Piano Sonata No. 4 in E minor, Op. 70, J287:
III. Andante quasi allegretto, consolante
Jean Martin, piano

Euryanthe, J291
Act III Scene 1:
Hier weilest du? Hier darf ich ruhn? (Euryanthe, Adolar)
Wie liebt' ich dich! Du warst mein höchstes Gut (Adolar, Euryanthe)
Jacquelyn Wagner (Euryanthe)
Norman Reinhardt (Adolar)
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra
Constantin Trinks, conductor

Konzertstuck in F minor, Op. 79, J282
Russian National Orchestra
Mikhail Pletnev, piano, conductor

Presented by Donald Macleod
Produced by Iain Chambers