Instrumental works.

Weber produced a steady stream of instrumental music between the six fughettas (op.1) of 1798 and the completion of the Piano Sonata no.4 in 1822, following which his poor health and pressing commissions forced him to devote hs energies to his last two operas. The surviving instrumental works include examples in most of the major genres of the early 19th century – notably absent are the string quartet and piano trio – as well as pieces in newer genres, like concert dances for solo piano and through-composed concertante works for soloist and orchestra. Much of this music arose from Weber's specific needs as a performer or concert-giver. The piano concertos, several of the variation sets and the Rondo brillante can be directly related to his public appearances as a pianist, and the piano sonatas, designed for private performance, were also calculated for his formidable technique. His contracts with virtuosos led to concertante works for various instruments, of which the concertos for Baermann represent some of the most significant works ever written for clarinet. The symphonies (especially no.1) and the overtures figured prominently in his activities as concert-giver. And most of the surviving ‘chamber’ works – the Grand quatuor (piano quartet, which he frequently performed), the variations for piano and violin j61 and three pieces for Baermann (j128, 182 and 204) – were also largely calculated for public performance, with the result that they stand apart from Classical ideals of equal participation and ‘durchbrochene Arbeit’ by featuring a principal virtuoso soloist.

In contrast to the amount that he wrote for professional performers, Weber composed relatively little explicitly for the burgeoning amateur market: three sets of four-hand piano pieces, the six Sonates progressives for violin and piano, the Divertimento assai facile for guitar and piano, and the piano variations on a gypsy theme (j219). And though he frequently alluded to contemporary dance music throughout his compositional output, and transformed the dance itself into concert music in the two polonaises and Aufforderung zum Tanze for solo piano (see fig.3 above), he wrote only a small amount of functional dance music for home consumption, significantly distancing himself from this genre when he had his last set of dances (j143–8) published anonymously by Kühnel in 1812.

(i) Style.

(ii) Forms and genre.

(iii) Programme music.

Weber: (9) Carl Maria von Weber, §11: Instrumental works

I) Style.

Stylistically, the instrumental music manifests a number of traits that are also characteristic of the vocal and dramatic works. Given the fact that his writings stress the primacy of the melodic line, it is not surprising that Weber's approach is essentially homophonic; exceptions include frequent note-against-note passages (often in fast tempo) and conspicuously contrapuntal passages normally reserved for developments and codas. He preferred diatonic melodies, often based on the notes of the triad, but these are frequently embellished with appoggiaturas and chromatic auxiliary notes. With respect to rhythm, his music demonstrates a strong predilection for dotted and dance rhythms, and pieces in triple and compound time frequently exploit cross-rhythms. A favourite melodic-rhythmic gesture is to break off an energetic line abruptly at its apex. To the tonal and harmonic conventions of the time Weber also brought personal touches, including sudden pivots from one key to another by means of diminished 7th and augmented 6th chords, unconventional harmonizations of exotic melodies (another legacy of Vogler), the use of surprising harmonic progressions for climactic effect near the conclusion of a piece, and (in the vocal pieces) unorthodox, sometimes even harsh, progressions to emphasize the poetic or dramatic content.

A major concern of Weber, throughout his music, was to maximize the technical, sonic and expressive potential of the forces. In the piano music, for instance, he took over all the typical virtuoso techniques of the period around 1800 (scales, arpeggios, double notes, trills, octaves), but his search for new techniques and sonorities led to features that set his pianism apart from the brilliant style of Hummel and other virtuosos, including techniques based on rapid arm movements (octave glissandos, fast staccato chords, leaps), widely spaced chords in the left hand for a fuller sonority, tremolos, and the combination of legato melody and staccato accompaniment in one hand. In addition to the clarinet's traditional athleticism, the works for Baermann were designed to exploit the cantabile qualities of his playing and the distinctive characteristics of the instrument's lower registers. And the multiphonics in the Concertino for horn offer a particularly recherché example of pushing an instrument to its limits. Similarly, the works for orchestra (particularly the slow movements) contain many novel, atmospheric effects, such as the juxtaposition of low strings (in Weber's ‘melancholy’ key of A major) against the high register of the soloist in the second movement of the First Piano Concerto; the combination of clarinet and three horns in the slow movement of the F minor Clarinet Concerto (no.1); and the combination of muted divisi violins and viola in the slow movement of the Piano Concerto no.2. Weber the dramatic composer later drew upon various of these sonorities in pieces like Agathe's cavatina in Der Freischütz and the ghost music in Euryanthe.

Weber: (9) Carl Maria von Weber, §11: Instrumental works

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 607