Piano Forum

Pages: [1] Go Down

Topic: Music of Weber (Read 2882 times)

preludetr

Jr. Member
Posts: 85

Carl Maria von Weber was a composer of the early romantic, meaning he came after Beethoven but before Chopin/Liszt/Mendelssohn/Wagner/Schumann. Basically a similar timeframe to Schubert. He was prolific, wrote in just about every format/genre, and was very popular in his lifetime. For whatever reason, he is basically forgotten today and I never see him mentioned or hear performances of his works.

I have recently been looking at his first piano sonata in C major, and I think it's a very nice piece. Maybe not the most profound music ever written, but definitely well-written and effective. It seems like some pianists perform the 4th movement as a standalone piece (in my view, this is a big no-no for a sonata) but the only famous pianist to record the whole sonata was Arrau.

Is anyone here familiar with the works of Weber? Has anyone played anything by him? Why has he been so ignored and not included in the standard repertoire?

Logged

thalbergmad

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 16741

Re: Music of Weber

Reply #1 on: December 08, 2015, 06:29:37 PM

The problem with Weber is that i get the vibe that if you have heard one piece, you have heard them all.

I once spent a fair amount of time on the Konzertstuck in f minor which i do think is a minor masterpiece. Regretfully, it was beyond my powers and probably always will be.

He was capable of a good tune which is why i guess his works were popular with transcribers. Tausig's version of Invitation to the Dance is genuis.

Thal

Logged

Curator/Director
Concerto Preservation Society

visitor

PS Silver Member
Sr. Member
Posts: 5294

Re: Music of Weber

Reply #2 on: December 08, 2015, 06:43:31 PM

Quote from: preludetr on December 08, 2015, 06:10:37 PM

Carl Maria von Weber was a composer of the early romantic, meaning he came after Beethoven but before Chopin/Liszt/Mendelssohn/Wagner/Schumann. Basically a similar timeframe to Schubert. He was prolific, wrote in just about every format/genre, and was very popular in his lifetime. For whatever reason, he is basically forgotten today and I never see him mentioned or hear performances of his works.
...

Is anyone here familiar with the works of Weber? Has anyone played anything by him? Why has he been so ignored and not included in the standard repertoire?

don't dislike CMW, but I haven't been enamored enough w/ any of his output to seek his music out specifically very frequently. He is sort of like Hummel in a way, a sort of bridge composer. But I would put him a bit more on the romantic slant than NH.
I've seen similarities drawn up to Vorsek, but unlike CMW, I do seek Vorisek out frequently. a LOT of really great solo music, and some groovy concertoish stuff too
ie