Weber-Studien 10

Weber's Euryanthe is considered a 'difficult' opera, a 'difficult case' within the history of German opera and, in particular, within German librettist. The problematic reception history of the work was not completely subordinated to scientific observation - only a glance at the publication figures for the Freischütz and the Euryanthe makes this clear. The present anthology unites the lectures of the one-day Frankfurt Symposium of 2015, which took place on the occasion of the new staging of the Euryanthe at the Frankfurt Opera in the season 2014/15, extended by a Germanic and a theatrical contribution. The individual studies of this volume, which approach the work from their own (Germanic, musicological or theater-scientific) point of view, and try to interpret it, are complemented by an extensive documentation of the work's reception during the composer's lifetime. The first reports summarized here in the widest possible range and illustrated in their mutual links and references to the premiere in Vienna in 1823, the subsequent rehearsals until 1826, the controversial assessments of the libretto and the opinions of the two authors - Helmina von Chézy and Carl Maria von Weber - shed light on a fundamental opera-aesthetic debate that ignited (and continues to influence) the Euryanthe, but in fact points far beyond the individual work and its performances on selected stages.