MS 8701 Assignment: Karl Marie Von Weber and the Clarinet

Research in Music
Music Studies 8701
Final Project: Annotated Bibliography
Topic: Karl Marie Von Weber and the Clarinet
Introduction
This research project is written to assess the clarinet music of the most prominent German Romanticism in music. Carl Maria von Weber, born 1786 and died 1826, was a composer, conductor, music critic, pianist and Kapellmeister in Germany during the early transition of the country to Romanticism. Weber wrote over three hundred works during his 40 years of existence. His works included operas, singspiels, concert arias, orchestras, choir music, cantatas, chamber music and piano music, to name a few. At a young age of 12, he was able to write an intricate arrangement of a singspiel called “Die Macht der Liebe un des Weins.” Probably his most important work that garnered such tremendous response from the masses of his time was the opera “Der Freishcutz”, which stirred reruns in opera houses in Berlin, throughout Germany, Europe and even reaching the United States. Critics and historians, and most notable musicians, would account for this opera as the trail blazer that allowed German expression in the full artistic sense and gave the German operas the distinction from the already well acclaimed Italian counterparts.
Over-all, Weber’s music encompassed a broad spectrum that allows the use of virtually any musical instrument, and even though he sticks to a conservative use of instrument, his treatment of tone quality was decidedly progressive allowing for much variety. The clarinet was notably one of Weber’s favored instruments. In his arrangements, he would “adopt string tremolos in pianissimo with other instruments in a low register – particularly the clarinet in its chalumeau range – to create a mysterious atmosphere ADDIN CSL_CITATION { "citationItems" : [ { "id" : "ITEM-1", "itemData" : { "author" : [ { "dropping-particle" : "", "family" : "Chen", "given" : "Mei-C", "non-dropping-particle" : "", "parse-names" : false, "suffix" : "" } ], "id" : "ITEM-1", "issued" : { "date-parts" : [ [ "1999" ] ] }, "number-of-pages" : "190", "publisher" : "University of Maryland, College Park", "title" : "The clarinet music of Carl Maria von Weber", "type" : "thesis" }, "uris" : [ "/documents/?uuid=a0dac782-be0d-4f8c-81fe-186782156d13" ] } ], "mendeley" : { "formattedCitation" : "(Chen)", "plainTextFormattedCitation" : "(Chen)" }, "properties" : { "noteIndex" : 0 }, "schema" : "https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json" }(Chen)”. Clarinet was also used in Weber’s woodwind choir compositions, playing in duet with the singers during solo runs, or played as a solo instrument during a bridge to transition sections, and as pronounced solo performances in his operas.
This research focuses on the life and works of Claire Marie von Weber and particularly his clarinet compositions, surveying the available literatures that are available that talks about the life of the great composer and the clarinet compositions that he has released.
In surveying the literature that is currently available for this research topic, anything that talks about the life of Weber, especially in connection to his personal life information that led him into his career as a musician, his life experiences that prompted him to lean towards romanticism and nationalism as well as relationships and influences that shaped his musicality were selected. To make his biography relevant, information about the history during his time, most especially during his most prominent stage as a musician was also taken whenever it is seen to mention him in the literature. Having information about the current atmosphere during his prime as a musician could paint a better background as to how he was instilled with a sense of nationalism for Germany.
As for the clarinet compositions, information about clarinets in the 19th century was thought to be relevant to the research as it not only allows us to gather information about Weber’s clarinet compositions, but also compare and contrast his status as a clarinet composer relative to all the other composers and musicians that used the clarinet.
Also, looking into references that looked at the clarinet’s history, especially during 18th and 19th century would give us information about how society reacts to this instrument. If the use of the clarinet in plays, operas and chamber music was considered not so popular then and still was warmly appreciated in Weber’s use of the instrument in his crafts would tell of how the society was accepting of Weber’s works, or would also suggest that Weber was that effective and talented as a composer that he was able to give an audience something new to appreciate.
Based on the amount of references gathered for the bibliography, I have seen that the study of Carl Marie von Weber’s clarinet compositions, although have been mentioned and been looked into before, not a lot of interest seems to be directed to this topic of research.
More information is seen about his opera works, especially the ones that have given him much popularity across countries. Music online publications such as The Orchestra Quarterly and Music and Letters, contribute the most in providing relevant information and references about Weber’s works and impact and also his impact in the current generation.
But Weber’s works are well preserved and well-studied that people willing to dig deeper into studies of his works and life will not find it hard to look for references. In fact, despite most of the relevant sources being written originally in German, most of these literatures have already been translated in the English language. Probably the most important consideration when looking into these references is taking into account possible issues that may arise as the original content was translated into another language – say English.
There will always be lacks and limitations when converting one language to another. The best approach when an in depth bibliography and intensive review of the life and works of Webner is done, or for anyone for that matter, is to at least learn the native language. Basics of the language will be enough, but when good quality translations can be found than that would probably be enough for not so intensive reviews of bibliographies, such as this project.
During the compilation of this annotated bibliography, primary information about the life of Carl Marie von Weber was first searched through library databases. Information that would give us a picture of the person behind the masterpieces and the historical context – social, geographical, economical, political background – that would help the research better grasp decisions that have led into the formation of a musical genius.
The most useful information about the background of the person is thoroughly searching for high quality biographies that have already been written for the person. The first criteria to judge for good quality biographies is by looking at the credential of the writer and his or her relationship to the person of interest.
One biography that I was able to gather was written by Weber’s son. This personal connection to the person of interest – Carl Marie vonWeber – grants authentication to important life events in Weber’s existence. The flip side of this type of biographies, on the one hand, is the greater possibilities for biases and exaggerations of the truths or covering up of truths to present a better person. Also the tendency to be more sensitive about the person’s relationships because most likely these people would also be affiliated with the writer.
That is why it is also a wise idea to combine these personal biographies with other written biographies, if available. A good source that I was able to gather was one written by a renowned musician as well as a historian. This grants the objective – unbiased – manner of writing down facts that have happened to the person of interest.
Also, getting information from historians would allow us to rest in the security that the historian would tie up life events to the person of interest – Weber – with events that have already happened, is currently happening and will be happening that may or may not have influenced our person of interest’s life choices.
After looking into biographies, the best next step is to look into a detailed list or discography of the person’s works. This information is often also included in biographies and more often than not also provided with small comments about these facts, but biographies tend to focus on information about the most popular or latest works. Such as Weber’s “Des Freischutz” and “Oberon”.
This is all well and good, but if the purpose of the research is to specialize in an area of interest – such as the case of this paper where we only focus on Weber’s clarinet compositions – then deeper digging into sources is necessary.
Once the reliable list of the artist’s work is already available, the next thing to do is to look at available reviews for these works to better understand what has already been said about the works. Also to know how reviews and analysis of the musical score is done.
Background information about clarinets and most especially the history of the use is most useful in the research so reliable sources that talked about clarinets in the 19th and 18th century were also searched.
The most helpful information for these background facts about clarinets and reviews about musical masterpieces were mostly found in books. Library collections are perfect places to start, especially for an influential and historical person such as Weber.
The annotated bibliography of this research is organized according to alphabetical arrangement based on the last name of the author. This gives order and a better, quicker and most efficient way to look for a certain reference within the document.
Annotated Bibliography
Albright, William. “Oberon. Carl Maria von Weber.” The Opera Quarterly 21.4 (2005): 763–766. Web.
This article in The Opera Quarterly provides a concise review of Weber’s opera works, most especially the operas aired in America’s leading opera houses. The work of article author William Albright, details with such terseness all of Weber’s operas and focusing on how the crafts were acknowledged at their times of airings. The article provides us with important details such as relevant people of the time’s reviews on Weber’s operas as well the artists and singers that took part in the operas, number of airings of the different operas that would indicate how warmly it was acknowledged and to the intricateness of the stage backdrops. These information gives us a feel of what type of artistry Weber was capable of.
Berlioz, Hector. Mozart , Weber and Wagner : With Various Essays on Musical Subjects / by Hector Berlioz ; Translated from the French by Edwin Evans , Senr. London: W. Reeves, 1918. Print.
Hector Berlioz, or more formally Louis-Hector Berloiz, was a famous French composer well known for his works in the modern orchestra, which involves orchestral forces that were way ahead of his era and with concerts that included more than 1,000 musicians. He was a huge influence in the promotion of Romanticism, influencing comp...