The thrill of the uncanny on the lake stage
How Weber’s “Der Freischütz” became the epitome of German Romantic opera
There are less than four weeks to go until the premiere of Der Freischütz, the opera on the lake stage at the 2024 Bregenz Festival. The 28 performances promise a gripping plot and emotionally charged music. Dramaturg Olaf A. Schmitt helps us to understand why Carl Maria von Weber’s opera, which premiered in 1821, is still so popular today.
“First of all, it’s the insanely good music!” says the Bregenz Festival’s artistic advisor and dramaturg for the production, Olaf A. Schmitt, before going on to talk enthusiastically about the scene in the Wolf’s Ravine: “A text-book example of an opera scene that is still unrivalled today, in which Weber created a huge, spine-chilling scene thanks to a unique compositional style and the combination of arias, choruses, spoken texts and instrumental music ... simply incredible!” This key scene was also the reason why director and set designer Philipp Stölzl was so eager to mount a production of the opera on the lake stage.
In order to marry Agathe, the girl he adores, Max sees no other way than to make a pact with the devil in the aforementioned Wolf’s Ravine. Der Freischütz is a story that resembles the Netflix series and horror films of today in that it plays with the uncanny, with fears and the thrill of horror, with the demonic, with dark forces, “but of course also with love,” Olaf A. Schmitt says. For the dramaturg, the fascination inherent in evil is the second reason for the enduring popularity of Der Freischütz.
It is a “Romantic opera in three acts”. The concept of Romanticism and the self-image of the Romantics – meaning contemporary kindred spirits of Weber’s such as E. T. A. Hoffmann in literature and Caspar David Friedrich in painting – have changed since the work’s acclaimed premiere in Berlin just over 200 years ago. Certain stylistic devices and characteristics have remained, however. The emphasis on longing and love or the creation of dream worlds. In the 19th century, there was also a certain tendency towards the fantastical and the supernatural. For instance, that a bullet made under obscure circumstances or even with the devil’s help would defy the laws of physics and always reach its target …
When Der Freischütz was written, the Napoleonic Wars had only been over for a few years and Europe was still suffering from the aftermath. Carl Maria von Weber and his librettist Friedrich Kind alluded to this situation in an oblique way – by setting the action at the end of the Thirty Years’ War. “We mustn’t forget that Kaspar is a war invalid,” Olaf A. Schmitt points out in explanation of the role of the shadowy figure who persuades Max to collude with evil. “The personal war experiences of all the characters play a major role. Kaspar’s memories of the battlefield and how he had to shoot his way out of the powder fog are a reminder that in war you have to deal with the human abyss, with horror.”
Carl Maria von Weber certainly struck a chord with Der Freischütz. It was a radical alternative to the Italian and French opera predominant at the time. A plot resembling a folktale set in forests and meadowland, communal singing in the countryside, and the symbolic use of the French horn in composed music. Also a shooting festival with a celebration of the winning “king of the marksmen” – something definitely in need of explanation outside the German-speaking world – was not common in this musical genre previously. As a consequence of all this, Der Freischütz soon became the epitome of German Romantic opera.
