Bericht über Webers Beisetzung in London am 21. Juni 1826

Funeral of M. von Weber.

The remains of M. von Weber were, on the 21st of last month, consigned to the vaults beneath the Catholic Chapel in Moorfields, with the rites of burial used in the Catholic religion at the decease of highly-distinguished persons; and the ceremony, through the various associations connected with it, was peculiarly solemn and impressive.

The musical professors and other individuals who had expressed a desire to attend as mourners on the occasion, assembled soon after eight o’clock, at the house of Sir G. Smart, in Great Portland Street, and at about half-past nine the procession, consisting of the hearse, with six horses, sixteen mourning coaches, and four private carriages, set off for the place of interment. Sir George Smart, as the most intimate friend of M. von Weber, was in the first coach, as chief mourner, with M. Furstenau, a performer on the flute, who came in with M. von Weber from Dresden, Dr. Kind, his physician, and Mr. Goschen, a friend to whom M. von Weber was much attached. In the other coaches were the following gentlemen:—viz. Messrs. C. Kemble, Fawcett, Kramer (Master of the King’s private band), Haviland Burke, Robertson, Olivier, Planché, Liverati; Dr. Forbes; Messrs. Savary‡, Braham, Moscheles, D’Almaine, Collard, Chappell, Willis, Power, Sir J. A. Stevenvenson‡, Mr. Aders, Mr. Giese; Messrs. Duruset, Robson, Shield, Webbe, C. Clementi, Major, Linley, Pegler, H. Horn, Cahusac, Rodwell, Horsley, Stumpff, Schlesinger, Burrowes, Paine, T. Cooke, Wordsworth, Rovedino, Ward, Walmesley, Hodsoll, J. B. Cramer, Kiesewetter. The private carriages which attended were those of Miss Stephens, Mr. Braham, Mr. J. S. Willett, and Mr. Aders.

At half-past 10 o’clock, the procession arrived at the Catholic Chapel in Moorfields. Long befor that time, those seats not approproated to the subscribers had been gradually filling by personens attracted as visitors to so novel and interesting a ceremony, so that when the time arrived for its commencement, the whole of the interior, which it is said will accommodate 2,000 individuals, was fully occupied. The pulpit and the altar were covered with black cloth, and the gallery in which the organ is placed was filled with vocal and instrumental performers. On the altar and at the sides were large waxen tapers, and lamps burning. The priest, the deacon, and sub-deacon, with the asolytes (boys arrayed in the sacerdotal costume, who assist on such occasions), were waiting the approach of the body, and ¦ when the coffin with the procession appeared at the grand entrance, advanced to meet them. As the whole moved slowly through the principal aisle, the band commenced the opening movement of Mozart’s Requiem, the words of which are as follows: —

“Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
Et lux perpetua, luceat eis.”

The slow movement and fugue, which justly number among the master-pieces of musical composition, were both sung in full chorus, and, deriving an inceased effect from the solemnity of the occasion, became almost sublime. The mourners having taken their seats during this performance, and the coffin being placed on a platform prepared for its support, the priest chanted the introductory prayers prescribed for the occasion under the Romish ritual, the responses being made from the full choir in the gallery. The orchestra then commenced the celebrated Dies iræ, dies illa, of the Requiem, which, with the succeeding movements, is intended as a description of the day of judgment. The appeals for mercy, the triumph of the just, and the despair of the guilty, are depicted in glowing colours. The mind of the composer was evidently absorbed by the awful nature of his subject. As instances of musical power in this noble work, few exceed the Rex tremendæ majestatis, and the dying away of the choir into the passage salva me fons pietatis. But the Recordare, the movement Confutatis maledictis, describing the punishment of the wicked, and the Lachrymosa dies illa, are characterized by the most original and profound conceptions.

After the last movement, the priest’s functions, and those of his assistants, were resumed, and at various intervals between other portions of the Requiem, the burning of incense, the sprinkling with holy water, and the elevation of the host, took place, attended with carious ceremonies and genuflexions, which when compared with the noble simplicity of the Protestant form of worship, are viewed with little complacency by one of that communion. After the concluding pieces of the Requiem, the Sanctus, the Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei, had been performed, and the prayers brought to a conclusion, the body was conveyed from the chapel into the vaults below, the orchestra playing the Dead March in Saul. The whole of the previous ceremony had been read in Latin, but in depositing the corpse in the vaults, a few prayers were recited in English. With these ended the whole of the ritual, which occupied full an hour and a half, and the mourners then left the chapel in the same order as they came.

Of the musical performance it is but justice to say, that a feeling of the solemnity of the occasion, and of respect for it’s‡ object, appeared to animate every part of it. The principal singers were Miss Cubitt, Miss Povey, Miss Betts, Miss Andrews, and Miss Farrar; Messrs. Braham, Pyne, Evans, Pinto, and Phillips, assisted by the choir of the Catholic chapel. Miss Cubitt is heard to peculiar advantage in music of this description, and displays powers with regard to purity of tone and expression, for which those who have only heard her on the stage are not disposed to give her credit. Her solo in the Benedictus was sung in a fine and appropriate style. Miss Povey, Miss Betts, and the other ladies, also distinguished themselves. Braham and Phillips were in fine voice, the bass of the latter singer giving great richness to the general effect. The instruments were led by Mr. F. Cramer; and in the gallery we also observed Messrs. Mori, Betts, Pigott, Moralt, Willman, and many other eminent professors. Mr. Attwood presided at the organ, Mr. Terrail, the organist to the chapel, having relinquished it on this occasion. Many members of the Philharmonic Society | offered their assistance, as did the whole band of Covent Garden Theatre; but from the limited space allotted them by the minister of the chapel, to avoid interfering with the privileges of the subscribers, the committee could not avail themselves of one-half the music aid proffered them.

The following inscription was on the plate of the coffin: —

CAROLUS MARIA FREYHERR VON WEBER
nuper
Præfectus musicorum Sacelli regii
apud Regem Saxonum.
Natus oppido Eutin, inter Saxones
Die 16 Decembris, 1786.
Mortuus Londini
Die 5 Junii, 1826.
Anno quadragesimo
Ætatis suæ.

STANZAS TO THE MEMORY OF WEBER.

The following very pathetic tribute to the memory of Weber does honour to the feelings and talents of its author, Mr. Planché. It is beautifully set by Mr. Braham — the movements being taken principally from Weber’s own composition, part being original: —