Bericht über den Tod Webers

CARL MARIA VON WEBER.

On Monday, the 5th of June, at seven o’clock in the morning, the Baron von Weber was found in a lifeless state in his bed, at the house of Sir George Smart, in Great Portland-street, where he had resided ever since his arrival in London. The disorder which has thus deprived the world of a genius who has contributed so much to the innocent pleasure, and therefore to the benefit of mankind, was a pulmonary consumption, which, to the common observer, had not assumed an immediately alarming form until the preceding Friday, when it compelled him to keep his room; but his spirits were not | much depressed, his appetite was good, and he manifested no sense whatever of his approaching danger. The only change remarked in him within a few days of his decease, was an increasing anxiety to return to his native country, and to his family. His friends, of course, studied to divert his attention from a hope which they foresaw could never be realized; but all direct opposition only tended to create in him great uneasiness, and his mind became cheerful in proportion as he conceived that the various obstacles which presented themselves were capable of being surmounted. A countryman, M. Fürstenau, who paid him constant attention, left him at eleven o’clock the night before his death, apparently in good spirits, and shewing no symptoms of immediate danger.

With the laudable intention of satisfying all doubts, whether here or abroad, as to the cause of M. von Weber’s death, an inspection of the body took place, the result of which was the following certificate: —

“On opening the body of C. M. von Weber, we found an ulcer on the left side of the larynx, the lungs almost universally diseased, filled with tubercles, of which many were in a state of suppuration, with two vomicæ — one about the size of a common egg, the other smaller, which was a quite sufficient cause of his death. T. Toncken‡, M.D.
Charles F. Forbes, M.D.
P.M. Kind, M.D.
W. Robinson, Surgeon. Great Portland Street,
5th June — five o’clock.”

The following observations, which appeared in The New Times the day after the above melancholy event took place, are so just and liberal, — they evince a mind so enlightened, so divested from the vulgar notions of ultra-aristocracy, — that they merit to be rescued from the fate which too often attends the lucubrations of the daily press.

“We are not certain how far we may stand excused with our readers in withdrawing from the bustle of politics, and that at the very moment when the trumpet is sounding for the battle, to dwell on a subject so opposite in its character as the death of Von Weber. Yet, even at the risk of offending, we cannot forbear from seizing the earliest opportunity afforded us of paying our humble but heart-felt tribute to the great man who has so suddenly been snatched away from us. Of all physical pleasures, if it may be ranked among physical pleasures, music is the purest and most exalted. Of all pleasures its language is the most direct and intelligible; of all, the range of its power is the widest; it speaks to the refined and to the vulgar; to rational and irrational nature; such a stroke, therefore, as that we are called on, with all who are susceptible of its impressions, to deplore, may not unjustly be regarded as an abridgment of the innocent enjoyments of society.”

In the fourteenth number of this work for February, 1824, we published a memoir of M. von Weber, containing everything of any importance that was known of him up to that period. During a tour on the Continent made in 1825, Mr. Kemble, manager of Covent-Garden Theatre, went to Dresden for the purpose of visiting the German composer, and there not only engaged him to set an English opera to music, but to superintend its bringing out. In consequence of this he arrived in London last February, having suffered much from such a journey ¦ at so unfavourable a season; and the long continuance of easterly winds which he encountered here, together with the fatigue and anxiety he underwent in producing Oberon, shortened, we fear, his valuable life, which might have been extended by repose, and by a residence in a milder climate.

M. von Weber obtained about a thousand pounds by his visit to England: five hundred for his opera, and other sums for conducting the orchestra at the theatre, for a few concerts, and for attending some private parties, for which his fee was thirty guineas. Of the latter he was invited to very few, for the truth is that he possessed non of those superficial, glittering talents, — he was devoid of those servile manners, that recommend an artist to the high ranks. To the honour, however, of the Marquis of Hertford and Mrs. Coutts, let it be recorded, that both made a point of requesting his presence at their houses: a fact which, as much redounding to their credit, we should be sorry to omit. Madame Weber was of opinion * , as her letters from Germany indicate, that her husband was not sufficiently recompensed. If we compare the total amount of his reward with the immense sums lavished on less-gifted foreigners, we must certainly think so too. He possessed, perhaps, too powerful a consciousness of real merit to descend to those little arts by which popularity is to be secured in the fashionable circles.

A distinguishing excellence in Weber was his suiting the sound to the sense. In one of the pieces in Oberon, Miss Paton, with all her taste and execution, failed to produce the effect intended by the composer. I know not. how it is, said she, but I can never do this as it should be. — The reason is, replied Weber, because you have not studied the words.

A grander instance of his feeling and judgment was given when a hymn to the Deity was rehearsing. Some of the voices were much too noisy. Hush! hush! exclaimed the genuine master, Hust! — if you were in the presence of God, would you speak so loud?

His anxiety to do justice to any subject on which he was engaged, will be made evident by the fact, that before he would undertake the composition of some verses from Moore’s Lalla Rookh, he insisted on reading the whole poem, which he had never seen before. The perusal of it impressed him with the highest admiration of the poet’s talents, and he intimated a strong desire to be introduced to him.

The arrangements for the funeral of this distinguished musician, throngh‡ some unexpected difficulties which occurred, could not be completed by the time proposed. On the subject of the interment of the body at the Catholic Chapel, in Moorfields, a correspondence took place between the superintending committee and Dr. Poynder, the Catholic bishop of the London district, who regulates that place of worship. By the existing arrangements of the chapel, however, permisson could not be given to more than twenty musical professors to perform the solemn service for the dead over the body; nor could the public be allowed to occupy the seats belonging to the subscribers; for which reasons the intention of celebrating the funeral in the Moorfields Chapel was abandoned by the committee. It was subsequently proposed to apply for permission to inter the body in St. Paul’s Cathedral; but after due deliberation, Sir Christopher Robinson’s | opinion having been taken on the subject, consent was refused by the Dean and Chapter, on the indisputable ground that a requiem over the dead being a Catholic rite, could not with propriety be performed in a Protestant church. Much interest appears to have been excited among the catholics of London on the subject of the decision of the Chapter of St. Paul’s in this affair, as some of them had conceived that the obtaining permission from so high a clerical authority to bring the body in that cathedral, would tend to soften the popular feeling against the catholics generally, and a Roman catholic priest was in attendance during the discussion, to convey the decision of the Chapter to the principals of Moorfields Chapel. The latter then reconsidered the matter, and so far relaxed, as to offer to allow a larger hand to attend, and made other concessions, in consequence whereof the ceremony took place as at first proposed, the account of which we extract, with a few corrections, from the Times Journal.