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Digital opera: Carl Maria von Weber
Der Freischütz
Der Freischütz by Carl Maria of Weber (1786–1826) had already been called a national opera by his contemporaries and it is considered to be the ideal type of a German Romatic opera. Its premiere on 18 June 1821 in the then recently opened Berliner Schauspielhaus at Gendarmenmarkt was a huge success. The libretto was written by the lawyer and poet, Privy Councillor Friedrich Kind (1768–1843), who, alongside Weber, was also a member of the Dresdner Liederkreis. The opera Der Freischütz ranks among the most performed operas in theatre history and survives in numerous different partitions, textbooks and piano scores.
The opera, first performed in Berlin in 1821, took the stages of Europe by storm. Today, the autograph score constitutes the cornerstone of the extensive Weberiana Collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
This collection is currently made accessible through the complete edition of Weber’s works. In this context the materials of Der Freischütz were also digitalised.
