Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) - Stahlstich von Carl Mayer, Nürnberg, wohl nach einem Gemälde von Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein aus dem Jahr 1823, erschienen bei Schuberth und Niemeyer in Hamburg und Itzehoe, um 1830

Beethoven's younger contemporary, Carl Maria von Weber, studied with Michael Haydn in Salzburg and later with Georg Joseph Vogler (called Abbé Vogler) in Vienna. Between 1804 and 1806 he worked as an opera bandmaster in Breslau. After serving the Princes of Württemberg and studying with Vogler again, he held a position at the Prague opera between 1813 and 1816 and directed the German Opera in Dresden from 1817 on.

He made himself a name through his German operas that expressed the Romantic and national feelings of his time. He included popular elements such as songs and folk dances in his opera subjects, texts and compositions. Another typically Romantic characteristic of these operas is the emphasis on nature. Weber's compositions were so conform with the style of the early 19th century that his opera "Der Freischütz", performed for the first time in Berlin in 1821, was celebrated as "German national opera". Beethoven, too, was highly impressed with the work.

Whereas Weber initially disliked Beethoven's music, he later became an ardent admirer of the composer and performed Beethoven's opera "Fidelio" in Prague in 1814 and in Dresden in 1823.(S.B.)