Freischütz," a story by Apel, then just published. At the time,
however, it did not get beyond the beginning; and not till seven years
later did Weber begin the work which made his reputation, a work which
in Dresden, where it was first produced, has had already more than a
thousand performances, and which even in London was at one time
played simultaneously at three theatres. When he finally did begin his
work on the "Freischütz" the libretto he used was by another author,
Herr Kind, a man of considerable dramatic ability, but who--perhaps
for that very reason--was subsequently so mortified by the fact that
Weber's superior genius caused his music to receive the lion's share
of the public's attention, that he refused to write another libretto
for him. This was unfortunate, for, as ill luck would have it, Weber
fell into the hands of a Leipsic blue stocking, Wilhelmine von Chezy,
whose literary gifts were not of the most brilliant order. She
submitted several subjects to him, from which he selected "Euryanthe;"
but her sketch proved so unsatisfactory that he altered it entirely
and compelled her to work it over nine times before he was
sufficiently satisfied with it to set it to music. The libretto for
his last opera, "Oberon," was prepared for him in London, but the
subject, as usual, was his own choice and was based on Wieland's
famous poem of that name. Weber's rare artistic conscientiousness is
indicated by the fact that at this time, although he felt that his end
was approaching, he set to work to learn the English language in order
to avoid mistakes in adapting his melodies to the accent of the words
and the spirit of the text.

Having now caught a glimpse of the manner in which the great
composers find subjects for their operas, and elaborate them, with or
without the assistance of poets, we may go on to consider the sources
of the musical inspiration which provides appropriate melodies and