Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a romantic opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber to an English libretto by James Robinson Planche, after a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the story Huon de Bordeaux, a French medieval tale.
Commissioned by Charles Kemble, Weber undertook the project against his doctor's advice for financial reasons. He travelled to London to complete the music, learning English t...
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Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a romantic opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber to an English libretto by James Robinson Planche, after a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the story Huon de Bordeaux, a French medieval tale.
Commissioned by Charles Kemble, Weber undertook the project against his doctor's advice for financial reasons. He travelled to London to complete the music, learning English to be better capable to follow the libretto, before the premiere of the opera. However, in the process, he destroyed his health and died in London on June 5, 1826.
First performed at Covent Garden, London on 12 April 1826, with Miss Paton as Reiza, Mme. Vestris as Fatima, Braham as Huon and Bland as Oberon, with the composer conducting. The libretto was later translated into German by Theodor Hell, and it is in this German translation that the opera is most frequently performed.
Weber was dissatisfied by the structure of the opera as it was...
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