Weber's early education was provided by his father and in 1796 he began his formal musical education at Hildburghausen. In 1798, he went to Salzburg and studied under Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. He also studied in Munich under Wallishauser and Kalcher. That year he published his first work, Six Fughettes for Piano. By 1800, and still only 14 years old, Weber had produced two operas and a mass. He returned to Salzburg in 1801 and continued his studies and met and befriended Meyerbeer. Weber's first commercial success came in 1803 when his opera, Peter Schmoll and His Neighbours, was produced in Augsburg. In 1806, he was the Director of the Opera in Breslau and from 1807 to 1810, he was the musical director of the court of the Duke of Wurttemburg in Stuttgart. Over the ensuing years, Weber held a number of positions including Director of the Prague Opera (1813-16) and Director of the Dresden Opera (1817-1824). In 1824, he was invited to compose Oberon for Covent Garden in London and in 1826 travelled there to be present at its debut. Weber had long been suffering from tuberculosis and died in London two months after arriving there. He produced two symphonies and numerous operas in addition to many concertos, and was a virtuoso pianist and much-respected conductor. |
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