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Music from the North. 179
1 Precosa,' ' Euryanthe,' ' Oberon,' the 'Jubilee Overture,' and that to ' The Ruler of the Spirits :' the last I think incomparable for the fire with which it moves, for the majesty with which it closes. There is another overture by Weber with which I am unacquainted : I mean the one to Schiller's arrangement of Carlo Gozzi's extravagant fancy-piece, 'Turan-dot.' The subject of this is Chinese, and it is here merely adverted to as an illustration of the preferences of its writer for that which was sharp, peculiar in its colour,-—preferences which entitle him to be considered as first among what may be called national composers, or those who have produced characteristic music associated with many far distant period, characters, and countries.
But Weber demands a separate and supreme place among the national composers of Germany, not because he gave out the scene in the 'Wolf's glen' and the Hunters' Chorus, and the demoniac glee of Caspar—music which drove Europe wild when it broke out, and to which it may be said the world owes an intolerable list of second-hand goblin and fairy operas, devoid alike of either terror
or enchantment—but from the part-songs produced
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