Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (c. 18 November 1786 – 5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic in the early Romantic period.

[1] Throughout his youth, his father, Franz Anton [de], relentlessly moved the family between Hamburg, Salzburg, Freiberg, Augsburg and Vienna.

1820–21), Euryanthe (1823), Oberon (1826)—had a major impact on subsequent German composers including Marschner, Meyerbeer, and Wagner; his compositions for piano influenced those of Mendelssohn, Chopin and Liszt.

His time in Salzburg was overshadowed by the death of his mother Genovefa, who succumbed to tuberculosis on 13 March 1798, and that of his one-year-old sister Antonetta on 29 December 1798 in Munich.

Weber's musical education was extended by a mastering of lithography which he learned in the workshop of Alois Senefelder (the inventor of the process) and Franz Gleißner (autumn 1799).

In 1800, the family moved to Freiberg in Saxony, where Weber, then 14 years old, wrote an opera called Das stumme Waldmädchen (The Silent Forest Maiden).

In mid 1803, Weber continued his studies in Vienna with Abbé Vogler, founder of important music schools in Mannheim, Stockholm, and Darmstadt.

Another famous pupil of Vogler in Darmstadt was Jakob Meyer Beer, later known as Giacomo Meyerbeer, who became a close friend of Weber.

As the daily routine did not leave sufficient time for his own creative work, Weber did not seek to extend his two-year appointment.

As he could disprove the allegations, the case was brought under civil law to avoid compromising the de facto manipulator, the brother of the king.

[4] As a sobering side effect, Weber started to keep a diary to list his expenses and correspondence, and make occasional comments on special events.

[citation needed] Weber remained prolific as a composer during this period, writing a quantity of religious music, mainly for the Catholic mass.

In 1810, Weber visited several cities throughout Germany; 1811 was a pivotal year in his career when he met and worked with the Munich court clarinetist Heinrich Baermann and composed the Concertino in E♭ Major, Op.

He was inspired in this endeavour by the ideals of the Sturm und Drang period, and also by the German folk song collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" by Arnim and Brentano.

In 1824, Weber received an invitation from The Royal Opera, London, to compose and produce Oberon, based on Christoph Martin Wieland's poem of the same name.

He conducted the premiere and twelve sold-out performances of Oberon in London during April and in May, and despite his rapidly worsening health, he continued to fulfil commitments for private concerts and benefits.

Amongst the chief mourners were many notable musicians and theatre actors of the day including: Anton Furstenau who had accompanied Weber to London, Ignaz Moscheles, Christian Kramer, Charles Kemble, John Duruset, Johann Stumpff and James Planché.

[11][12] Eighteen years later, in December 1844, his remains were transferred to the family burial plot in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Dresden at the side of his youngest son Alexander, who at the age of 19 had died of measles seven weeks before.

This interest was first manifested in Weber's incidental music for Schiller's translation of Gozzi's Turandot, for which he used a Chinese melody, making him the first Western composer to use an Asian tune that was not of the pseudo-Turkish kind popularized by Mozart and others.

His compositions for the clarinet, which include two concertos, a concertino, a quintet, a duo concertante, and variations on a theme from his opera Silvana, are regularly performed today.

His body of Catholic religious music was highly popular in 19th-century Germany, and he composed one of the earliest song cycles, Die Temperamente beim Verluste der Geliebten ([Four] Temperaments on the Loss of a Lover).

The Invitation to the Dance, although better known in Berlioz's orchestration (as part of the ballet music for a Paris production of Der Freischütz), has long been played and recorded by pianists (e.g., by Benno Moiseiwitsch [in Carl Tausig's arrangement]).