Oberon, or The Elf King’s Oath

• Weber wrote this opera for the London stage in response to a commission from English actor Charles Kemble.   
  • Kemble wrote to Weber in 1824 inviting him to visit England direct productions of Der Freischütz, Preciosa, and a new opera Weber would write in English. 
• Starting in late 1824, Weber began studying English in order to best set James Robinson Planché’s English libretto. He took a total of 153 lessons in English to prepare for writing Oberon. 
• This work is really more of a semi-opera, which was more to the English taste in the early 19^th century: it contains many spoken sections and entire characters who never sing. Weber was uncomfortable with this format, but agreed in order to please London audiences. 
• Oberon premiered in London at Covent Garden on April 12, 1826. 
• Weber was very ill when he received the commission for Oberon, and his doctor actually advised him not to travel to England. However, Weber chose to write the work and direct it in England because he felt his family needed the income. Weber died in England two months after the premiere of Oberon.  
• Overture: Listen for Oberon’s horn-call, which becomes a recurring motif in the opera.¹

Synopsis from Naxos 

1. Clive Brown, “Oberon,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed November 9, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000003858.