Opera overtures were a frequent component of programs organized by singers.3
2.Next came “Der Troubadour” and “Concertscene für Gesang, Orchester und Guitarre,” by Carl Blum, composed expressly for Anna Milder.4 Carl Wilhelm August Blum was a guitarist as well as a singer, librettist, and comic opera composer.5
3.Then came a harp fantasy, performed by Xavier Desargues, a visiting French harp virtuoso.6
4.The first half ended with a duet by Giacomo Meyerbeer, sung by the famous bass-baritone Eduard Devrient (1801–77)7 and Anna Milder. We discover in the review from Berlin (see note 2) that the duet was from Giacomo Meyerbeer’s Margherita d’Anjou, first performed in 1820; whether the reference is to the “opéra en trois actes” or the two-act opera semiseria is not known.
5.The second half of the program also began with a Mozart opera overture, the overture to Le nozze di Figaro.
6.Next came “Große Scene” by Haydn—we find out in the Berlin review (see note 2) that it was Berenice, che fai, Hob. XXIVa: 10, from May 1795, composed during Haydn’s second London visit.
7.Subsequently was “Variations for the Violin,” composed by Carl Möser (“Moeser”) (1774–1851), who was a friend of Prince Louis Ferdinand (Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto was dedicated to him). I wonder whether the work in question could have been Carl Möser’s Fantaisie et variations sur des motifs de l’opéra “La vestale de Spontini,” op. 11 (Berlin: Paez, 1825), especially as Milder-Hauptmann performed the principal role of Julia, the young vestal virgin in this tragédie lyrique from 1805 to 1807.
Table 1.1. Program for a concert on January 13, 1825, with Anna Pauline Milder-Hauptmann.
| Concert: Anzeigen Donnerstag den 13. Januar 1825 Im Saale des Königlichen Schauspielhauses Großes Vocal= und Instrumental=Concert, Gegeben Von der Königlichen Sängerin Anna Milder. | |
| Erster Theil | |
| 1. | Ouvertüre aus der Oper: Titus, von Mozart |
| 2. | Der Troubadour, Gedicht von C. v. Holtei, als Concertscene für Gesang, Orchester und Guitarre, eigends für die Koncertgeberin componirt von Carl Blum, und gesungen von derselben. |
| 3. | Phantasie für die Harfe, ausgeführt von dem Königl. Kammermusikus und ersten Harfenisten Hrn. Desargus. |
| 4. | Duett von J. Meyerbeer gesungen vom Königl. Sänger Herrn Devrient und Anna Milder. |
| Zweiter Theil | |
| 5. | Ouvertüre aus der Oper: Figaro, von Mozart. |
| 6. | Große Scene von Haydn, gesungen von Anna Milder. |
| 7. | Variationen für die Violine, componirt von Carl Moeser, gespielt von dessen Schüler dem Königl. Eleven Carl Ebner. |
| 8. | Terzett von Beethoven, gesungen von der Königl. Sängerin Mad. Seidler, den Königl. Sängern Herren Stümer und Sieber. |
| 9. | Duett aus Romeo und Julietta, von Zingarelli, gesungen von Mad. Seidler und Anna Milder. |
| 10. | Die Forelle, Lied von Schubert, gesungen von Anna Milder. |
| Billets zu 1. Rthlr. sind in der Musikhandlung des Herrn Schlesinger, unter den Linden Nr. 34., und des Herrn Gröbenschütz, an der Schleusenbrücke; im Schauspielhause beim Kastellan Hrn. Adler, und Abends an der Kasse zu haben. Der Anfang ist 7 Uhr das Ende 9 Uhr. Die Kasse wird um 6 Uhr geöffnet. |
Source: Franz Schubert. Dokumente 1817–1830, vol. 1, ed. Till Gerrit Waidelich, assisted by Renate Hilmar-Voit and Andreas Mayer, document no. 302, p. 227. Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1993.
8.Then came an unidentified vocal trio by Beethoven, sung by the soprano Karoline Seidler-Wranitzsky (the first Agathe in Der Freischütz), the tenor Heinrich Stümmer, and the bass Ferdinand Sieber. The Berlin critic says that the unnamed trio “seems to be an early work by the genial composer”; could it have been “Tremate, empi, tremate,” op. 116 of 1802 (revised, possibly in 1814)?
9.Next, we have an unspecified duet from Giulietta e Romeo of 1796 by Nicola Zingarelli, sung by Seidler and Milder. The work was probably “Dunque il mio bene,” clearly one of the most popular numbers in this very popular opera, albeit one that seems rather dull to contemporary eyes and ears. One notes that the part for Giulietta lies largely in the middle register (Milder’s forte), with only a few modest flourishes (not Milder’s forte) at the very end.8
10.And finally, the program closed with “Die Forelle, Lied von Schubert.” “Die Forelle” is the shortest work on the list, a bonbon (but a profound one) at the close of it all.
The variety, of course, is what astonishes contemporary musicians, as does the mixture of names they know well—the holy trinity of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—with names to which Time has not been kind. William Weber’s characterization of such programs as “variations on miscellany” is apt, but so too is his cautionary note that “miscellany” at that time was not a pejorative description.9 The mixture of local music and music from elsewhere, as well as the desire to include something for everyone, is also on display in that long-ago evening’s entertainment by some of the best musicians in Vienna.
This program was advertised as “beginning at 7 and ending at 9 o’clock,” but two hours is actually slim and trim compared to other contemporaneous concerts that must have really put people’s Sitzfleisch to the test—if they sat through the whole thing.10 A Berlin actor in late 1825 organized an “Abend-Unterhaltung,” an evening salon, described by a critic in Der Freimüthige for December 26 as “A true olla podrida, composed of all possible ingredients at hand.”11 The critic was, if anything, understating the degree of miscellany: the program included the overture to Ludwig Spohr’s opera Der Berggeist,12 a long poem by Friedrich Kind declaimed by a famous actress, and Schubert’s “Erlkönig,” sung by one Herr Bader at the piano. Marching onward, there was also an unidentified duet by Saverio Mercadante, sung by Milder and Devrient; an adagio and polonaise for cello by Antoine Bohrer;13 a vocal quartet setting of “Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe” by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel;14 an unspecified scene with chorus by Bernhard Adolf Marx, composed for Madame Milder; a work by the prolific male-quartet composer Franz Eisenhofer; the overture to Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, K. 196 (1775), followed by the first scene; a fantasy with variations by Friedrich Kalkbrenner;15 an aria with chorus from Rossini’s La Cenerentola (“Nacqui all’affanno, al pianto,” rondò with chorus from act 2, scene 3?); Mozart’s trio “Mandina amabile,” K. 480, composed for Francesco Bianchi’s 1783 comic opera La villanella rapita;16 the male quartet version of Schubert’s “Der Gondelfahrer,” D809; Carl Blum’s ballad “Der Goldschmiedgesell;”17 and a chorus of Russians from Ernst Raupach’s drama Alangbu, with guitar accompaniment.18 I would have needed strong drink to survive all that. The critic’s sarcasm in thus invoking olla podrida bespeaks an early ripple in a changing tide, a reaction already forming against the admixture of light works in popular taste with serious compositions on concert programs.
About Anna Milder
My current interest in such occasions centers on Anna Milder-Hauptmann, Beethoven’s first Leonore and one of the most extraordinary singers in the early nineteenth century. In particular, I look at the