Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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654 SPONTINI
and Armida ' ' ; styled the pieces selected ' des
mis^res, des niaiseries, ' etc. , and talked in the
most violent way of the Count's bad management.
Briihl tried to give him an idea of what
subordination meant in Prussia, but subordination
Spontini would
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not hear of. Don't attempt
to treat me,' he writes on Nov. 12, 'as a mere
subordinate, for I am nothing of the kind,
neither by my person, my character, my contract,
nor my talent ; for although my post
happens to be included in your department, it
is so in a wholly different sense from what you
appear, or pretend, to think. ' The whole letter
is very angry, and very rude, and it was long
before the two were again on terms of even outward
civility. Briihl took his grievance straight
to the king, and peace was at length reestablished.
The following extract will show
Bruhl's opinion of Spontini at this time :
*
He is,' he writes to Witzleben, ' extremely passionate,
and once in a passion oversteps all bounds ; uses expressions
which no man of honour can pardon, and then
considers his natural bad temper excuse enough for
anything. He is very suspicious, and at the same time
very credulous, putting himself at the mercy of any one
who will flatter his vanity; and in consequence is surrounded
by a host of unsatisfectory characters, who
make him their shuttlecock. His pride and vanity have
really reached the sublime of the ridiculous ; and temper,
sometimes assuming the guise of modesty, directs, or
rather misdirects, all his actions. . . . And to such a
man has been confided the conduct of business of more
than ordinary intricacy 1
This description, written under obvious irritation,
should in justice be counterbalanced by
the consideration of Spontini's great qualities
as an artist. But that Briihl's estimate was in
the main correct, the sequel will show.
During the preparations for the first performance
of Olympia,' Spontini had an opportunity
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of appearing before the court and public with a
new composition. " In the beginning of 1821
the Grand Duke Nicholas, heir-presumptive to
the throne of Russia, and his consort, paid a
visit to Berlin, and court festivities on a grand
scale were instituted in their honour. Moore's
' Lalla Rookh ' was then much talked of, and
Briihl conceived the idea of representing the
principal scenes in a series of tableaux vivants.
Sehinkel undertook the scenery and arrangement
of the groups, and Spontini composed the songs,
introductory march, and dance -music. The
performance took place Jan. 27, 1821, at the
Royal Palace, and was pronounced to be the
most brilliant and quaintly beautiful thing of
the kind ever seen. Theactors were all members
of the court circle. On Feb. 11 the performance
was repeated before a select audience comprising
the most distinguished artists and scientific men
in Berlin. Hensel, Fanny Mendelssohn's husband,
was commissioned by the King to paint
the tableaux, for presentation to the Grand
Duchess.' A sort of running commentary on
the representation was furnished by a number
1 The Importance of tblB event in Hensel'a life may be eeen from
the Mendetaohn Familtl, vol, i, p, 96.
of songs written by Spiker, set by Spontini, and
executed behind the scenes by the best singers
from the opera and a small orchestra. ^ Spontini's
work consists of four instrumental and six vocal
pieces. One of the latter is a chorus of genii
(3 soprani and 1 tenor) sung while Nourmahal
is sleeping, and a real work of genius. The
singers vocalise on A, while the instruments are
playing a, light accompaniment. The other
vocal pieces are the songs, the second being a
free translation of the opening of ' Paradise and
the Peri.' Spontini's work now suffers from
inevitable comparison with Schumann's music.
As an Italian he had neither romantic imagination
nor depth of expression enough for the
subject. But talcing the piece as a whole, it is
possibly more in character with Moore's poetry
than the oratorio form chosen by Schumann.
The first performance
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of Olympia ' was
eagerly anticipated. March 5, 1821, was first
fixed, but it wais postponed till May 14, a delay
for which Spontini was entirely to blame. The
translator, E. A. Hoffmann, only got the last
act from him bit by bit, the chorus-master had
not seen a note of it by Feb. 18, nor had the
ballet-master been consulted. Spontini insisted
on at least three months' rehearsals. The expenditure
on the mise-en-scine was so lavish
that even the king remonstrated. Statira was
played by Milder, Olympia by Sohulz, and
Cassander and Antigonus by Bader and Blume.
The chorus and orchestra were materially
strengthened, the scenery was by Sehinkel and
Gropius, and there were forty-two rehearsals.
The result, was one of the most brilliant and
perfect performances ever seen, and an enormous
success. Even Briihl was earned away, and
wrote to Milder, you have given us a perfect
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representation, and added another flower to your
crown as an artist.' Spontini's triumph was
complete. Even his opponents acknowledged
that 'Olympia' had no rival among modern
operas. Zelter wrote to Goethe that he did
•not like the work, but could not help going
again and again.
Spontini's supremacy in the musical world
lasted exactly five weeks, for on June 18, 1821,
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Der Freischiitz ' was produced at the newly
erected theatre in Berlin. Its immediate success
may not have more than equalled that of
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Olympia, ' but it soon became evident that the
chief effect of the latter was astonishment, while
the former set the pulse of the German people
beating.
'
Olympia ' remained almost restricted
to the stage of Berlin, while the ' Freischiitz
spread with astonishing rapidity throughout
Germany and the whole world. Spontini could
not conceal that he had, on the morrow of a
great triumph, been completely vanquished by
an obscure opponent, and that too after consciously
doing his very utmost. Even this
2 ' lAlIa Rukh. A festival play with Rongs and dances, perfoimed
at the Royal Palace of Berlin, Jan, ^, 1821. Edited by Count Brtlhl
and B, H. Bplker, Berlin, L, W, Wlttich, 1822.'