Opera Guide and Synopsis: Der Freischutz, by Carl Maria Von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber's opera Der Freischütz, with a libretto by Friedrich Kind, is a work which helped shape the history of German opera. First performed in Berlin in 1821, its use of German folk legends and music and chilling portrayal of the supernatural immediately resonated with its audience. Weber's success spelled the downfall of Italian opera and the development of a distinct German style, which would eventually lead to Richard Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk.

Characters in Der Freischütz

• Max, a huntsman, Agathe's love (Tenor)
• Kaspar, a huntsman (Bass)
• Kuno, head huntsman (Bass)
• Agathe, his daughter (Soprano)
• Ännchen, her cousin (Soprano)
• Zamiel, the Black Huntsman (Spoken)
• Kilian, a rich peasant (Tenor)
• Ottokar, Duke of Bohemia (Baritone)
• Hermit (Bass)

Synopsis of Der Freischütz

The story takes place in the mid-seventeenth century. In two cut scenes which originally began Kind's libretto, the Hermit has a dream that the devil is reaching out to Agathe and her fiancé, Max. He warns her to remain virtuous, and offers her some of his roses as a wedding gift. Although Weber rightly believed that the third scene would make a better opening for the opera, including the scenes makes the Hermit's role at the ending seem like less of a deus ex machina.

Act I

Max loses a shooting contest to Kilian and wonders where his skill as a marksman has gone. Kilian and the others torment him until he threatens them. Kuno and Kaspar enter. Kuno wonders how it is possible that Max has had such a run of bad luck. Kaspar says that someone has cast a spell on Max and that Max must call on the Black Huntsman to break the spell. (Having been rejected by Agathe, Kaspar has sold his soul to the Black Huntsman, and hopes to trade Max's soul for his own in order to live for three more years.)

Kuno orders Kaspar to be silent, and explains that his great-great-grandfather became the head huntsman through his skillful shooting, but was accused of using a magic bullet. Max mourns the loss of his easy life and shooting skill, but Kaspar demonstrates to him the power of a magic bullet by shooting an eagle and placing its feathers in Max's hat. He instructs Max to meet him at midnight at Wolf's Glen, a haunted place. Knowing that he will lose Agathe if he does not win the next day's shooting competition, Max agrees.

Act II

Agathe and Ännchen are in Kuno's house. A picture has fallen and hit Agathe's head; she believes this to be the danger of which the Hermit warned her. Max arrives and tells her that he has shot and eagle and must go to Wolf's Glen. She begs him not to go, but he insists.

At Wolf's Glen, Kaspar summons Zamiel. The ghost of Max's mother warns him not to come, but then Zamiel appears in the form of Agathe, showing Max that Agathe will kill herself if he is not successful. Max allows Kaspar to cast seven magic bullets. The first six will always reach their intended target, but the seventh belongs to Zamiel, and he will use it to kill Agathe.

Act III

At the shooting competition the next day, Max and Kaspar have split the bullets. Max, having used his three and made perfect shots, asks Kaspar for one of his, but Kaspar refuses. He has used two of his bullets already and plans to use his third, leaving the seventh and final bullet for Agathe.

Agathe, dressed in her bridal clothes, prepares for her wedding. When she opens the box with the bridal wreath, however, she finds that a funeral wreath has been sent instead. Ännchen weaves the Hermit's roses into a bridal wreath.

At the shooting trials, Ottokar observes that although Max's first three shots were perfect, he has been failing since. Kuno says that he must be nervous on his wedding day and suggests that the final shot take place before Agathe arrives. Max shoots at a dove, but the magic bullet targets Agathe. The bridal wreath made from the Hermit's roses, however, blocks the shot, and Agathe lives. Zamiel takes Kaspar's soul instead.

Ottokar orders Kaspar's body thrown into the Wolf's Glen and Max banned from his realm, but the Hermit speaks in Max's defense, asking that the shooting competition be abolished and that, since no one has the "right to throw the first stone," Max be forgiven. Ottokar agrees.

Sources

Melitz, Leo, trans. Richard Salinger. The Opera Goer's Complete Guide. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1921.

Newman, Ernest. Stories of the Great Operas and Their Composers. Garden City: Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 1930.