Weber: Jubilee Overture | Giuseppe Sinopoli and the Staatskapelle Dresden

The Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra celebrated on September 22nd 1998 its 450th anniversary with a concert in the Semperoper opera house in Dresden. Guiseppe Sinopoli (1946 – 2001) conducted Carl Maria von Weber’s Jubilee Overture – a piece which could not have fitted better to the occasion. This is because the Jubilee Overture had already been played in Dresden in 1818, on the occasion of another special anniversary…

The creation of the Jubilee Overture was initially accompanied with disappointment for its composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826). Having been the royal kapellmeister at the Dresden court since 1817, Weber was meant to compose a ‘celebratory cantata’ to mark the 50th anniversary of Frederick August III becoming Elector of Saxony. On his return from his summer vacation with the finished cantata, Weber found that the music program for the anniversary celebration had already been completed without his composition. Feeling disappointed, he was minded to withdraw himself from the festivities, however a compromise was reached in which Weber could contribute a piece to the program. That piece was the Jubilee Overture (Jubel-Ouvertüre).

Formally, the Jubilee Overture mostly corresponds to the overtures that Weber created for his operas, especially in terms of its structure. A solemnly processional introduction is followed by a lively Presto assai, which is triumphant in character. The overture’s climax is a hymn composed in a rich, orchestral setting, whose melody is known around the world: ‘God Save the King’ (or ‘God Save the Queen’), which is the UK’s national anthem. (06:55). This song was also used patriotically in other countries though: Using the words ‘Heil dir im Siegerkranz’ it was the royal anthem of Prussia from 1795 to 1918 and the royal anthem of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918.

A co-production of MDR, NHK, & EuroArts
© MDR & EuroArts, 1998

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