The Free Shooter

The Free-Shooter

At the Metropolitan Opera House, Manhattan, Carl Maria Friedrich Ernest von Weber's Der Freischuets was subjected to a revival. This opera, first produced in 1821, is perhaps the ultimate word in heavy German Romanticism. It is a tale of love, of shooting, of dense, dismal forests, of magic, witchcraft, enchantment, satanic spells and supernatural apparitions, ghastly, eerie, gruesome, horrible. But its moral tone is pure and lovely.

The story. Zamiel, the wild huntsman, a blackhearted, fire-eating demon, has in his power Kaspar, a forester in the service of Prince Ottokar of Bohemia. Kaspar is doomed to forfeit his soul to the wizard unless he can find another victim. As a candidate he picks the noble young hero, Max, who loves Agatha, daughter of the Prince's chief ranger, one Kuno. In the shooting contest which is to 'decide who is to be Kuno's successor, Kaspar, through Zamiel's magic, makes Max miss the target. Max despairs (very tunefully).

Kaspar then tempts Max with offers of "free bullets,"* guaranteed to hit any mark. Poor Max! He yields to the Evil One, takes tearful farewell of his beloved, meets Kaspar, Zamiel and collection of assorted ghosts in the Wolf's Glen at midnight. Amid fearful shrieks, sights unholy, and much sulphurous stage-fire, seven bullets are cast. Max pockets them. He has not yet learned the necessity of caution in accepting gratuities from oily malefactors. Meanwhile the lovely Agatha is a prey to bad dreams and evil omens.

The day of the final shooting match arrives. All the local shooters are there. Max uses his enchanted bullets and carries away first honors. Then the final shot! Max aims at a white dove. "Don't shoot--I am the dovel" screams Agatha. Too late. She falls--into the arms of her bridesmaids. But she is protected by a magic funeral wreath, given to her by an aged hermit. Foiled is Zamiel, the evil "free-shooter," and in his rage he directs the wandering bullet into the heart of the villainous Kaspar. Max confesses and reforms, and all ends in holy rejoicing.

The score. To this libretto, the amazing concoction of one Friedrich Kind, Weber wrote a score that combines the simple tunefulness of the folksong and the Bavarian yodel with the brilliancy of the concert hall. It contains also demoniac bombast and eerie "agits" which would be dear to the heart of any cinema organist. Its first Viennese success was tremendous. Weber himself wrote in his diary: "Greater enthusiasm there cannot be, and I tremble to think of the future, for it is scarcely possible to rise higher than this. To God alone the praise!"

The performance. Bodanzky, conducting, was at his best, drawing out the full possibilities of the noble horn quartet in the overture and the brisk hunting choruses. Elizabeth Rethberg as Agatha swooned deliciously in her famous Prayer, and the incantations were made trebly hair-haising by being set amidst Josef Urban's haunting stage-sets. An added item was the immortal Invitation to the Walts, interpreted by the nimble-toed Rosina Galli.

*"Free bullets," according to legend, are Frelkugeln, subservient to the marksman's will, destined to hit without fail whatever object he wishes. The seventh and last bullet, however, is at the "absolute disposal of the Devil himself." Marksmen who employed Frelkugeln were known as Freischuets.