=Influence of “Der Freischütz.”=—The effect of _Der Freischütz_ on its production in Berlin in 1821 was instantaneous. The story of the hunter’s recourse to unholy arts in order to win success in the chase, of his rescue from Satanic power and the final triumph of good over evil; the music, fresh, vivid, essentially national in color, appealed to the people to whom the legend was well known. It meant the birth of German opera, German alike in drama and music; it gave the final blow to the supremacy of foreign influences in Germany. This success at first, however, was confined almost entirely to the people. Critics and musicians generally could not reconcile themselves to its mingling of styles; the supernatural element seemed to them exaggerated, the introduction of the Folk-song wanting in dignity. Only the greatest of them all, Beethoven, deaf and cynical as he was, realized the signification of _Der Freischütz_ as the beginning of a new era for German art. He said to Rochlitz: “Weber should now write operas—one after the other without hesitation.” =Euryanthe=.—Weber’s next opera was _Euryanthe_, produced in 1823 in Vienna. In this he was hampered by a text of more than doubtful merit and lacking the national element which had been so strong a factor in _Der Freischütz_. The story is laid in the medieval chivalric epoch and strongly resembles Shakespeare’s _Cymbeline_. He also ventured upon an innovation which was not in favor with the German public: he set it to music throughout, the place of the dialogue customary in German opera being taken by accompanied recitative. _Euryanthe_ and Spohr’s _Jessonda_, which appeared several months before the former, were the first German operas in this style since Schütz’s _Dafne_. This and its confused plot kept _Euryanthe_ from the popular success achieved by _Der Freischütz_, yet it contains some of Weber’s most thrilling inspirations, and is the direct prototype of the modern music drama. =Oberon=.—In _Oberon_ (1826), composed for London to an English text, Weber returned to his former manner, though somewhat against his will. He found the English opera much the same as in Purcell’s time, practically a play with music as an incidental feature rather than as an integral part of the drama. He intended casting _Oberon_ into a larger mould, reducing the dialogue and adding to the music, but this was prevented by his premature death in London two months after its production.