Weber, Carl Maria Friedrich von 1786-1826
German composer and pianist

Born near L�beck, he began to compose early, encouraged by his family. His second opera, Das Waldm�dchen (1800), was produced at Freiburg before he was 14, and was afterwards remodelled as Silvana. He became conductor of the opera at Breslau (Wrocjaw, Poland) in 1804, but ran into debt, was charged with embezzlement, and ordered to leave the country in 1910. In 1813 he settled in Prague as opera kapellmeister, and was invited by the King of Saxony to direct the German opera at Dresden (c.1816). As founder of German romantic opera, notably Der Freisch�tz (1821, 'The Freeshooter'), Euryanthe (1823) and Oberon (1826), he was the forerunner of Richard Wagner. He also wrote several orchestral works, piano, chamber, and church music, and many songs.