y beloved Lina, and cry Victory! All the company seemed in
a state of ecstasy; singers, chorus, orchestra;--all were drunk, as it
were, with joy."

The title role was taken by Henrietta Sontag, a young girl, still in
her teens, though giving high promise of the great things she achieved
a few years later. Strange to say, a short time after its first
appearance, "Euryanthe" failed to draw. One reason might have been
laid to the poor libretto, another to the rumor, started, it is said,
by no less an authority than the great master Beethoven, that the
music of the opera was "only a collection of diminished sevenths."

The composer lost no time in laying his score before Beethoven, who
said he should have visited him _before_, not _after_ the performance.
He advised him to do what he himself had done to "Fidelio," cut out
nearly a third of the score. Weber took this advice, and remade parts
of the opera, where he deemed it necessary.

The strain of the production of "Euryanthe" told severely on the
composer's delicate health, and he returned to Dresden in an exhausted
state. There was no rest for him here, as official duties were
pressing. The malady afflicting his lungs had made rapid progress and
he began to fear he should not be long spared to his wife and little
ones.

He shook off the apathy and took up his pen once more. His fame
was known all over Europe and many tempting offers came in from all
directions. One of these was from Covent Garden Theater, London, in
the summer of 1824, which resulted in a visit to the English capital.
Charles Kemble, the director of Covent Garden, desired Weber to write
a new opera for production there. "Oberon" was the subject at last
decided upon; it was taken from an old French romance. Weber at once
set to work on the music of this fairy opera, and with the exception
of the overture, had finished the work in time to bring it to London
in 1826. He was ill and suffering at the time he left home, February
7, and it seemed as though he were bidding a final good-by to his wife
and little ones.

Arrived in London, Sir George Smart invited him to take up his
residence in his house. Here he had every comfort, a beautiful piano
too was placed at his disposal by one of the first makers in London.
"No King could be served with greater love and affection in all
things," he wrote; "I cannot be sufficiently grateful to heaven for
the blessings which surround me." Here he composed the beautif