two might make five or seven or any number you pleased,
and where footrules were unknown; he took small interest in drama
taken out of the lives of ordinary men and enacted amidst every-day
surroundings; his imagination lit up only when he thought of haunted
glens and ghouls and evil spirits, the fantastic world and life that
goes on underneath the ocean, or of men or women held by ghastly
spells."

[Footnote 184: A striking illustration of this progression (surely
Weber's most characteristic mannerism) is naively supplied by
Weingartner; when, in his own orchestral arrangement of Weber's
_Invitation to the Dance_, for the final climax he assembles all the
leading themes in combination--an effect made possible only by their
common harmonic basis.]

[Footnote 185: This whole article is well worth reading and may be
found in that breezy though somewhat erratic volume called _Old Scores
and New Readings_.]

Weber's present-day fame rests upon the Overtures to his three operas
of _Der Freischuetz_, _Euryanthe_ and _Oberon_, which are often played
in detached concert form and hold their own for their romantic glow
and for the brilliancy of orchestral effect. By employing for his
thematic material the leading melodies of the operas themselves Weber
has created what may be called epitomized dramas which, if we have any
knowledge of what the titles imply, present us with realistic
pictures. For the use of special tone-color to enhance the dramatic
situation Weber is the precursor of that type of orchestration which
has reached such heights in Wagner and other moderns. From the above
comments it is evident that only the barest idea of the Overtures can
be gained from a pianoforte version; we have selected _Oberon_[186]
because it suffers less than either of the others. Everyone, however,
should become familiar with the mysterious, boding passage in the
introduction to _Der Freischuetz_ (taken from the scene in the Wolf's
Glen) and the Intermezzo from _Euryanthe_ for muted, divided
strings,[187] which accompanies the apparition of the ghost. This is
_genuine_ descriptive music for it really _sounds ghostly_. (See
Supplement No. 51.)

[Footnote 186: Not given in the Supplement since good arrangements for
two and four hands are numerous. To gain the real effect the student
is strongly advised to consult the orchestral score.]

[Footnote 187: The genesis of so many similar effects in modern music,
notably in Wagner.]

The _