Jablonski, Marek (Michael)

Jähns, Friedrich Wilhelm

The first production of Der Freischütz in Berlin in 1821 had made a decisive impression on Jähns, then only 12. After Weber’s death, he came to know the family (there is a fine, sensitive portrait of him by Weber’s son Alexander), and he was able to draw extensively on Weber’s letters, diaries and other documents in the preparation of his catalogue. Taking Köchel’s Mozart catalogue as his example, he added to his thorough documentation a substantial amount of critical comment. If this now seems too consistently that of a dedicated enthusiast, the documentation has stood the test of time very well, and impressively few additions and corrections have been needed. The work is also notable for the first use of the term ‘Leitmotiv’, though Jähns’s application of it is unsystematic. His collection of Weber material, which includes manuscripts, printed music, documents, books, letters, pictures, playbills, mementos and other related material, was deposited in the then Royal Library, elaborately catalogued as Weberiana, and is now lodged with added material in a special Weber memorial room in the library (Deutsche Staatsbibliothek). Of his many writings on Weber, often pioneering in their research, Carl Maria von Weber: eine Lebensskizze (1873) is a pamphlet of 50 pages providing a summary biographical outline. Jähns also made a number of editions and arrangements of Weber’s music, and himself composed some instrumental music as well as many songs and choruses.