Talk:Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber

Latest comment: 10 years ago by Schissel in topic Metamorphosis
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Title edit

Between the title of the article, and within the article, the name of the piece is coming through about three different ways. Can we settle on one? Metamorphosis, metamorphoses (singlar, plural), also of, or on, other... given that it's not a question of translation from German this time since the title was- I believe- originally in English, this should not be difficult! (According to by Douglas A. Lee (2002) - Masterworks of 20th-Century Music at Google Books, ISBN 0415938465, Routledge - page 190 - it's (the) Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber. Double-checking with more Hindemith-specific research books may be an excellent idea, though... and the manuscript, published score, other sources.) Schissel | Sound the Note! 18:18, 3 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

My Eulenberg miniature score (ISBN 3795762529) has it as 'Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber for Orchestra'. The foreword also agrees with you that the title was originally in English, and the German translation was not approved by Hindemith - it says 'Not suprisingly, he was extremely annoyed when his German publishers issued the score with his original English title translated into German'. It also makes sense to be the singular 'metamorphosis' as it is one work in the form of a symphony. The confusion for the plural version probably comes from the fact there are several Weber themes involved. However, I haven't worked out how to change a title on here... Robdixon87 13:39, 26 July 2010 (GMT)

Aha! I now have title editing abilities. Title of the article corrected to be in line with the content of the article and what Hindemith called the work. Robdixon87 17:27, 03 January 2011 (GMT)

Given that the "metamorphoses" (pl.) version has a significant foothold in the consciousness of many people (as measured by a relatively sizeable 6,000 ghits, against 15,000 for the singular form), maybe we need a note to explain why the plural is not the correct version. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 21:32, 3 January 2011 (UTC)Reply
Note added at last, but not before the title got reverted back again! It did not help that there were no reliable sources given. I have added a few, as well as some Further reading items, which should provide some ammunition. Now, how do we get the article title fixed?—Jerome Kohl (talk) 17:12, 18 October 2011 (UTC)Reply
Never mind that last bit—I just figured it out.—Jerome Kohl (talk) 00:16, 19 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

Metamorphosis edit

Exactly what does Hindemith do to, add to, change in, Weber's themes/pieces, anyway? I'd always assumed that in the second movement, for instance, Weber's theme was just the idea from which Hindemith took off on his odd and modulatory/minatory fantasy (I'm not making much sense there, I suppose), but listening to a performance of the Weber original, or what I think is the Weber original, broadcast, it sounds like all the chromaticism that I thought Hindemith added, e.g. , was in the original. Does he just orchestrate the duets in the 1st/3rd/4th movements more or less and the march from the incidental music in the 2nd, or is there more to it? I'm guessing more, but it seems worth summarizing somewhat in the article, maybe. I don't have an answer myself at this time though... Schissel | Sound the Note! 17:31, 18 October 2013 (UTC)Reply