Announcing the publication of the Caprice on themes from Weber’s Oberon, for Cello and Piano, Op. 96

This article is an expanded version of the Editorial Notes that can be found in the published edition, available as a printed book (on demand) as well as digitally (PayPal/Stripe — Apple Pay/Credit card). A promotional video of this edition can be watched here.

EDITORIAL NOTES — PART 2

The Caprice for Cello and Piano, Op. 96

Hunting for the Sources

The copy consulted for the creation of this edition was generously provided by the Universität der Künste Berlin, where the print is held under shelfmark RA 7550. It consists of two separate parts without a full score, a common practice at the time. The cello part comprises seven pages, and the piano part twelve, including the cover and a blank page. The title page of the original edition reads as follows:

Caprice | sur des thèmes favoris de l’Opéra | OBERON | de Ch. M. de Weber | composé pour Violoncelle et Pianoforte | et dédié | à son ami G. Reißiger | par J. F. Dotzauer.

The opus number (96) is placed below the composer’s name to the left. It was published by the German branch of the publisher Schlesinger in 1827, under plate number 1446. No other editions of the piece have been found to date. Dotzauer dedicated the piece to ‘his friend G. Reißiger’. Carl Gottlieb Reißiger (1798–1859) was a German composer who arrived in Dresden in November 1826 to take up the post of Musikdirektor at the Court Opera, succeeding Heinrich Marschner. Carl Maria von Weber, who had died some months earlier, had left the post of Kapellmeister vacant. It was therefore to this role that Reißiger was appointed in 1828, formally succeeding von Weber and holding the position until his own death in 1859. Reißiger’s fame as a conductor rests chiefly on his having conducted the premiere of Richard Wagner’s Rienzi in 1842—a premiere in which Dotzauer is known to have taken part as well. In 1829, he and Dotzauer jointly composed a set of Variations on a Theme by Rossini for piano and cello (or violin), based on the opera Zelmira.

Reviews of the Time

The Caprice must have attracted enough attention at the time, prompting the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ) to publish a review in vol. 29, no. 51 (December 1827):

Caprice sur des thèmes favoris de l’Opéra: Oberon de Ch. M. de Weber, composé pour Violoncelle et Pianoforte etc. par J. F. Dotzauer. Berlin, chez Schlesinger. Pr. 20 gGr. (25 Silbergr.)

This spirited composition, thoughtfully conceived for both instruments and elaborating upon such beloved operatic themes, will surely prove welcome to devotees of refined musical entertainment—the more so as both performers are engaged in well-judged alternation, affording each the opportunity to demonstrate their instrumental prowess without undue strain. Although the cellist must possess somewhat greater technical facility than the pianist if he is to deliver all that is demanded of him with both fluency and taste, the passagework nevertheless lies comfortably under the hand, as one would naturally expect from this distinguished cellist-composer.

The interweaving of the melodic material, while it cannot exactly be called artful, is so natural and ingratiating that these very qualities will render it all the more capable of satisfying the most exacting musical circles, bringing credit to the performers and pleasure to their audience.¹

This review suggests Dotzauer’s renown as a cellist-composer, especially regarding how well the cello parts were written. The interweaving of the themes is also noted, if with some reservation as to its contrapuntal sophistication—a quality the review nonetheless considers compensated for by its natural and ingratiating character, capable of satisfying even the most discerning audiences.

Analysis of the Piece

The Caprice on favourite themes from Oberon is 406 bars long, set in the key of D major—one of the most effective and idiomatic keys for the cello—, and divided into three main parts. The opening (D major, C, 20 bars, Adagio sostenuto) begins as the opera does, with the horns calling and the strings replying. A first period focused on the horns (bb 1–8) is followed by a second joining two excerpts from the introduction and played by the entire strings section and by the cellos alone (bb 9–20). Already at this point, it is possible to notice how the engraver of the source did not respect the ties clearly present in the first edition of the opera’s score. While cellists—aware that two equal notes under a longer slur are most often meant to be tied—could easily have understood this, pianists, who use phrasing slurs in an entirely different way, might well have been confused. The last four bars of the first part elaborate once again on the horns’ call.

The second part (A minor, 2/4, 96 bars, Andantino) is based on the Cavatina ‘Mourn Thou Poor Heart’ (in German: ‘Traure mein Herz um’) from Act III, Scene II. It is here that, in the opera, Reiza refuses the courtship of Almanzor, emir of Túnez,² and weeps for Hüon, her beloved, whom she believes to be lost to her. The text is so beautiful that it is appropriate to insert it here, given how closely the cello follows Reiza’s melody:

Mourn thou, poor heart, for the joys that are dead;

Flow, ye sad tears, for the joys that are fled:

Sorrow is now all the treasure I prize;

As Peris on perfume, I feed on its sighs:

And bitter to some as its fountain may be,

’Tis sweet as the waters of Gelum to me.

Ye that are basking in pleasure’s gay beam,

Ye that are sailing on hope’s golden stream,

A cloud may come o’er ye, —a wave sweep the deck,

And picture a future of darkness and wreck;

But the scourge of the desert o’er my heart hath past,

And the tree that is blighted fears no second blast.

According to the different interpretations available on recordings, this ‘song’ (as it is called in the libretto) could be taken more or less slowly. The Andantino marking therefore risks prompting the musicians to rush this poignant, sorrowful moment. The first four periods (bb 1–34) closely reproduce von Weber’s score, with few adjustments to the piano part beyond the general transposition from F minor to A minor. The fifth period (bb 35–42) uses the melody just proposed to modulate to Bb major, introducing a section (bb 43–66) where the piano is the protagonist and the cello accompanies it, first contrapuntally and then with arpeggios in triplets. The harmony is now twisted from Bb major to G minor, then C minor, Db major/minor, enharmonically changing to a C# diminished chord that hints at the next part’s main key: D major. In this passage (bb 67–88), the cello and the right hand of the piano use the same elements (arpeggios) but in contrary motion, while the left hand drives the modulation journey with the Cavatina’s secondary melody. A sudden shift to B minor brings back the horns’ call from the beginning in an unexpected Adagio (bb 89–96). The cello climbs the C string up to an E3,³ which the piano uses to conclude this second part with a Dominant seventh of D major at FF.

The third part (D major, 6/8, 290 bars, Allegro) begins by presenting the melody from the Duet ‘On the banks of sweet Garonne’ (in German: ‘An dem Strande der Garonne’) from Act III, Scene I, where Sherasmin (Hüon’s squire) and Fatima (Reiza’s handmaiden) remember their beloved and now apparently lost homeland. This final part is in modified sonata form—that is, without development, akin to the structure typical of Italian opera overtures. To reproduce the duet effect on a chamber scale, Dotzauer structures the main theme homorhythmically, its first exposition (bb 1–14) in unison with basic accompaniment. The piano then tries to take an independent route (bb 15–22) but is quickly joined by the cello, clearly unwilling to let its companion slip away. Until this point in the piece, the cello’s virtuosic writing had been relatively restrained, but the wait is finally over, and the cellist can take the spotlight. As a cellist, one can clearly see what the lessons of Duport and Romberg had bestowed upon Dotzauer, with these arpeggio and scale passages sounding spectacular and, at the same time, being masterfully written for the instrument. This does not imply that these passages are easy to play—quite the opposite—, but, at least, they fall under the hand without recourse to impractical solutions. For the first period of this flamboyant section (bb 23–32), the piano provides discreet accompaniment in a barcarole-like rhythm, while, for the second one (bb 33–40), it tries to reply by imitating on the second beat the arpeggios proposed by the cello on the first beat. As soon as the piano is left alone to craft a transition to A major, though, fast broken octaves in contrary motion are used. At this point, and for the next four periods (bb 49–72), Dotzauer crafts a secondary theme—an original melody that gently rocks between A major and F major—to contrast with the rhythmic character of the opening line. The next section (bb 73–106) is, once again, a virtuosic transition, this time developed from the third bar of the main theme, and using arpeggios to reach different registers and scales to return. A brief transition (bb 107–114) allows A major to change dress from being the main key of the section to becoming the Dominant of the return of the main theme (bb 115–139). The last six bars, then, provide enough change to introduce what is coming next and the new key of G major. The piano is now given a brief moment to shine, even with the cello not giving too much space and managing to insert a bar of staccato, followed by an evolution of the original melody proposed before. This section (bb 149–164) is intensely modulating, flowing through G major, B minor, F# major and C# major, G# minor, then using rising fourths to quickly move through B major and E minor, before eventually landing in F major territory by way of a twisting detour through C major. The main theme is now given exclusively to the piano, first in F major, then in D minor (bb 165–180), with the cello providing some distraction through ascending scales on the C string. The tonal journey continues in descending thirds with the main theme now in Bb major in the piano’s right hand, the left playing arpeggios in sixteenth notes. The cello joins in b 185, providing enough chromatic distraction to force the Bb tonic to become a lowered Submediant (VI) of D major. The broken-octave transition’s comeback favours the return of the secondary theme, now in the home key (bb 201–224). The virtuosic bridge (bb 225–262) is now firmly set in D major, ending with a fermata on the Dominant. Almost like a cadence, then, the cello and the piano engage in a playful echo of the main theme, marked Meno mosso, and in the softest possible dynamic (ppp), with the cello using natural harmonics to sound even more dreamlike. The Tempo I finally resumes for the last page of the score, with the virtuosic arpeggios of D major bringing a fireworks-like closure to this Caprice.

About this Edition

While this edition is based on the first edition of 1827, it contains every necessary correction to bring its notation up to modern standards. Whenever the notation deviated significantly from the original, this has been marked in the Critical Notes section found at the end of the volume. The cello part is offered in two versions: one with the original markings by Dotzauer, and one with performance suggestions by Norbert Anger. The piano part has been checked, corrected, and edited by Andreas Hecker, who, with Anger, gave the piece’s premiere in Dresden at the Musikfestspiele 2026 (‘Dotzauer Abend’, 13 June 2026).

Acknowledgements

My deepest thanks go to the City of Dresden and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele for supporting the creation of this edition and for deciding to dedicate an entire evening of their programme to the music of Dotzauer. It has been a true honour to have had the privilege of witnessing the first Dotzauer Evening in modern history, and to offer my contribution to bringing the Dresden cello hero back to the stage from which he should never have been excluded. I am immensely grateful to Jan Vogler, Artistic Director of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, who, from our very first meeting, believed in this project around Dotzauer and heroically strove to make it a reality.

A heartfelt thank-you goes to the musicians who agreed to take on these technically challenging pages, both for their flawless, spectacular performance and for their editorial support for this edition. They are the cellist Norbert Anger, principal cellist of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, and the pianist Andreas Hecker, professor at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.

Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to the library of the Universität der Künste Berlin for providing access to the source score.

The Editor,

Michele Galvagno

Belgrade, Serbia — 24 July 2026

Bottom Line

Thank you for reading so far. I hope you liked this deep-dive analysis of Dotzauer’s Caprice Op. 96 for cello and piano.

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Musically yours,

Michele

1. Original text:
   Ein frisch durchgeführtes, für beyde Instrumente wohl berechnetes und über so beliebte Themata sich verbreitendes Stück wird den Liebhabern gefälliger Musik – Unterhaltungen gewiss willkommen seyn, und diess um so mehr, da beyde Spieler, in gehöriger Abwechselung beschäftigt, Gelegenheit erhalten, sich auf ihrem Instrumente zu zeigen, ohne dass sie zu sehr angestrengt werden. Wenn auch der Violoncellist mehr, als der Fortepiano – Spieler, sich schon zu den wohlgeübten muss rechnen können, wenn er Alles, was ihm geboten worden ist, rund und geschmackvoll vortragen will: so ist doch auch recht wohl dafür gesorgt, dass die Passagen gut in der Hand liegen, wie man das schon von selbst von dem bekannten Violoncellisten erwarten darf.
   Die Verflechtungen der Melodieen sind nicht gerade kunstreich zu nennen, aber so natürlich und gefällig, dass sie dieser Eigenschaften wegen nur desto mehr die vorzüglichsten Ansprüche musikalischer Zirkel, zur Ehre der Vortragenden und zum Vergnügen der Hörer, befriedigen werden. ↩
2. Spelt thus in the libretto; the modern English form is ‘Tunis’. ↩
3. The middle C of the piano is considered to be C3. ↩