Carl Maria von Weber

Weber's father dragged the family across half of Europe - Hamburg, Salzburg, Freiberg, Augsburg, Vienna - so the boy studied under a parade of teachers and wrote four operas before adulthood, none of which survived intact. He had range: two symphonies, concertos for clarinet and piano, the piano showpiece Invitation to the Dance, works tailored for the virtuoso clarinetist Heinrich Baermann. But the operas between 1810 and 1826 - Silvana, Abu Hassan, Der Freischütz, Euryanthe, Oberon - rewired what German opera could be. Der Freischütz hit hardest and lasted longest, the work every composer from Marschner to Meyerbeer to Wagner had to reckon with. His piano writing left fingerprints on Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Liszt. He died in June 1826, five months past his thirty-ninth birthday.