Wilhelm Furtwängler Talks About Der Freischütz (1954) [with English Translation]

Radio talk (?) by Wilhelm Furtwängler
(Recorded July/August, 1954, Salzburg)
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The following English translation is from John Ardoin's book "The Furtwängler Record":
"I cannot immerse myself in a work to present it rightly and lovingly and then discuss it impartially. It is said that love makes one blind. And could one avoid such blindness when considering a work such as "Der Freischütz", a work of love to a greater extent than almost any other? As a musician, I can only say that this score, with its certainty of intention, its compelling mystery of part-writing and sound in every bar, its telling characterisation of human emotions, was written with an insight into the particular needs of the theatre that marks it as one of the greatest masterpieces of world literature.
It is true that there are people who consider what "Der Freischütz" has to say too simple, too homely. They believe that in the age of technology, of the atom bomb, such naïveté no longer has anything to say to us. They are the same people who do not know how, why, and for what purpose a folk song ever originated. Even at the world premiere of "Der Freischütz", which was one of the greatest triumphs in the history of the theatre, a substantial number of professional critics thought the work too naïve.
"Der Freischütz" addresses itself to us not as professional musicians but as human beings. It is not an "interesting" opera, but something far more exalted: a genuine communal experience. Not only did Weber write wonderfully natural music, masterly down to its smallest details, it was also granted to him to achieve that which gave him his place among the greatest composers: he created an abundance of melodies that could have been folk songs. Put another way, they bear all the marks of Weber's individuality, yet they produce the effect of genuine folk songs; the result is the coming together of highly developed individuality and an overwhelming sense of communal experience. On these foundations are created scenes that always appear to me to be high points of human creative power.
If anything can, such a work as "Der Freischütz" is able to restore to us people of today, who belong to an outdated culture, the naïveté and blissfulness of our childhood."
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"Der Freischütz" ("The Freeshooter") is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber, with a German libretto by Friedrich Kind. The libretto is based on a story from the "Gespensterbuch" ("Ghost Book") by Johann August Apel and Friedrich Laun. It was first performed at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin on 18th June, 1821, with the composer conducting.