An Episode in the Life of an Artist

After years of hardship wandering the theatre world with his ill‑tempered father, Carl von Weber eventually found steadier work as private secretary to Duke Ludwig of Württemberg, the brother of King Frederic.

The Duke was a notable spendthrift. Whenever he was ‘hard up,’ Weber’s job was to go to the King and beg for yet another appropriation. It was a miserable duty, because the King was coarse and quick‑tempered, and the young secretary took the brunt of it.

One day, after a particularly humiliating interview, Weber stormed out, swearing he would never return. In the corridor he met a shabby old woman who asked to be directed to the royal washer‑woman. Still boiling with anger he had been forced to hide in the King’s presence, Weber pointed at the door of the King’s private apartment and said, “There.”

The old woman marched in, failed to recognize the monarch, and announced that the young man outside had told her she would find the washer‑woman there. The King erupted, abused her, summoned an officer, and ordered Weber thrown into prison.

Weber was soon released, but the King’s spite did not end. Later, just as Weber was about to bring out his opera ‘St. Sylvana’ and seemed on the edge of real success, the King had Weber and his father arrested again. After a farcical trial over which the King himself presided, both were sentenced to banishment.

Weber gladly left Württemberg—and after this unpleasant episode devoted himself to composition and the romantic operas that made his name famous.