Oberon. Romantische Oper in drei Aufzügen... Dichtung mit englischem Texte von J. Planché. Deutsch nach dem Englischen von Th. Hell. Traduction française rhythmée par M.M.A. van Hasselt et J.-B. Rongé. Partition complète pour Chant et Piano

Braunschweig & New-York: Henry Litolff's Verlag [PN 2300], 1870. Octavo. Original publisher's elaborately blindstamped dark green cloth boards with portrait of composer in relief, spine decorative spine with titling gilt. [i] (title), 2 (cast list and contents), 3-176 pp. Printer's note to foot of p. 2: "Stich und Druck von Henry Litolff's Verlag in Braunschweig." Contents and sung text in French, German, and English. Headers (caption titles) and stage directions in French and German only.

Handstamp "Cauderes J. Bordeaux Allees de Tourny 50" to front endpaper.

Binding slightly worn, bumped and shaken; Occasional wear and foxing; titled frayed at edges; some leaves partly detached. A later edition. Date according to WorldCat. WeV C.10. Jähns 306 (p. 392).

"Th. Hell" is a pseudonym of Carl Winkler (Jähns p. 383).

"In accepting a commission from Covent Garden in London, Weber virtually guaranteed that his last opera, Oberon, would stand apart in many ways from his earlier efforts. Behind J.R. Planché's libretto... lay a tradition of English opera more closely allied to 18th-century popular theatre than to contemporary continental opera, a concept of theatre orientated more towards visual spectacle than the musical realization of action and conflict... The main developments take place primarily in spoken dialogue... Obvious parallels with Die Zauberflöte point up further ties to the 18th century: the disposition of the four principal characters into two pairs of lovers, heroic (Rezia and Huon) and comic (Fatima and Sherasmin) respectively; exotic settings (Baghdad and Tunis); magical effects and scene transformations; a magic instrument (Oberon's horn) that on more than one occasion saves the principal characters from harm; and the Enlightenment theme of human perseverance in the face of severe trials." Paul Corneilson et al in Grove Music Online.