Euryanthe is Carl Maria von Weber's "would have been, could have been, should have been" masterpiece. Premiered at the Vienna Kärntnertortheater on October 25, 1823, it was conceived as a follow-up to the composer's highly successful Der Freischütz. However, Weber was not content to write his new work in a similar vein; rather, he attempted to create a genuinely through-composed music drama that left behind all elements of popular German theater (such as spoken dialogue). From a purely musical standpoint, the experiment was a success; Weber managed to blend musical sections together with a fluidity that was ahead of its time, and his vivid orchestrations and use of dense chromaticism made for evocative dramatic music. However, the libretto was of such poor quality that even the composer's fine music could not shape it into satisfying theater, and the work sank under the weight of its own flaws. At best, Euryanthe has retained a tenuous place in the operatic repertory.

The libretto in question was by Helmina von Chezy, who took as her source a semi-historical account—from the time of King Louis VI ("The Fat")—of a wager made by the Count de Nevers about the fidelity of his wife, Euryanthe (Chezy herself published a German translation of the work, called L'Histoire du très-noble et chevalereaux prince Gérard, comte de Nevers, et de la très-vertueuse et très chaste princesse Euriant de Savoye, sa mye, in 1823). Weber accepted the basic outline of the story, but insisted on the addition of many supernatural and fantastic elements, such as the purgatorial ghost that plagues Euryanthe, and whose salvation finally redeems her in the eyes of her husband. It is arguably these elements that burden the libretto more than any other, and so the composer bears considerable responsibility for the complicated and implausible final draft. However, it is also the supernatural elements of the story that give rise to Weber's most original and satisfying music.

Weber made extensive use of recurring motives in Euryanthe. Representing specific characters and situations, these motives add cohesiveness to the score and give the orchestra added prominence. The "ghost" music is especially distinctive. Derived from material in the work's overture, it features a thin chorus of violins over a lower-string tremolo that creates an insubstantial, restless quality. Lysiart and Eglantine—the two villains who conspire to falsely accuse Euryanthe in the eyes of her husband—are portrayed in highly chromatic music that at times stretches the boundaries of tonality. This places them in direct contrast to the story's protagonists, whose much more stable, prevailingly diatonic, music combats, and eventually defeats, that of the conspirators.

Euryanthe exerted a strong influence on such diverse composers as Schumann, Wagner, Marschner, Mahler, Berlioz, Liszt, and Spohr. While not nearly successful as its better-known predecessor, Der Freischütz, it nevertheless represents a more fully realized conception of music drama as it would emerge in the later nineteenth century, and perhaps the conclusive break between German Romantic opera and the tradition of the singspiel.

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