Louis Spohr ([ˈluːiˈʃpo:ɐ], 5 April 1784 – 22 October 1859), baptizedLudewig Spohr,[1] later often in the modern German form of the nameLudwig was a Germancomposer,violinist andconductor.
Highly regarded during his lifetime,[2] Spohr composed tensymphonies, tenoperas, eighteenviolin concerti, fourclarinet concerti, fouroratorios, and various works for small ensemble, chamber music, and art songs.[3] Spohr invented the violinchinrest and the orchestralrehearsal mark. His output spans thetransition betweenClassical andRomantic music,[3] but fell into obscurity following his death, when his music was rarely heard. The late twentieth century saw a modest revival[4] of interest inhis oeuvre primarily in Europe, but his reputation has never been restored to that of his lifetime.
Spohr was born inBraunschweig in the duchy ofBrunswick-Wolfenbüttel to Karl Heinrich Spohr and Juliane Ernestine Luise Henke on 5 April 1784;[5] then in 1786 the family moved toSeesen.[6] Spohr's first musical encouragement came from his parents: his mother was a gifted singer and pianist, and his father played the flute. A violinist named Dufour gave him his earliest violin teaching. The pupil's first attempts at composition date from the early 1790s. Dufour, recognizing the boy's musical talent, persuaded his parents to send him to Brunswick for further instruction.
The failure of his first concert tour, a badly planned venture to Hamburg in 1799, caused him to askDuke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick for financial help. A successful concert at the court impressed the duke so much that he engaged the 15-year-old Spohr as a chamber musician. In 1802, through the good offices of the duke, he became the pupil ofFranz Eck and accompanied him on a concert tour which took him as far asSaint Petersburg. Eck, who completely retrained Spohr in violin technique, was a product of theMannheim school, and Spohr became its most prominent heir.[7] Spohr's first notable compositions, including his Violin Concerto No. 1, date from this time. After his return home, the duke granted him leave to make a concert tour of North Germany. A concert inLeipzig in December 1804 brought the influential music criticFriedrich Rochlitz "to his knees," not only because of Spohr's playing but also because of his compositions. This concert brought the young man overnight fame in the whole German-speaking world.
In 1805, Spohr obtained a position as concertmaster at the court ofGotha, where he stayed until 1812. There he met the 18-year-oldharpist and pianistDorette Scheidler, daughter of one of the court singers. They were married on 2 February 1806, and lived happily until Dorette's death 28 years later. They performed successfully together as a violin and harp duo (Spohr having composed the Sonata in C minor for violin and harp for her), touring in Italy (1816–1817), England (1820) and Paris (1821), but Dorette later abandoned her harpist's career and concentrated on raising their children.
In 1808, Spohr practiced withBeethoven at the latter's home, working on thePiano Trio, Op. 70 No. 1,The Ghost. Spohr wrote that the piano was out of tune and that Beethoven's playing was harsh or careless. In 1812, Spohr conducted a concert in thePredigerkirche of theFrench-occupiedPrincipality of Erfurt to celebrateNapoleon's 43rd birthday.[8] Spohr later worked as conductor at theTheater an der Wien, Vienna (1813–1815), where he continued to be on friendly terms with Beethoven; subsequently he was opera director at Frankfurt (1817–1819) where he was able to stage his own operas — the first of which,Faust, had been rejected in Vienna. Spohr's longest period of employment, from 1822 until his death, was as the director of music at the recently succeededWilliam II, Elector of Hesse's court ofKassel, a position offered him on the suggestion ofCarl Maria von Weber. In Kassel on 3 January 1836, he married his second wife, the 29-year-old Marianne Pfeiffer, daughter of thejuristBurkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer. She survived him by many years, living until 1892.
In 1851 the elector refused to sign the permit for Spohr's two months' leave of absence, to which he was entitled under his contract, and when the musician departed without the permit, a portion of his salary was deducted. In 1857 he was pensioned off, much against his own wish, and in the winter of the same year he broke his arm, an accident which put an end to his violin playing. Nevertheless, he conducted his operaJessonda at the fiftieth anniversary of the Prague Conservatorium in the following year. In 1859 he died at Kassel on 22 October.[5]
LikeHaydn,Mozart, and his own slightly older contemporaryHummel, Spohr was an activeFreemason.[9] He was also active as a violin instructor and had about 200 pupils throughout his career – many of them becoming famous musicians.[citation needed] His notable pupils included violinistsHenry Blagrove andHenry Holmes. See:List of music students by teacher: R to S#Louis Spohr.
As a composer, Spohr produced more than 150 works withopus numbers, in addition to a number of nearly 140 works without such numbers. He wrote music in all genres. His ninesymphonies (a tenth was completed, but withdrawn: Cf.[10]) show a progress from the classical style of his predecessors toprogram music: his sixth symphony represents successive styles from "Bach–Handel" to the moderns; his seventh symphony represents the 'sacred and secular in human life' with a double orchestra; and his ninth symphony representsDie Jahreszeiten (The Seasons). (The autograph score of the tenth symphony, which bears the complete work, is held by the Staatsbibliothek Berlin.[11] Furthermore, the same institution holds a complete set of copied parts.[12] Cf. also[13]). Between 1803 and 1844 Spohr wrote moreviolin concertos than any other composer of the time, eighteen in all, including works left unpublished at his death.[14] Some of them are formally unconventional, such as the one-movement Concerto No. 8, which is in the style of an operatic aria, and which is still periodically revived (Jascha Heifetz championed it), most recently in a 2006 recording byHilary Hahn. There are two double-violin concertos as well. Better known today, however, are the fourclarinet concertos, all written for the virtuosoJohann Simon Hermstedt, which have established a secure place in clarinettists' repertoire.
Among Spohr'schamber music is a series of no fewer than 36string quartets, as well as four double quartets for two string quartets. He also wrote an assortment of other quartets, duos, trios, quintets and sextets, an octet and a nonet, works for solo violin and for soloharp, and works for violin and harp to be played by him and his wife together.
Though obscure today, Spohr'soperasFaust (1816),Zemire und Azor (1819) andJessonda (1823) remained in the popular repertoire through the 19th century and well into the 20th, whenJessonda was banned by theNazis because it depicted a European hero in love with an Indian princess. Spohr also wrote 105 songs and duets, many of them collected asDeutsche Lieder (German Songs), as well as amass and otherchoral works. Most of his operas were little known outside of Germany, but his oratorios, particularlyDie letzten Dinge (1825–1826) were greatly admired during the 19th century in England and America.[15] This oratorio was translated byEdward Taylor (1784–1863) and performed asThe Last Judgment in 1830 for the first time. During theVictorian eraGilbert and Sullivan mentioned him in act 2 ofThe Mikado in a song by the title character.
Spohr, with his eighteen violin concertos, won a conspicuous place in the musical literature of the nineteenth century. He endeavored (without any good result) to make the concerto a substantial and superior composition free from the artificial bravura of the time. He achieved a newromantic mode of expression. The weaker sides of Spohr's violin compositions are observed in his somewhat monotonous rhythmic structures; in his rejection of certain piquant bowing styles, andartificial harmonics; and in the deficiency ofcontrapuntal textures.[16]
Spohr was a noted violinist, and invented the violinchinrest, about 1820. He was also a significant conductor, being one of the first to use abaton and also inventingrehearsal letters, which are placed periodically throughout a piece ofsheet music so that a conductor may save time by asking the orchestra or singers to start playing "from letter C", for example.
In addition to musical works, Spohr is remembered particularly for hisViolinschule (The Violin School), a treatise on violin playing which codified many of the latest advances in violin technique, such as the use ofspiccato.[17] It became a standard work of instruction.[15] In addition, he wrote an entertaining and informative autobiography, published posthumously in 1860.[10] A museum is devoted to his memory in Kassel.
According to Rey M. Longyear, Spohr's best works were hailed by many of his contemporaries as quintessentially Romantic and inherited byMendelssohn.[18]
Opera
Note: WoO = work without opus number (see also: Folker Göthel "Thematisch-Bibliographisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Louis Spohr". Tutzing, 1981).
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