Louis Spohr (pronounced "LOO-ee SHPOOR," April 5, 1784 – October 22, 1859), named Ludewig Spohr at birth, was later known as Ludwig in modern German. He was a German composer, violinist, and conductor.

During his lifetime, Spohr was highly respected. He wrote ten symphonies, ten operas, eighteen violin concertos, four clarinet concertos, four oratorios, and many other works for small groups, chamber music, and art songs. Spohr created the violin chinrest and the orchestral rehearsal mark. His work shows the change from Classical to Romantic music. However, after his death, his music was rarely performed and became forgotten. In the late twentieth century, some interest in his work returned, mainly in Europe, but his fame has not returned to the level it had during his lifetime.

Life

Louis Spohr was born on April 5, 1784, in Braunschweig, a city in the duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. His parents were Karl Heinrich Spohr and Juliane Ernestine Luise Henke. In 1786, the family moved to Seesen. Spohr’s first interest in music came from his parents: his mother was a talented singer and pianist, and his father played the flute. A violin teacher named Dufour taught him how to play the violin. Spohr began writing music in the early 1790s. Dufour noticed Spohr’s talent and convinced his parents to send him to Brunswick for more training.

Spohr’s first concert tour to Hamburg in 1799 was not successful because it was poorly planned. This led him to ask Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick for financial help. A later concert at the duke’s court impressed the duke so much that he hired the 15-year-old Spohr as a chamber musician. In 1802, with the duke’s support, Spohr became a student of Franz Eck and traveled with him on a concert tour that reached Saint Petersburg. Eck, who had studied at the Mannheim school, helped Spohr improve his violin skills. During this time, Spohr composed his first notable works, including his Violin Concerto No. 1. After returning home, the duke allowed Spohr to tour North Germany. A concert in Leipzig in December 1804 impressed the music critic Friedrich Rochlitz so deeply that it brought Spohr instant fame across the German-speaking world.

In 1805, Spohr became a concertmaster at the court of Gotha, where he worked until 1812. There, he met Dorette Scheidler, an 18-year-old harpist and pianist, who was the daughter of a court singer. They married on February 2, 1806, and lived together happily until Dorette’s death 28 years later. They performed together as a violin and harp duo, with Spohr composing music for her. They toured Italy (1816–1817), England (1820), and Paris (1821). Later, Dorette stopped performing and focused on raising their children.

In 1808, Spohr practiced with Beethoven at Beethoven’s home, working on the Piano Trio, Op. 70 No. 1, The Ghost. Spohr later wrote that the piano was not in good condition and that Beethoven’s playing was rough or careless. In 1812, Spohr conducted a concert in Erfurt to celebrate Napoleon’s 43rd birthday. Later, he worked as a conductor at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna (1813–1815), where he remained friends with Beethoven. He then became an opera director in Frankfurt (1817–1819), where he staged his own operas, including Faust, which had been rejected in Vienna. Spohr’s longest job was as director of music at the court of Kassel, where he worked from 1822 until his death. This position was offered to him by Carl Maria von Weber.

In Kassel, Spohr married his second wife, Marianne Pfeiffer, on January 3, 1836. She was 29 years old and the daughter of a jurist named Burkhard Wilhelm Pfeiffer. Marianne outlived Spohr, living until 1892.

In 1851, the elector refused to give Spohr permission for a two-month leave of absence, which he was entitled to under his contract. When Spohr left without permission, part of his salary was withheld. In 1857, Spohr was forced into retirement, which he did not want. That same winter, he broke his arm, an injury that ended his violin playing. Despite this, he conducted his opera Jessonda at the 50th anniversary of the Prague Conservatorium the following year. Spohr died on October 22, 1859, in Kassel.

Like Haydn, Mozart, and his slightly older contemporary Hummel, Spohr was a member of the Freemasons. He also taught violin and had about 200 students throughout his life, many of whom became famous musicians. His notable students included violinists Henry Blagrove and Henry Holmes.

Works

As a composer, Spohr created over 150 musical works with opus numbers, plus nearly 140 without them. He wrote music in every genre. His nine symphonies (a tenth was completed but later removed) show a change from the classical style of earlier composers to program music. His sixth symphony includes styles from "Bach–Handel" to modern times. His seventh symphony explores both sacred and secular themes in human life with two orchestras. His ninth symphony is called Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons). The original score of the tenth symphony is kept at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, along with copied parts. Between 1803 and 1844, Spohr wrote more violin concertos than any other composer of his time—18 in total, including some left unpublished. Some, like the one-movement Concerto No. 8, are unusual, resembling an operatic aria. This concerto is still performed today, most recently by Hilary Hahn in 2006. He also wrote two concertos for two violins. His four clarinet concertos, written for the virtuoso Johann Simon Hermstedt, are now widely played by clarinetists.

Spohr composed 36 string quartets, plus four double quartets for two string quartets. He also wrote many other chamber works, including quartets, trios, quintets, sextets, an octet, a nonet, solo violin pieces, solo harp pieces, and works for violin and harp performed by him and his wife.

Spohr’s operas Faust (1816), Zemire und Azor (1819), and Jessonda (1823) were popular for much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, Jessonda was banned by the Nazis because it showed a European hero in love with an Indian princess. He also wrote 105 songs and duets, collected as Deutsche Lieder (German Songs), plus a mass and other choral works. His oratorios, especially Die letzten Dinge (1825–1826), were admired in England and America during the 19th century. This work was translated by Edward Taylor and performed as The Last Judgment in 1830. During the Victorian era, Gilbert and Sullivan mentioned Spohr in The Mikado.

Spohr’s 18 violin concertos made him a key figure in 19th-century music. He aimed to create concertos that were meaningful and free from the showy style of his time. He helped develop a new romantic style of music. However, some of his violin works have weaker aspects, such as repetitive rhythms, the avoidance of certain bowing techniques, and a lack of complex musical textures.

Spohr was a famous violinist who invented the violin chinrest around 1820. He was also an important conductor, one of the first to use a baton and to create rehearsal letters—letters placed in sheet music to help conductors direct performances more efficiently.

Spohr is also known for his Violinschule (The Violin School), a book that explained new violin techniques, such as spiccato. This work became a standard for violin instruction. He also wrote an autobiography, published after his death in 1860. A museum in Kassel honors his life and work.

According to Rey M. Longyear, Spohr’s best works were seen by many of his contemporaries as deeply Romantic and influenced composers like Mendelssohn.

Selected recordings

• Faust (WoO 51) Hillevi Martinpelto, Franz Hawlata, and Bo Skovhus. Klaus Arp conducting the SWR Radio Orchestra, Kaiserslautern. Recorded by: Capriccio, 1995.
• Faust (WoO 51a – recitative version of 1852) A live recording of Bielefeld Opera from June 17/18, 1993. Geoffrey Moull conducting the Bielefelder Philharmonie, Chorus of the Bielefeld Opera House. Recorded by: CPO Records, 1994.
• Zemire und Azor (WoO 52) "The Beauty and the Beast" – A production with singers of the Manhattan School of Music, New York, Christopher Larkin conducting. English spoken dialogues. Recorded by: Albany Records, 2005.
• Zemire und Azor (WoO 52) Anton Kolar conducting the Max Bruch Philharmonie, a production of the Theater Nordhausen. Recorded by: Ds – Pool Music und Media, 2003.
• Jessonda (WoO 53) Gerd Albrecht conducting the Hamburg State Philharmonic Orchestra, with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Júlia Várady, Renate Behle, Kurt Moll, and others. The Chorus of the Hamburgische Staatsoper. Recorded by: Orfeo, 1994.
• Der Berggeist (WoO 54) Performers: Camerata Silesia, Polish Radio Orchestra, Susanne Bernhard, Agnieszka Piass, Dan Karlstrom, Szabolcs Brickner. Conductor: Łukasz Borowicz. Warsaw, April 8, 2009.
• Der Alchymist (WoO 57) Bernd Weikl, Moran Abouloff, Jörg Dürmüller, Jan Zinkler, Susanna Pütters, Staatsorchester Braunschweig, Christian Fröhlich. Recorded by: Oehms, 2009. The libretto is based on Washington Irving's sketch "The Student of Salamanca" from Bracebridge Hall, 1822.

Note: WoO stands for "work without opus number" (see also: Folker Göthel, "Thematisch-Bibliographisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Louis Spohr," Tutzing, 1981).