Louis Spohr

[John H White]

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the sesquicentenary of Louis Spohr's death on 22nd October 1859. I did e-mail the 3 Breakfast presenters of the early morning programme on BBC Radio 3 but have heard nothing from them. It looks as if, as usual, my pleas for the commemoration of such an event will be completely ignored.

[Mark Thomas]

BBC Radio 3 is notorious for its aloof attitude to Unsungs, John. They get most airplay on the "Through the Night" programme between 01:00 and 07:00 at night. Actually, that's true of most of Europe's classical stations, although those in Germany do at least schedule major unsung novelties from time to time at more accessible times.

[Peter1953]

The Dutch classical Radio 4 has (just like BBC 3) every week a programme "Composer of the week", broadcast between 19:30 and 20:00 hours, from Monday to Friday. This week's composer is Louis Spohr, and this evening the 2nd and 3rd movement of his VC8  and the overture MacBeth was broadcast. Beautiful music.

[John H White]

Many thanks for that information Peter and well done Dutch Radio!
   This morning I sent a reminder e-mail to Rob Cowan on the 3 Breakfast programme of BBC Radio 3 and he actually responded by playing the Scherzo of Spohr's 5th Symphony, much to my surprise!

[edurban]

I woke up this morning with a burning desire to hear Spohr's overture to Faust, so I slapped on the CPO overtures disc.  Marvelous stuff, bracingly played...I had to listen to the whole thing.  I recommend this disc to those who might be looking for entry-level Spohr.  The overtures find Spohr at his best: concise, bracing & inspired.  They are, in my experience (limited to Faust, Jessonda & Pietro von Albano), much more dramatic than the operas that follow them...the composer's weak feeling for characterization doesn't matter here.

This is not to slight the composer's other satisfying works: 8th & 9th violin concertos, the clarinet concertos, quartet concerto, certain chamber works, etc....but it's a great way to sample Spohr at his best.

[edurban]

I posted this information on a different thread, but those not interested in that topic may miss it.  Spohr's The Last Judgement, has not had a New York performance in my concert-going memory (which at this point goes back some 35 years) but as the Gustav Kuhn recording shows, the piece is a fine one, even if you can almost say, as Shaw wrote about Parry's Job, "There is not one bar in it that comes within fifty thousand miles of the tamest line in the poem."  The End Of Days, was a thing not really within the scope of Spohr's art, but that said, the oratorio makes for a very enjoyable hour and a quarter of music.  On Botstein's program it will be preceded by an even rarer Fanny Mendelssohn work.  Here is the listing:

Fanny Mendelssohn (1805 – 47) - Musik für die Toten der Cholera-Epidemie (1831) 
  Louis Spohr (1784 – 1859) - Die letzten Dinge (1826) 

  In the nineteenth-century, Europe experienced a wave of religious resurgence. Hear how the re-emergence of the sacred oratorio and the tradition of communal singing aided religion in binding a community plagued by economic turmoil and epidemic disease. A rare opportunity to experience major works by Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix, and Louis Spohr, thought by his contemporaries to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mozart and Beethoven.

[Pengelli]

Regarding Spohr. I notice that Hyperion have been recording the Spohr symphonies. I also gather that he was once regarded as greater or as great as Beethoven, no less! I wonder how they came to such a conclusion & were they necessarily wrong? Of course from our historical perspective we know that they were wrong,but how can we be sure we are right? On a personal level, I am not greatly familiar with Spohr's work,although I do have his Violin Concerto, his 8th I believe, which is supposed to be one of his best works & which,with the best will in the world just seems to be an excuse for the soloist to show off (Hilary Hahn). I  have also heard good things of his opera,'Faust'. But,if I were to buy a cd of a Spohr symphony,which should I buy,and more importantly,is a Spohr symphony worth purchasing?

[Mark Thomas]

Spohr is definitely an acquired taste. For me the best two symphonies are the Third and the Fourth, and at least most observers seem to agree about the Third being his finest. Amongst the other orchestral music, some of the overtures have a lot of attractions and the two double violin concertos and the four clarinet concertos are also worth getting to know. There is a mass of chamber music, but I'll not go into that now.

John is probably your man for definitive recommendations.

[DennisS]

Hi all

I would like to echo Mark's view that Spohr's symphony no 6 is perhaps his finest work. What I found most interesting about this piece was the way the music drew me in. Listening to the opening movement, I was unsure as to whether |I really liked it or me but as the music unfolded, I quickly realised that this symphony was absolutely wonderful. For those members who would like to listen to the entire symphony before buying, you can listen to sound bites of the ENTIRE symphony on www.last.fm under music, then Spohr (sorry I haven't made the website a direct link). You can also hear sound bites for example of his 6th and 4th symphonies (again the entire symphony in each case!!!). I do not hesitate to recommend this composer.

Cheers
Dennis

[edurban]

Although I really like Spohr's Faust (I have recordings of both versions and have actually sung-albeit as an undergraduate-one of the devil's arias in recital) it stands a bit pale beside the Gounod, Berlioz & Busoni treatments.  It has its own, tuneful, rather genteel charm.  There are some lovely arias, especially the baritone's "Liebe ist die zarte Blute", but the characterization is weak and Mephistofeles is just a blustery, chromatic old fellow.  Jessonda (1823), is a stronger and more interesting opera in everyway.  There's a fine recording with Julia Varady and Fischer-Dieskau on Orfeo...

The really good, interesting, and, God knows, unique concerto for string quartet and orchestra is available on MD&G, coupled with the fine Nonette and a dull concert overture.

For a dip into the Spohr clarinet concertos, you might try Sabine Meyer/Julian Bliss' excellent recent release of Nos.2 & 4.  The coupling is piece by Krommer.

As far as the viollin concertos go, 8 is the most experimental (the vocal scene), but I prefer 9 with its big martial tuttis.

There's a lot of Spohr...

David

[Josh]

Of course from our historical perspective we know that they were wrong,but how can we be sure we are right?

How can an opinion or taste be right or wrong?

[Peter1953]

Lovely, compelling music, especially the slow movements in symphonies (my favourites are 3 and 6) and in violin and clarinet concertos. Who doesn't love Spohr ...? And indeed, there's so much more, like a lot of chamber music.
But at the same level as Beethoven? Certainly not, IMHO. Spohr is entertainment, Beethoven gives you energy & power.

[John H White]

It could be argued that, in the symphonic field at least, Beethoven & Spohr both built on the foundations laid down by Haydn and Mozart, but did so in completely different directions. Spohr was a great admirer of Beethoven's earlier works, particularly the Op 18 quartets which he frequently played alongside his own ones. As for Beethoven's symphonies: he just couldn't get on with No 5 but No 7 was a great favourite of his, which he often conducted. Spohr also took part in the first performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
   Beethoven, on the other hand, complained that his younger contemporary's music was too chromatic in character. I myself am particularly fond of Spohr's 2nd Symphony, which he wrote in 3 weeks during his first visit to England in 1820. Unlike his first effort in this field, written 9 years earlier, there is little trace of Haydn & Mozart and he seems to have developed his own symphonic style. The opening movement in particular reminds me of the sea. Its very difficult to decide which is Spohr's best symphony but, as a straightforward "standard" symphony, without any of the experimental touches which the composer was so prone to, I would say No 5 must be up front. However, if asked about just one CD to illustrate Spohr's symphonic art, I would tend to go for Howard Griffiths' recording of Nos 3 & 10 on CPO, even though the composer withdrew his last symphony from public performance.

[Pengelli]

Much food for thought here! He certainly sounds more interesting than some of his detractors suggest. Re: Josh. I think opinion on things like music & culture in general is mainly subjective. As the old saying goes;' One mans meat is another mans poison'. But if I were to say 'I think Adolf Hitler was right', (Incidentally,I don't!), I'm sure my opinion would be open to debate. (Anyway,enough of politics,I'm just making a point.).

[Pengelli]

Are you suggesting that Spohr's experiments with the form actually undermined his stature as a symphonist, rather than enhancing it as he, presumably,hoped? Some of his idea's do seem a little eccentric; although their eccentricity,if that's the right word, is, I suppose, part of their appeal.