Spohr 150

[John H White]

Just a reminder that this year marks the sesquicentenary of Louis Spohr's death on 22nd October 1859. To mark the occasion, a number of concerts of his works have been planned in his birthplace of Brunswick and at Cassel where he spent the latter half of his life. More details are available in the newsletter of the Spohr Society of Great Britain. You should be able to find their web site with Google. Needless to say, the BBC have so far shown no interest in this anniversary.

[monafam]

Thanks for the information.  I've never heard of Spohr before (part of why I'm here though!), but I may have to check him out.   (I spent a few weeks in Braunschweig back in my High School days as part of our foreign language program -- I'm from Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

[Kevin Pearson]

I love Louis Spohr's compositions, at least the ones I have heard. The BBC isn't the only place that is neglecting him. Where are all those CDs? Very little of his music has been released. I don't even know of any box sets. I do need to add some more Spohr to my library though.

Kevin

[orff]

I love Louis Spohr's compositions, at least the ones I have heard. The BBC isn't the only place that is neglecting him. Where are all those CDs? Very little of his music has been released. I don't even know of any box sets. I do need to add some more Spohr to my library though.

Kevin

Where are all those CDs?  Marco Polo recorded dozens of them - almost all (all?) of Spohr's String Quartets and some of his Symphonies.  Hyperion has done some chamber music of his; Naxos has the Piano Trios; and on and on...

Seek and ye shall find.

[Peter1953]

I have a cpo box (6 CD's, released in 1999) with all his 16 violin concertos (15 with opus numbers and one VC in A major, WoO12). Very enjoyable.

[John H White]

I would say that Spohr and Beethoven both built on the firm foundations laid down by Haydn and Mozart but did so in completely different directions. However, Beethoven's more dramatic style gave rise to a whole new school of symphonic and chamber works whereas Spohr's compositional style did not appear to influence any of his contemporaries or successors, even his own pupils.
    Spohr has been very well served by the smaller record labels over the past quarter century, especially Naxos who have issued all 5 of his piano trios and all 4 of his clarinet concertos although more expensive rival versions often include better performances.. I also particularly enjoy the 2 Naxos CDs of his music for harp and violin written to be played in conjunction with his harpist first wife Dorette, who sadly died relatively young in 1834. As you probably know, Hyperion and CPO are both in the course of issuing CDs of all Spohr's symphonies, using 2 rival British conductors, Howard Shelley and Howard Griffiths.