Spohr, Louis

Louis Spohr

Doppelquartett No. 3 in E Minor, Op. 87 (1833)

(b. Brunswick, 5 April 1784 – d. Kassel, 22 October 1859)

I. Adagio – Allegro p.3

II. Andante con variazioni p.24

III. Scherzo allegro – Trio – Scherzo allegro p.37

IV. Allegro molto p.50

“Spohr is dead! He was probably the last of those who still belonged to an artistic period more satisfying than the one through which we now suffer.” Perhaps expressing nostalgia for the past, Brahms mourned the loss of a great master who bridged the Classical and Romantic traditions. Often passed over in recent historical narratives, Louis Spohr (1784–1859) was a highly regarded composer in his time whose talent was compared with Handel, J.S. Bach, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Spohr was also active as a conductor and toured throughout Europe as a violinist. His contemporaries were particularly impressed by his virtuosity as a performer. Violin-Schule, Spohr’s 1833 treatise on technical innovations, style, and expressive techniques for the violin remained an important manual of instruction for almost a century. However, his reputation diminished quickly after his death in October 1859. A few months earlier, Franz Brendel (editor of Robert Schumann’s Neue Zeitschrift für Musik) coined the term Neudeutsche Schule referring to a more “progressive” style epitomized by the works of Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. Liszt himself described Spohr as “a patriarch of the art—but neither a prophet nor an apostle.” Many today view Spohr’s oeuvre as richly innovative, embodying elements of both Classicism and Romanticism. In this light, Brahms’ sympathetic view of Spohr comes as no surprise.

Spohr composed no fewer than thirty-six string quartets, four double string quartets, and numerous other chamber works for various combinations of string instruments. During his early training in Braunschweig (Lower Saxony), Spohr showed particular admiration for the quartets of Haydn and Mozart. The heritage of the Viennese Classical tradition is evident in Spohr’s own chamber compositions, for instance, his adoption of the conventional four-movement plan in many of his quartets. Owing to his background as a violin virtuoso, this body of music is characterized by a distinctive amalgamation of well-established formal structures, technical brilliance, and Romantic expression.

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