Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SPOHR SPOHR 639
longed stays at Hamburg and Strelitz, and it
was on these occcasions that Spohr profited
most from his master's tuition. Latterly this
became very irregular. Spohr, however, derived
much benefit from constantly hearing Eck, who
certainly was a very excellent violinist, though
but an indifferent musician. At this period
Spohr, who had an herculean frame and very
strong constitution, often practised for ten
hours a day. At the same time he composed
industriously, and among other things wrote
the first of his published violin concertos (op. 1)
which is entirely in the manner of Rode, and
also the violin duets op. 3. In St. Petersburg
of whom he tells
he met Clementi and Field,
some curious traits ; and after having passed
the winter there without playing in public,
returned to Brunswick in the summer of 1803.
There he found Rode, and heard him for the
first time. The playing of this great master
filled liim with the deepest admiration, and for
some time it was his chief aim to imitate his
style and manner as closely as possible. After
having given in a public concert highly satisfactory
proof of the progress made during his
absence, he again entered on his duties in the
Duke's band. An intended journey to Paris in
1804 was cruelly cut short by the loss of his
precious Guarnerins violin, the present of a
fiussian enthusiast. Just before entering the
gates of Gbttingen the portmanteau containing
the violin was stolen from the coach, and
all endeavours to recover it proved fruitless.
He returned to Brunswick, and after having
acquired, with the help of his generous patron,
the Duke, another, though not equally good
violin, he started on a tour to Berlin, Leipzig,
Dresden, and other German towns. His success
was everywhere great, and his reputation spread
rapidly. At his Berlin concert he was assisted
by Meyerbeer, then only a boy of thirteen, but
already a brilliant pianist.
In 1805 Spohr accepted the post of leader in
the band of the Duke of Gotha. It was there
he met and man-ied his first wife, Dorette
Soheidler, an exceUent harp-player, who for
many years appeared with him in all his concerts,
and for whom he wrote a number of sonatae for
violin and harp, as well as some solo-pieces.
Having at his disposal a very fair band, Spohr
now began to write orchestral works and vocal
compositions of larger dimensions. His first
opera, 'Die Priifung,' which belongs to this
period, was performed at a concert. In 1807
he made a very successful tour with his wife
through Germany, visiting Leipzig, Dresden,
Prague, Munich, Stuttgart (where he met
Weber), Heidelberg, and Frankfort. In 1808
he wrote his second opera, Alruna ' ; '
but this,
again, never reached the stage, although accepted
for representation at Weimar and apparently
gaining the approval of Goethe, at that time
manager of the Weimar theatre, who was present
at a trial-rehearsal of the work. In the course
of this year Napoleon held the famous Congress
of Princes at Erfurt. Spohr, naturally anxious
to see the assembled princes, went to Erfurt,
where a French troupe, comprising Talma and
Mars, performed every evening to a pit of
monarohs. But on an-ival he heard, to his great
disappointment, that it was impossible for any
but the privileged few to gain admittance to
the theatre. In this dilemma he hit on a
happy expedient. He persuaded the second
horn-player of the band to allow him to take
his place ; but as he had never before touched
a horn, he had to practise for the whole day
in order to produce tlie natural notes of the
instrument. When the evening came, though
his lips were black and swollen, he was able to
getthrough the very easy overture and entr'actes.
Napoleon and his guests occupied the first row
of stalls ; but the musicians had strict orders to
turn their backs to the audience, and not to
look round. To evade this fatal regulation
Spohr took with him a pocket looking-glass,
and by placing it on his desk got a good view
of the famous personages assembled.
In 1809 he made another tour through the
north of Germany, and at Hamburg received a
commission for an opera, ' Der Zweikampf mit
der Gcliebten '—^or 'The Lovers' Duel '— which
was produced with great success the year after.
At this time he had already written six of his
violin-concertos, and as a player had hardly a
rival in Germany. The year 1809 is memorable
for the First Music Festival in Germany,
which was celebrated under Spohr's direction at
Frankenhausen, a small town in Thuringia. It
was followed by another, in 1811, for which
Spohr composed his first symphony, in E[>. In
1812 he wrote his first oratorio, 'Das jiingste
Gericht ' (not to be confounded with ' Die
letzten Dinge,' or The ' Last Judgment '), on the
invitation of the French Governor of Erfurt, for
the ' Fete NapoUon ' on August 15. He naively
relates ' that in the composition of this work he
soon felt his want of practice in counterpoint
and fugue-writing ; he therefore obtained Marpurg's
treatise on the subject, studied it assiduously,
wrote half-a-dozen fugues after the models
given therein, and then appears to have been
quite satisfied with his proficiency ! The
oratorio was fairly successful, but after tivomore
performances of it at Vienna in the following
year, the composer became dissatisfied, and laid
it aside for ever. In autumn 1812 he made his
first appearance at Vienna, and achieved as
performer a brilliant, as composer an honourable,
success. The post of leader of the band at the
newly established Theatre an-der-Wien being
' '
offered to him under brilliant conditions, he gave
up his appointment at Gotha and settled at
Vienna. During the next summer he composed
his opera 'Faust,' one of his best works, and