Ludwig Spohr

Spohr, Ludwig (Louis Spohr) (Braunschweig, 1784-1859, Kassel), was one of the greatest violinists of his time and a prolific composer. At the age of 6 he was able to participate in chamber music, and at 15 was appointed Kammermusikus by the Duke of Brunswick. He was a conductor in Gotha, Vienna, and Frankfurt before he settled in 1822 as Hofkapellmeister in Kassel, retiring in 1857. He was an admirer of Mozart and a friend of Mendelssohn. Although he owed his recommendation to the Elector of Hesse-Kassel to C. M. Weber, he could not appreciate Weber's Der Freischütz or the last compositions of Beethoven. Yet he produced Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer and Tannhäuser in Kassel in 1842 and 1853 respectively.

Among Spohr's works, numbering more than 150, are nine symphonies, violin concertos, and oratorios, which met with great success; among them are Die letzten Dinge, Des Heilands letzte Stunden (Calvary or The Crucifixion), and Der Fall Babylons. Of the last two the former was produced at the Norwich Festival in 1839 and the latter in 1842. Spohr composed ten operas. In 1808 Goethe showed himself well disposed towards the second, Alruna. The third, Faust, completed in 1813 and produced by him in 1818 in Frankfurt, initiated his public success. Its plot, differing from that of Goethe's Faust Pt. I, was among the influences on Grabbe's Don Juan und Faust.

Spohr's autobiography was published in two volumes in 1860-1 (ed. F. Göthel, 1968).