SPOHR, LUDWIG (1784-1859)

This article appears in Volume V25, Page 713 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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SPOHR, LUDWIG (1784-1859) , German composer and violinist, was born at Brunswick on the 25th of April 1784. He spent his childhood at Seesen, where in 1789 he began to study the violin, and at six years old was able to take part in chamber-music. He had a few lessons in composition, but, as he himself tells us, he learnt more from studying the scores of Mozart. After playing a concerto of his own at a school concert with marked success, he was placed under Maucourt, the leader of the duke's band; and in 1798 he started on an artistic tour. This proved a failure; but on his return to Brunswick the duke gave him an appointment in his band, and provided for his future education under Franz Eck, with whom he visited St

Petersburg

PETERSBURG

and other European capitals. His first violin concerto was printed in 1803. In that year Spohr returned to Brunswick and resumed his place in the duke's band. A visit to Paris was prevented by the loss of his favourite violina magnificent Guarnerius, presented to him in Russia. After a series of concerts in Berlin,

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, Dresden, and other German towns, his reputation gained for him in 18o5 the appointment of leading violinist to the duke of Gotha. Soon after this he married his first wife, Dorette Scheidler, a celebrated harpist. At Gotha he composed his first opera, Die Priifung, but did not succeed in producing it. Alruna was equally unfortunate, though Goethe approved of it at a trial rehearsal at

Weimar

WEIMAR

in 18o8. In this year Spohr, hearing that 'Palma was performing at Erfurt before Napoleon's Congress of Princes, and failing to obtain admission to the theatre, bribed a horn-player to send him as his deputy; and, though he had never touched a horn in his life, he learned in a single day to play it well enough to pass muster in the evening and so to get a good view of Napoleon and the princes in a pocket mirror on his desk. Spohr's third opera, Der Zweikampf mit der Geliebten, written in 1809, was successfully performed at Hamburg next year. In 1811 he produced his (first) Symphony in E flat, and in 1812 composed his first oratorio, Das jiingste Gericht.' In writing this work he felt hampered by lack of skill in counter-point.; so with characteristic

diligence

DILIGENCE

he mastered the contents of Marpurg's Abhandlung von der Fuge.
In 1812 Spohr visited Vienna, and was induced to accept the leadership of the orchestra at the Theater an der Wien. He then began his dramatic masterpiece, Faust, which he completed in 1813, though it was not performed until five years later. His strength and inventiveness as a composer were now fully developed, and enabled him to produce large works with astonishing rapidity. He resigned his appointment at Vienna in 1815, and soon afterwards made a tour in Italy, where he per-formed his eighth and finest violin concerto, the Scena cantante nello slilo drammatico. The leading Italian critics called him " the finest singer on the violin that had ever been heard." On Spohr's return to Germany in 1817 he was appointed conductor of the opera at Frankfort; and there in 1818 he first produced his Faust. It was followed by Zemire and Azor, which, though by no means as fine as Faust, soon attained a much greater popularity. Faust suffered from its libretto, which is on quite a different plot from Goethe's poem.
Spohr first visited England in 1820, and on the 6th of March played his Scena cantante with great success in London at the first Philharmonic concert. At the third he produced a new symphony (No. 2 in D minor) and, instead of having it led by the first violinist and a maestro al cembalo, conducted it himself with a baton; a great innovation in London at the time. Spohr had a triumphant success both as composer and as virtuoso; and he on his side was delighted with the Philharmonic orchestra. At his farewell concert in London Mme Spohr played on the harp for the last time. The constrained attitudes of harp---haying were bad for her health; so in later concerts she played the pianoforte in duets with violin which her husband produced with his usual prompt facility. After a transitory visit to Paris, Spohr returned to Germany and settled for a time in Dresden, where German and Italian opera were flourishing side by side under the direction of Weber and Morlacchi. Spohr could
1 Not to be confused with The Last Judgment.
not appreciate Weber's genius; nevertheless Weber recommended him strongly to the elector of Hesse Cassel as Kapellmeister. Spohr entered upon his duties at Cassel on the 1st of January 1822, and soon afterwards began his

sixth

SIXTH

opera, Jessonda, which he produced in 1823. This workwhich he himself regarded as one of his bestmarks an important epoch in his operatic career. It was his first opera on Gluck's lines, i.e. with accompanied recitative throughout in place of secco-recitative or spoken dialogue; and it was produced in the same year as Weber's Euryanthe, a work marked by the same departure from German custom.
Spohr's resources at Cassel enabled him to produce his new works on a grander scale and with more perfect detail than he could have attained in a less well-endowed post; and he never failed to use these privileges to the advantage of other meritorious composers, though as a critic he was very difficult to please. Soon after his instalment Mendelssohn, then a boy of thirteen, visited Cassel; notwithstanding the disparity of their years, a firm friendship sprang up between the two, which ceased only with Mendelssohn's death in 1847. Spohr's next three operas, Der Berggeist (1825), Pietro von Abano (1827) and Der Alchyrnist (183o), attained only fair temporary success. But at the Rhenish musical festival held at Dusseldorf in 1826, his oratorio Die letzten Dinge met with so enthusiastic a reception that it was repeated a few days later in aid of the Greek Insurgents, and became the most famous of his sacred compositions. It is known in English as The Last Judgment. In 1831 Spohr summed up another aspect of his career by publishing his Violin School, an admirable book for advanced students, which stands to the violin much as the combination of Cramer's Studies with Clementi's Gradus stands to the pianoforte. The year 1834 was saddened by the death of Spohr's wife. In 1836 he married again. During 1833 he had been working at an oratorioDes Heilands letzte Stunden, known in English as Calvary or The Crucifixionwhich was performed at Cassel on Good Friday 1835, and sung in English at the Norwich Festival of 1839 under Spohr's own direction, with an effect which he afterwards always spoke of as the greatest triumph of his life. For the Norwich Festival of 1842 he composed The Fall of Babylon, which also was a perfect success, though the elector of Hesse-Cassel, unmoved by a petition from England almost amounting to a diplomatic representation, refused Spohr leave of absence to conduct it. His last opera, Die Kreuzfahrer, was produced at Cassel in 1845. Of his nine symphonies the finest, Die Weihe der Tone, was produced in 1832. His compositions for the violin include concertos, quartetts, duets, and other concerted pieces and solos, and among these a high place is taken by four double quartetts, (i.e. octets for two antiphonal

string

STRING

-quartet groups), an art-form of his own invention. He was, indeed, keenly interested in experiments, notwithstanding his attachment to classical form; and the care with which he produced Wagner's Fliegender Hollander and Tannhauser at Cassel in 1842 and 1853, in spite of the elector's opposition, shows that his failure to understand Beethoven lay deeper than pedantry. Spohr retained his appointment until 1857, when, very much against his wish, he was pensioned off. In the same year he broke his arm, but he was able to conduct Jessonda at Prague in 1858. This, however, was his last effort. He died at Cassel on the 16th of October 18 J9.
Spohr's Selbstbiographie is a delightful document, revealing a character the generosity of which was conspicuous through all its complacent intellectual foibles. He was a born taste-maker, for he mastered the technique of his art safely and then applied his mastery to the expression of exactly those modes of thought which surprise no one who believes that each art-problem has one answer and that the critics know it. But he had a very genuine melodic invention, and his sense of beauty was such as even the all-pervading mannerisms of his otiose chromatic style could not quite destroy. He tried every experiment the copy-book optimism of his age could suggest; the subjects of his operas are all that is romantic and necromantic; he wrote almost as much " programme-music " as Berlioz; he invented
" double quartets," he wrote an Historical Symphony tracing the progress of music from Bach to his own day; and, lastly, his

gift

GIFT (a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. die Gift, gift, das Gift, poison, formed from the Teut. stem gab-, to give, cf. Dutch geven, Ger. geben; in O. Eng. the word appears with initial y, the guttural of later English is due to Scandinavian influence)

for orchestration was quite exceptional. Yet not one of his experiments shows any essential connexion between the new form and the old material which he has so skilfully packed into it. Nor is his treatment of his beloved classical forms any nearer to organic life. In conversation with Joachim he once in his last years expressed the ambition to write a set of

string

STRING

quartets " in the strict form with all the passages ending properly with shakes." This shows that all his work as a composer had failed to wean him from the conventions of virtuoso players, and it well illustrates the way in which " strict forms " desert their convenient functions to pose as classical ideas; for the " passage ending in a shake " is merely the easiest known way of finishing a section in concerto style, and is so far from being an essential feature in chamber-music that in the ten mature quartets of Mozart which Spohr undoubtedly regarded as his models it cannot be traced in more than twelve of the thirtyone movements in which it ought to occur.
The steady level of Spohr's mastery prevents any of his work from either rising to the height of Mendelssohn's master-pieces, or sinking to the weakness of Mendelssohn's failures. But where the true conditions of an art-form suit Spohr's training and temperament he is, at times, very nearly a great composer; and in the severely restricted medium of duets for two violins his work is an artistic tour de force, the neglect of which would be unfortunate in a wider field than that of mere violin-technique. His best work is not so great that we are obliged to live with it; but its merits demand that we should let it live. (D. F. T.)
SPOIL-FIVE, an old game of cards, probably imported from Ireland, where it is still very popular, though the

original

ORIGINAL

name, according to The Colnpleat Gamester, was " Five-cards." It may probably be identified with " Maw," a game of which Jaines I. of England was very fond. A full

pack

of cards is used: about five players is the best number, each receiving five cards, dealt in pairs and triplets, the card that is left at the top of the

pack

being turned up for trumps. If the turn-up is an ace, the dealer must " rob," i.e. put out, face downwards, any card from his hand and take in the ace. The trump suit re-mains unaltered. " Robbing " must take place before the first player, the player on the dealer's left, leads. Similarly a player who holds the ace of trumps must rob, putting out any card and taking in the turn-up, but need not disclose the fact till it is his turn to play. A player who fails to rob cannot go out that hand. The card put out may not be seen. The player on the dealer's left leads. The highest card of the suit ledthe value of the cards will be explainedor the highest trump, wins the trick. Players must follow suit to a lead of trumps, except in certain cases which will be mentioned. To a plain suit no one need follow except a player who holds no trumps; others may follow or trump as they please. If a player takes three tricks he wins the game. If no one succeeds there is a " spoil," and a fresh stake, smaller than the

original

ORIGINAL

one as a rule, is put into the pool for the next round. The order of the cards in plain suits may be remembered by " after the

knave

KNAVE (O.E. cnafa, cognate with Ger. Knabe, boy)

the highest in red and the lowest in black." In red suits the order is king, queen,

knave

KNAVE (O.E. cnafa, cognate with Ger. Knabe, boy)

, ten, &c., down to the ace, which is lowest: in black suits king, queen, knave, ace, &c., up to ten, which is lowest. But the ace of hearts, which is always a trump, is not reckoned in its own suit. In trumps the order is " below the queen highest in red, lowest in black." The order in red suits is five, knave, ace, of hearts, ace of trumps, king, queen, ten, &c.: in black suits five, knave, ace of hearts, ace of trumps, king, queen, two, three, &c., up to ten, which is the lowest. When trumps are led, the five and the knave of trumps and the ace of hearts need not be played. This is called " reneging," colloquially " renigging." The five may always renege: if it is led, no card can renege. The knave may renege if the five is played, not led. Only the five can renege to the knave led. The ace of-hearts can renege to any inferior card. If hearts are not trumps and the ace of hearts is led, a trump must beplayed if possible: if not, it is not necessary to play a heart. " Twenty-five " and " Forty-five " are -varieties of " Spoil-five ": the game is played for either of these numbers; each trick counts five to the maker, and there is no " spoil," but the trick made by the highest trump out scores ten; if a player gets out before that trump is played, he wins the game all the same. The winning of all five tricks is called a " jink "; at " Spoil-five " a player who jinks, if jinking is agreed upon, receives an extra stake all round; but if, after winning three tricks, he elects to " jink " and fails, he cannot score during that hand.

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