Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859)
The Complete String Quintets, Volume Three
No.3 in B Minor, Op. 69 (1826)
No.4 in A Minor, Op. 91 (1833 - 34)
Louis Spohr (1784 -1859) was accepted during his
lifetime as one of the most important composers of early German Romanticism
whose career encompassed the period from Beethoven's Op. 18 string
quartets to Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and whose compositions covered
all the major genres of that era. Today's revival of interest in Spohr was
originally fuelled by the chamber music, especially the Nonet in F major,
Op. 31, the Octet, Op. 32, and the Piano and Wind Quintet in C
minor, Op. 52. It was music for strings, however, which dominated
Spohr's chamber output; 36 quartets, seven quintets, a sextet and four
double-quartets. Spohr was involved in chamber music all his life -some violin
duos composed in 1796 when he was a twelve-year-old in Brunswick still survive
and his last completed large-scale work was his 36th string quartet dating from
the summer of 1857. From the time of his appointment as Kapellmeister in Kassel
in 1822 (for life, but he was pensioned off in December 1857) until the year
before his death Spohr organised an annual winter quartet circle at which all
the classical masterpieces were performed as well as his own works and those of
once popular composers such as Fesca and Onslow. As additional string players
were easily available from among his many pupils or the court orchestra, he was
also able to compose quintets to add some variety to the programmes, and it was
during this period of his life that his last five quintets were written (1826,
1834, 1838, 1845 and 1850), whereas his first two appeared much earlier, during
Spohr's time as orchestral director at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna
(1813-15). In all of these he followed the example of Mozart in writing for two
violins, two violas and a cello.
In his memoirs Spohr tells us something about his
quartet parties: "I established here (in Kassel in 1823) a quartet circle
at which, in turn with some other families who were lovers of music, we gave
three quartets every week, and concluded the evenings with a frugal supper. At
first the quartet consisted of Adolf Wiele (1794 -1845), solo violinist and
subsequently concertmaster of our court orchestra, of my brother Ferdinand
(1792 -1831), who took the viola, and of our excellent cellist Nikolaus
Hasemann (1788 -1842). But as by degrees, both in the orchestra and in this
small circle, death made some vacancies, others were obliged to be substituted
in their place, and then some time was always required until we obtained once
more the old customary ensemble again. In 1831 my brother was first snatched
from us, then Wiele, and at last Hasemann (Spohr's memory is incorrect here;
Hasemann predeceased Wiele); but their places were again filled by new members
of our court orchestra, so that the quartet parties, which took place only in
the winter months, never ceased entirely, and I myself up to quite recently
(1858) played two quartets in each of them."
The B minor quintet dates from April, 1826, when
Spohr was enjoying the fruits of his first years in Kassel. His opera Jessonda
(1822), his first double-quartet (1823) and his oratorio Die letzten
Dinge (1826) had established his position among the leading composers of
the day and he was revelling in the opportunities his Kassel post gave him. As
he wrote to a friend in 1828 "Heaven be praised, as the father of a family
and an artist I am in a very fortunate position and have never yet become
acquainted with lasting regrets that gnaw at the heart. My work in my official
post is so in accordance with my wishes, as I could not have found in any other
German town." The quintet marks a return to instrumental composition after
the sustained involvement in opera (Der Berggeist, 1824), incidental
music (Macbeth, 1825) and his oratorio, and it stands out as one of his
finest chamber works. The legend of Spohr as "soft and sentimental"
does an injustice to the wide range of his music but it is idle to deny that it
is a component of his artistic personality and the quintet displays that side
at its best.
The B minor tonality reflects that of the tragically
stormy overture to Macbeth but here we start with a note of wistful
pathos, rather akin to that at the opening of Schubert's contemporaneous A
minor string quartet. The second subject is a variant of the first but in a
less flowing mood while intervening passage-work paints flecks of gold amid the
subdued hues of the main material. As usual with Spohr, these bravura sections
are underpinned by thematic links with the rest ()f the movement; nor are they
confined to the first violin. The cellist especially gets a good share of the
virtuosity in a part written for Hasemann, the cellist of Spohr's Kassel
orchestra who was an outstanding performer. The outgoing, virile side of Spohr
comes to the fore in the dynamic D major scherzo while the B minor trio is a
beautiful contrast in 6/4 time with the first violin having a memorable role in
ballad mode. The Adagio, in G major, is in Spohr's favourite hymn-like
mood, intense nobility which continues the note of optimism introduced in the
scherzo. The barcarole-style finale, however, brings back the wistful longing
and despite episodes in the major key, the movement returns to B minor with a
quintessentially Romantic dying fall in the closing bars.
If the B minor quintet comes from a happy period in
Spohr's life, by the time of the A minor (1833 - 34) the shadows had begun to
close in. The two quintets are an excellent demonstration of the fact that
composers are not slaves to the emotion of the day, for while the A minor also
opens with that note of pathos so prevalent in its predecessor, its whole
direction is towards a more optimistic frame of mind. The turning-point in
Spohr's relationship with Kassel followed the revolutionary year of 1830. In
1831 Spohr suffered two big personal losses - the deaths of his younger brother
and artistic colleague Ferdinand, and of his friend, librettist and
fellow-democrat Carl Pfeiffer. When the revolutionary fervour reached Germany,
Spohr's excitement at what appeared to be the dawn of a democratic, united
country was endless. But the forces of repression fought back and in Kassel,
where promises of a constitution had been made, autocratic rule soon renewed
its grip. Alongside these blows, the unstable political situation led to
artistic economies which struck directly at Spohr's own interests; opera
performances were cancelled, attempts were made to disband Spohr's orchestra
and, when the Elector abdicated and his son ruled as Regent, Spohr found the
high-handed, arbitrary interference of the son far more annoying than the
father's. To cap it all, Spohr's beloved wife, Dorette, was worryingly ill and
was to die in November, 1834.
The A minor quintet is a confident assertion of the
will to face up to life's problems. Already, in the first movement, after the
melancholy note of the first subject, the second main theme is much firmer and
diatonically based. It frequently interjects its resolve into the musical
argument although the coda resignedly fades out in the minor. The Larghetto,
in F major, is a lyrical interlude with a contrasting section in D flat
major which injects a greater liveliness enhanced by its rhythmic
complications. The minuet is one of a type in which Spohr specialised -with a
rather menacing minor key march-like tread. Here, instead of the expected
relaxation of a conventional trio, we have a fleeting scherzo in the major key
which dashes along at three times the pace of the minuet. After the two
sections have been repeated, the violins have the scherzo material in the coda
while the other instruments stay with the minuet. The finale is a driving Presto
in which all three main thematic strands are continually pressing forward.
Diatonic scale passages are a feature of the movement and these effectively
overcome the chromatic tendencies to which Spohr was partial. The tension tightens
in the development which is a full- blown fugue on the second part of the first
subject, while the coda manages to cover elements of all the material as it
clinches a climactic A major conclusion.
Keith Warsop,
Chairman, Spohr Society of Great Britain
