After a long gap, Spohr wrote six final string quartets. The numbering gets confusing because he withdrew the last two, having rewritten one of them in a different key. There’s a detailed discussion by Keith Warsop of these quartets on the Spohr Society’s website.

Important composers are generally expected to produce some of their best work, or at least their most adventurous, toward the end of their lives. Spohr had done his best writing long before. He even lost confidence in his own writing, withdrawing or abandoning several pieces, including the Requiem and the Tenth Symphony. He may have seen himself as a relic. When he died in 1859, Brahms wrote that he was “probably the last of those who still belonged to an artistic period more satisfying than the one through which we now suffer.”

But he wasn’t completely finished! These quartets explore new directions and are less exhibitionistic, and some are rewarding to listen to.
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The year was 1826. Beethoven was revolutionizing the string quartet. Spohr was no musical revolutionary, and he much preferred Beethoven’s Opus 18 quartets to the late ones. His quartets improved in quality and offered some surprises, but he never ventured far from Haydn’s model. This doesn’t mean they aren’t worth listening to; it was a long time before any major composer matched Beethoven’s level of experimentation. Jan Swafford’s biography of Brahms says, “By mid-century the string quartet like the symphony appeared a moribund genre despite the dozens of composers writing them.”

This is the third installment in my blog series on Spohr’s 36 string quartets. Just as a reminder, I’m only a musically literate amateur, and these are my opinions usually based on one or two hearings. Each day I try to listen to one and add some comments on it to this draft, so my mood from day to day can affect my reactions. It’s a tour, not an in-depth analysis.
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This is the second installment in my overview of Louis Spohr’s string quartets. I’ll update this post to link to the other parts as I post them. Here I talk about the ones numbered 11 through 19.

Just how many quartets Spohr wrote is an interesting question. I came across a discussion of the quartets’ numbering while trying to find information on the missing opus numbers. According to the article, Spohr published 34 quartets with opus numbers, and there are two quartets in the WoO section of the catalogue, both of which Spohr numbered 34. Both of the WoO quartets exist in two different versions. That makes 36 distinct quartets. I’ll look at the last ones more closely when I get there.

• Quartets 1-10
• Quartets 20-30
• Quartets 31-36

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Louis Spohr wrote 36 string quartets, more than Mozart or Beethoven, and none of them are very well known. Fortunately, all are available for listening, thanks to a complete set from Marco Polo recorded by several different groups. I’ve started listening to them in numerical order, with plans to write a little about each one. As far as I’ve been able to tell, there’s no such overview on the public Web. Probably someone has written a graduate thesis on the quartets, but I can’t find anything.

While I’m not a professional musician, I’m one of the more activate Spohr fans on the Internet, so I’m giving it a try. The scores on IMSLP and Clive Brown’s Louis Spohr: A Critical Biography have been very helpful.

This post covers the first ten quartets, published between 1807 and 1814.
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Spohr’s late symphonies, the Seventh through the Ninth (or the Tenth, counting the one which he withdrew but didn’t destroy), don’t have the appeal to me of the earlier ones. Still, a complete understanding of his music needs to include these symphonies, and they have some interesting features.

The Seventh, written in 1841, follows an unusual plan. The title is “Irdisches und Göttliches im Menschenleben: Doppel-Symphonie für zwei Orchester” (earthly and godly in human life: double symphony for two orchestras). It’s a kind of concerto grosso, with a small orchestra and a full orchestra. There are three movements, each with its own title.
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A new release of Spohr’s oratorio, Des Heilands letzte Stunden (the Savior’s last hours), is out from Carus-Verlag. The solo singers are Florian Sievers, Johanna Winkel, Maximilian Vogler, Arttu Kataja, Thomas E. Bauer, Felix Rathgeber, and Magnus Piontek. The chorus is the Kammerchor Stuttgart, and the orchestra the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. It covers the same ground as Bach’s Passions, from Judas’s betrayal of Jesus to his crucifixion. A booklet in English and German contains Johann Friedrich Rochlitz’ full text with a loose translation, as well as detailed notes.

This oratorio came after Die letzten Dinge, also with text by Rochlitz. It premiered in Kassel in 1835. The earlier oratorio is a disaster movie in music. This is a more introspective work. Unlike Bach’s Passions, this “passion oratorio” tells the story primarily from the perspective of Jesus’s followers. The numbers are mostly dedicated to showing their reactions to his capture, trial, and crucifixion. Bach tells the story from a cosmic perspective; Spohr’s oratorio gets very close to the people portrayed. Even Judas is somewhat sympathetic as he expresses his terror over the situation he’s gotten himself into.
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Louis Spohr’s third symphony, Opus 78, dates from 1828, the year after Beethoven’s death, and there are several indications he was thinking of Beethoven when he wrote it, starting with the key of C minor. It’s on a large scale for the early 19th century. In most recordings it runs half an hour. The instrumentation includes a brass section of four horns, two trumpets, and three trombones.

The slow introduction sets an initially tragic tone but quickly opens up into an expression of hope. The main body continues the conflict of emotions. The first theme expresses a struggle, while the second, made from the same material, is dance-like. The development is brief but surprising; it’s based not on the first and second themes, but on the introduction. This approach recalls the opening mood without breaking the tempo. The coda goes into C minor, creating a moment of doubt, but returns to the major for the final measures.
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Most of Spohr’s best works date from before 1840, but he hadn’t completely written himself out after that. The Septet in A minor, composed in 1853, is worth having in a collection of his music. It’s still clearly his work, but it has a different feeling from his earlier Quintet, Octet, and Nonet. It’s denser in its instrumentation and more contemplative. I’d say there’s a hint of Brahms in it, except that in 1853 Brahms was little-known, and almost all of his compositions were ahead of him. All the instruments — flute, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, cello, and piano — are equal partners in this work. Spohr clearly expected he’d have good musicians to perform this piece; the piano part is as hard as some concertos, but with fewer opportunities for bows.
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The articles I’ve written on Louis Spohr’s works show that he’s a composer worth remembering, one whose works should be a regular part of the concert repertoire. He was highly regarded in his lifetime. Robert Schumann greatly admired him. His 1813 opera Faust was translated into multiple languages and was frequently performed over the next fifty years. In 1852, it had a very successful run in England under Spohr’s direction. Brahms, speaking decades after the premiere of Spohr’s 1822 Jessonda, called it “magnificent.” In Italy his Violin Concerto No. 8 drew so much applause during the music that it drowned out the orchestra at times.

Gilbert and Sullivan put his name next to the two greatest composers of all time. The Mikado sings about

Bach, interwoven
With Spohr and Beethoven
At classical Monday Pops.

Today, many fans of classical music haven’t even heard of Spohr. Why?
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