Spohr was born in the North German city of Brunswick (Braunschweig) on April 5th
1784. As a boy he showed talent for the violin, and when he was 15 he joined the
ducal orchestra. By the age of 18 he had reached the stage at which the Duke of
Brunswick considered him ready for further development. He was therefore sent on
a year-
Spohr now set out on a success curve which took him as Konzertmeister (orchestral
director) to the court of Gotha (1805-
He also found time for numerous concert tours with his beautiful wife, the distinguished
harp virtuoso Dorette (Dorothea) Scheidler, most notably to Italy (1816-
In later years Spohr scaled down his public appearances as a soloist, but his renown as a conductor led to many invitations to take charge of music festivals, including the grandiose one marking the unveiling of the Beethoven Monument in Bonn in 1845. He enjoyed further visits to England in 1839, 1843, 1847, 1852 and 1853. In addition, he found time to train some 200 violinists, conductors and composers.
As a conductor Spohr championed many of the best composers of his time, even when
(as in the cases of Weber and the mature Beethoven) he was not totally in sympathy
with their style. His own idol and ideal was Mozart, and like his hero he was a
committed Freemason. His repertoire extended from Handel to Beethoven, especially
the latter’s symphonies (including the Ninth), concertos and quartets, Fidelio and
the Missa Solemnis. He also championed Wagner’s Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser
and furthered the revival of earlier masterpieces such as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
after its re-
Later in his career he added works by Schubert, Schumann, Berlioz and Liszt to his repertoire, and he was only prevented from staging Lohengrin because the Kassel court disapproved of Wagner and his participation in the 1848 revolution.
Spohr was one of music’s great travellers. His journeys are recounted in his entertaining
and informative autobiography (Selbstbiographie, published 1860-