Spohr Double quartet in d minor op 65

 Day 18

Spohr Double quarters in d minor op 65

Melos ensemble

For British musicians the name Spohr is remembered (if only vaguely) for two reasons. The first is because of the reference in The Mikado ‘like Spohr interwoven with Bach and Beethoven’. The second is because his same appeared on the frame of the front cover of the standard Novello editions of choral works, alongside Mozart Beethoven Haydn, Handel, Mendelssohn, Weber and Bach. It is inconceivable now that any publisher wanting to put the names of major 19th century composers on a cover would think of adding Spohr.  His fall into obscurity has few parallels.

The only work of Spohr that I know is the Nonet, which is a delightful piece, I did hear one of the symphonies years ago and when we were looking at interesting operas to perform with the University Opera Group Spohr’s Faust was on a list of possibles but never made the cut.

This double quartet is the first of four by the composer. Unlike the Mendelssohn octet, which treats the 8 instruments as a single group, this is piece where the two quartets maintain their separate identity for most of the time - indeed the second quartets is very much subservient to the first and I have seen it suggested that it is good piece for experienced quartets players to use to introduce their advanced pupils into the art of quartets playing.

The music itself was perfectly pleasant but to be honest it rarely seemed more than this. It was all well controlled but a bit anonymous - a bit like Schumann or Mendelssohn without the moments of genius. The scherzo is the most attractive movement with a lively rhythm and an inventive form where the scherzo is not repeated verbatim after the trio but where the main ideas are further developed.

There are those who hold Spohr in high regard and perhaps I picked the wrong piece, but I don’t feel tempted to explore his output further at the moment - though there is certainly plenty off it - there are 18 violin concertos, 10 operas and 10 symphonies to go at just for starters.