Louis Spohr

Violinist, teacher, and composer Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859) was described by Paganini, no less, as "The most outstanding singer on the violin." One of the leading virtuosos of his era, Spohr was a man of exceptional stature (physically, as well as morally and intellectually—he stood over six feet six inches in height), and as a liberal-minded freemason he was noted for his nobility of thought and deed. By his own admission, however, Spohr had been "from earliest youth, very susceptible to female beauty," and in 1805 (soon after he had become director of music to the Court at Gotha), he became infatuated with the brilliant and beautiful young harpist Dorette Scheidler, the talented daughter of one of the court singers. Scheidler became Spohr's wife in February 1806. Spohr's series of sonatas and other pieces for violin and harp were written for the couple to play together. Each work employed an ingenious solution to the outwardly ill-matched registral characteristics of the instruments. Spohr realized that the range in which the violin sounded most effective was, coincidentally, that which suited the harp least of all. He overcame this problem by stipulating that the harp should be tuned a semitone below regular concert pitch (in a flat key), while the violin was pitched a semitone below the harp part so that (as in this case) a harp part written in E flat major equated with a violin part in the key of D. The Sonata Concertante, Op. 113 (written in 1805 but published much later), was in fact the first work in which this novel solution was used. The piece comprises three movements and lasts around 20 minutes in all.

This is the finale, in Rondo form (Allegretto) and deploys several carefree and affable melodies, again shared on more or less equal terms between both instruments. I created this transcription for Viola & Concert (Pedal) Harp.