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 femal...(+)
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.
PARTITION