In 1805, at twenty-one, the German violin virtuoso Louis Spohr became music director at the court of Gotha, a small town in central Germany. Soon after arriving, he heard a beautiful eighteen-year-old harpist girl, Dorette Scheidler, daughter of a court singer, play "a very demanding fantasia". Louis immediately decided to write a sonata for her, for harp and violin. The work presented some demands, so its preparation required many rehearsals. They ended up in love and married in February 1806.
That same year they began, as a duo, extensive tours of cities in the rest of Europe, to which they returned every year until 1822, when Dorette, a woman of her time, decided to abandon the tours, the duo and the harp, to be with her children who, now grown up, could not accompany the couple on their endless tours. But they were happy until Dorette's death 28 years later.
Violinist and conductor
Louis Spohr was also a fine painter and skilled chess player born in northern Germany in 1784. He showed an early talent for the violin. At 15, was already a member of the duke's orchestra in his hometown. He remained in Gotha until 1812. Later, he would be a prominent violinist and conductor at the courts of several German and Austrian cities until shortly before he died in Kassel in 1859
The works
Louis Spohr (1784 - 1859)
Self-portrait
Little of his music survives today in the standard repertoire, although the composer has to his credit about 300 works, covering all genres, including opera. He wrote nine symphonies (let us say, by the way, that he was a friend of Beethoven), eight violin concertos, four clarinet concertos, and extensive chamber music. Among the miscellaneous works, the pieces written for harp stand out, most of them composed in the first half of the author's career.
Fantasy for harp, in C minor
It was composed in 1807, while the author was at the court of Gotha, a year after marrying Dorette and, we suppose, to feed his wife's solo repertoire.
A little classical gem of ten minutes duration.
The performance is by German artist Serafina Jaffe, born in Berlin in 1998. The location is the Lichtenau Palace in Potsdam.
According to her own account, the video results from her participation in the German competition "Jugend Musiziert", where she won first prize.
