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Dorette Spohr

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Dorette Spohr
Portrait of Spohr, painted by Carl Gottlob Schmeidler
Born(1787-12-02)2 December 1787
Kassel, Germany
Died20 November 1834(1834-11-20) (aged 46)
NationalityGerman
Occupation(s)harpist and pianist

Dorette Spohr (2 December 1787 – 20 November 1834), also called Dorette Scheidler Spohr, was a German harpist and pianist active in the early 19th century.[1]

Biography

Dorette Spohr was born as Dorette Scheidler on 2 December 1787 in Kassel, Germany. Her father was a cellist and chamber musician from Gotha, and her mother was a singer. She learned harp from Johann Georg Heinrich Backofen, who was a harpist at the court of Gotha.[2]

In 1805, Scheidler met Louis Spohr, a concertmaster at the court of Gotha. They were married on 2 February 1806.[3][4]

Music career

Spohr initially performed music composed by Backofen, but after her marriage, Louis Spohr composed for her.[5] Between June 1806 and October 1807, Spohr bought a harp from Paris using part of her dowry.[2] From 1810 to 1812, Spohr was principal harpist at the court of Gotha, where she taught the Duke's daughter, Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.[2] Spohr and her husband toured Germany, Switzerland, and Russia, performing with a number of musical orchestras.[6]

In 1820, after experiencing difficulties adapting to a new harp with a double-action pedal mechanism,[7][6] Spohr retired from playing harp. After her retirement, she became interested in piano.[8]

Spohr died in 1834 following a fever.[9][10] Although she seems “not to have composed any music herself," Rensch says that "she inspired the composition of some of the first major ensemble music for harp and violin."[10]

References

  1. ^ Pendle, Karin (26 July 2012). Women in Music: A Research and Information Guide. Oxon: Routledge. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-135-84813-2. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c Rensch, Roslyn (27 February 2017). Harps and Harpists, Revised Edition. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-253-03029-0. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  3. ^ Smook, Gary A. (10 June 2019). The 100 Greatest Composers and Their Musical Works: An Introduction to the Fascinating World of Classical Music. Altona, Canada: Friesen Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-525-53785-1. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  4. ^ Ferris, George T. (9 December 2019). Great Violinists and Pianists. Glasgow: Good Press. p. NA. ISBN 978-1-406-86501-1. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  5. ^ Zingel, Hans Joachim (1 March 1992). Harp Music in the Nineteenth Century. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-253-36870-6. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  6. ^ a b Rensch 2017, p. 154.
  7. ^ Impett, Jonathan (4 December 2017). Artistic Research in Music: Discipline and Resistance: Artists and Researchers at the Orpheus Institute. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-9-462-70090-1. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  8. ^ Radice, Mark A (19 January 2012). Chamber Music: An Essential History. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-472-05165-6. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  9. ^ Smook 2019, p. 135.
  10. ^ a b Rensch 2017, p. 155.
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