Spohr's 'Jessonda'

Author(s): Clive Brown

Source: The Musical Times , Feb., 1980, Vol. 121, No. 1644 (Feb., 1980), pp. 94-97
Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd.

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/963320

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 Spohr's 'Jessonda' Spohr's opera 'Jessonda' will be given by
the Oxford University Opera Club at the
Clive Brown Playhouse, Oxford, on 12, 13, 15 and 16
February; it will be conducted by Clive
Brown and produced by Sally Day.

In 1840, when Jessonda was first staged in London, itelsewhere.

was In 1819 Weber, recommending Spohr for the
eulogized by the press with a unanimity that was rarepost
at of Kapellmeister at Kassel, the offer of which he had
that period. George Hogarth asserted in The Morning just declined for himself, wrote from Dresden:7
Chronicle that 'Jessonda is not surpassed by any opera that
We have the celebrated Spohr within our walls ... such a
we know and it is equalled by very few';' The Spectatorbrilliant and renowned artist whose honoured name cannot
ranked it with Don Giovanni, Fidelio and Euryanthe;2 The but awaken respect in all quarters would certainly be an orna-
Atlas described the music as 'one unbroken stream of ment to the Elector's opera.
loveliness';3 The Britannia enthused: 'We must give it In speaking thus of Spohr, whose own opinion of Weber's
our
unqualified praise; it is a tissue of the most lovely abilities was much less flattering, Weber was undoubtedly
melodies and delicious combinations of harmony we voicing
ever the sentiment of the majority of German musi-
cians.
heard';4 while The Times, contrasting it with the facile
Italian operas which then dominated the London stage,Spohr was offered, and accepted, the post at Kassel, and
observed: 'It is not a work to be heard once, to tickle within
the 12 months of returning from a visit to London in
1820 he entered upon his duties there. The first important
ear for a moment, but it must be studied again and again,
and still it will be exhaustless'.5 13 years later, whenwork which he began in his new surroundings was Jesson-
Jessonda was produced at the Royal Italian Opera, Coventda. The libretto, written by Eduard Gehe, was based on
Garden, J. W. Davison commented in The Musical World Lemiere's novel La veuve de Malabar which Spohr had
that it was 'a work which has been acknowledged a chef read on a rainy day in Paris in 1821, and which had im-
d'oeuvre for upwards of thirty years, and belongs to mediately
the struck him as an ideal story for an opera. It is set
in
classics of the art'.6 Yet this acknowledged masterpiece 16th-century Goa and centres on the rescue of the Ra-
seems not to have been staged again in England after jah's
thatwidow, Jessonda, from burning as a sutee. This is ac-
complished in the nick of time when a Portuguese army
date. In Germany, too, it had virtually disappeared from
the repertory by the end of the century; though it con-led by Tristan, her lover from whom she had been for-
tinued to receive occasional performances until 1933, ciblyparted to marry the Rajah, storms the city. Tristan is
when, along with many other works of art, it was bannedaided by a young Brahmin, Nadori, who has fallen in love
with
by the Nazis as being unsuitable on racial grounds, since it Jessonda's sister Amazili. The opera contains some
involves the love of an Indian princess and a Portuguese impressive ceremonial scenes, including, in Act 3, a
general. religious ceremony by night to the accompaniment of a
thunderstorm in which a colossal statue of Brahma is
At the time that he composed Jessonda, in 1822, Spohr
was 38 and had achieved a considerable reputation in Ger- destroyed by lightning.
many as a violinist, composer and conductor, while his From the start Spohr seems to have been fired with a
visits to Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France and special enthusiasm for this work, perhaps because he saw
England had made his name known in those countries. his acceptance of the Kassel post as marking the point in
Among the works which had secured him recognition as a his career where the role of composer took precedence
composer were his violin concertos, his First Clarinet over that of virtuoso, or perhaps simply because he wished
Concerto (1808) which Hermstedt had performed with to make as great an impact as possible in his new sphere of
great success all over Germany, his opera Faust which action. However, another important factor was that Spohr
Weber had produced at Prague in 1816; the chamber regarded Jessonda as a practical illustration of his theories
works written for Tost in Vienna of which the Nonet about the direction in which German composers should
aim so as to counteract the effects of the insidious tide of
quickly became a popular favourite, and his First and Se-
cond Symphonies (1811 and 1820) which were regularlysecond-rate Italian and French operas which dominated
performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts and the German stage and seemed to him to have perverted
public taste.
Spohr set out his views on opera at this time in an article
entitled 'An Address to German Composers'.8 He believed
23 June 1840
2 p.590
3 p.407
4 p.414 7 see H. G1l: The Musician's World: Great Composers in their Letters (London,
1965), 143
19 June 1840
8 'Aufruf an deutsche Componisten', Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, xxv (1823),
p.511 458

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there should be a compromise in which the masses were achievement in his career and firmly established him as
entertained at a superficial level while the connoisseur was one of the most important composers of the day. His
able to find depths in the music to satisfy his more observation in the 'Address' - that if a composer 'furnish
discriminating palate; in this he was like Mozart. Spohr the church and chamber with productions of the most ex-
felt that the central problem lay in the selection of a cellent kind, still he will only be known to a small portion
suitable plot which would provide the opportunity for of the public; but if he obtain success in the theatre his
display without being intolerably vapid. He believed it name will be on every tongue' - was prophetic with
possible to find a libretto 'which shall at once please the respect to Jessonda. As Chopin remarked in 1831: 'Spohr
mind endowed with taste and that which is uncultivated', was known for a long time only as a violinist before pro-
and was emphatic about the composer's responsibility to ducing Jessonda, Faust etc.'"
the dignity of his art, saying: The premiere of Jessonda took place at Kassel on 28
If we have been happy enough to obtain such a subject, we July 1823 to enthusiastic acclamation, and its production
should no longer be merely solicitous to please, we should no at Leipzig on 9 February 1824 under its composer's baton
longer speculate on mere theatrical effects, as several of the was triumphant. The latter event was characterized by
modern composers do; but we ought to follow the bent of our
scenes of enthusiasm which became legendary. The
feelings, and compose music of a true dramatic character
Musical Times recalled the occasion in 1884, saying:'2
adapted in every respect to the subject, in'tone, style and
character. After the charming duet between Nadori and Amazili in the
second act, an excited enthusiast in the boxes rose and made a
Furthermore, he stressed the importance of the orchestra
speech, demanding three times three cheers for the true
and suggested that the spoken dialogue which had
'master of German art', which were duly given, with deafen-
previously been the rule in German opera should be ing flourishes of drums and trumpets, forming a scene which
replaced by recitative; for he observed: 'If the critic reject has only once since (at Bayreuth in 1876) seen its parallel.
the opera as a product of art, and call it monstrous, it is the
This success was followed by an invitation from Spontini
sudden transition from speech to song that justifies him in to bring the opera out at Berlin in 1825 where it achieved
so terming it'. But he felt that the adoption of continuous a similar triumph. By the end of the decade it was firmly
music had implications for the character of the story, established in the repertories of almost all the theatres of
which should be poetical but uncomplicated. He did not Germany.
wish to set to music 'dialogues on the common occur- The success of Jessonda probably contributed greatly to
rences of life of which our operas contain such abundant the commanding position which Spohr had assumed in
examples'. In Jessonda Spohr was the first composer to German music by the 1830s. The effect of his music on
dispense with spoken dialogue in German opera, and in
young musicians at that period was vividly recalled by J.
this he was followed by Weber in Euryanthe. In a footnote W. Davison in 1854 at a time when Spohr's reputation
to his article Spohr added:
was increasingly threatened on one side by the
The opera of Jessonda, which I lately composed, possesses, at
Mendelssohn mania and on the other by the beginnings of
least I so flatter myself, all these requisites. In its representa- interest in what Davison called the 'music-run-mad'
tion I shall shortly be able to obtain convincing proof whether
the theory I have laid down above will hold good in practice,
school of which Liszt and Wagner were the main pro-
and if through an imposing display of pageantry (consisting tagonists. He recollected:13
of groups of dancing Bayaderes, warlike dances, processions Not many years ago the bias was quite the other way. The
of priests, a religious, sacrifice, &c.), the multitude will find at- musical mind of Germany, and of all the followers of the Ger-
traction at the same time that the more cultivated will be man school, was thoroughly imbued with Spohr. Their light
pleased by the music and by the action itself. was but a reflection of his light, their ideas were the natural
It is debatable whether Spohr had arrived at his theoriesoffspring of his, their forms but imitations of his own. He had
through the composition of Jessonda or whether the operapointed out a high road to excellence in which the rest
was a conscious working-out of already crystallized ideas. endeavoured to walk; he had invented a new style with whose
attractions the others were intoxicated. From one well alone
However, there is no doubt that he took far more time and
was drawn the German inspiration; and that well was
trouble over this work than over any of his five previousSpohr's. Even the critics were as mad on one side, as now
operas, for, as he explained in a letter to his friendthey are mad on the opposite. Mozart and Beethoven were on
Wilhelm Speyer, he would work on it only in his hours ofthe point of being deposed, and Spohr was to reign in their
greatest inspiration.9 stead. No composer was more idolised, emulated, and pillag-
The result was all that he could have desired; Schumann ed; the young musicians regarded him as a prophet; his
later remarked: 'Jessonda seems the very growth of his method of harmony was lauded to the skies, and his
own heart'.'" The opera represented a new peak of

" letter to Eisner, 14 Dec 1831, Correspondence de Frddiric Chopin, trans.

B. E. Sydow (Paris, 1954), ii, 53
9 letter of 26 Jan 1823 quoted in Louis Spohr's Autobiography (Eng.
trans., London, 1865), ii, 148-9 12 p.445
0o Gesammelte Schriften, trans. F. Y. Ritter (London, 1883), 312 " The Musical World, xxix (1854), 252

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 knowledge of orchestral combinations pronounced un-
paralleled.
The accuracy of Davison's description, extravagant
though it may seem, is strongly supported by his own con-
nection with many of the most prominent young musi-
cians of that period, both English and German, as well as
by a large body of contemporary documentary evidence.
trance.
One of the musicians upon whom Jessonda made a
powerful impact was Brahms, who more than once ex-
pressed his profound admiration of the work. One in-
stance, probably from the 1880s, was recalled thus by Ed-
ward Speyer:'4
We attended a performance of Spohr's Jessonda which my
father-in-law heard for the first time; greatly excited, Brahms
strode up to my father-in-law, exclaiming 'What Kufferath,
you heard Jessonda for the first time! Well what impression
did it make on you?' [Kufferath replied:] 'Well I enjoyed the
many fine and noble things in it, but I feel that parts of it to-
day strike one as old fashioned and conventional'. 'No, Kuf-
ferath', cried Brahms, 'there I am not with you. I find the
opera magnificent. But of course, I saw and learned to love it
in my early days, and it affects me in the same way as my
other youthful enthusiasms do. Jessonda captured my heart
and I shall feel the same about it for the rest of my life.'
Another composer whom it undoubtedly impressed was
Wagner, the basic materials of whose harmonic language,
though not his manner of using them, owe much to Spohr.
He conducted the opera many times and it is likely that he
was influenced by its rudimentary use of leitmotif, as for
example when Amazili's theme is heard on the oboe while
Nadori thinks of her in his recitative 'Still lag auf meine
Seele'. Several passages are to be found in Jessonda which
are strikingly paralleled in Wagner. The opening of the se-
cond scene in Act 1 (ex.1) was surely lodged in Wagner's
" E. Speyer: My Life and Friends (London, 1937), 102-3
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Ex. 1
Ex. Horn Strings
cresc.
__ -fT
,~i~zzT-1
subconscious. In
where Nadori ent
ding immolation
rhythmic figure
Ex. 2 3 3
ed by Wagner in the second ac
analogous situation, where Briin
his approaching death. There are
between Spohr's first finale and t
Siegfried where the hero wake
Why then did Jessonda, along with the bulk of Sp
output, fall into desuetude? To this there is no s
answer. It is too easy to dismiss the high estimati
which Spohr was held during his lifetime simply
curious error of judgment; the fact is, however, that i
the most distinguished musicians of the day rather
the general public whose admiration was the basis of
position. Those who considered Spohr to be one of
greatest composers of all time may have been mistake
allowing him such eminence, but the deep respect and
miration of Weber, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Schum
Brahms, Wagner, Joachim, Halle, Sterndale Bennett
others cannot be lightly ignored.
The most obvious explanation of Spohr's eclipse is t
change in taste which took place after 1850. During
generation after his death in 1859 the decline in
reputation became increasingly apparent and his rele
tion to the second rank was widely mooted; but a
same time there were those who felt that the tide of
depreciation might be about to turn. The Musical Times
observed in 1884: 'Perhaps the next change of taste will
bring us back to the gentle and soothing style of Spohr,
whose operas are to those of the present day what the
flavour of cream is to that of pickles'." Emil Naumann
took a similar view in 1884, saying:'6
Spohr's noble sentimentality and warmth of expression ex-
cited during his lifetime all the youth of Germany into an
unusual enthusiasm. The composer's influence is now
somewhat less than it was, and indeed latterly his productions
have been under-rated, but as all that is genuine resists
momentary bias, Spohr's works are once again coming to the
fore.
Their confidence in a revival was misplaced; the decline
15 p.512
"6 E. Naumann: History of Music (London, 1884), ii, 992
continued to a point where natural recovery was impossi-
ble. Most of his music had fallen out of the repertory by
the end of the century and the effort and interest necessary
to reinstate it was not forthcoming. Prout included Jesson-
da in a series of articles in The Monthly Musical Record in
1904 entitled 'Some forgotten operas'. He concluded his
thorough account of the work with the observation:17
The music is mostly so beautiful that it seems a cause for
regret that the work is now never to be heard. As my readers
will have discovered the plot is admirable, and opportunities
for a good mise en scene abound; whether a revival of the work
would attract the public is a question on which I do not feel
qualified to offer any opinion.
It seems unlikely that the score of Jessonda has received
much attention from musicians since that date, or that the
'7 p.125
even less accessible scores of his larger orchestral works
have been examined. Even the chamber music that has
been rediscovered in recent years is only a small part of his
output in that field; works such as the string quintets and
sextet, and the piano trios, are at least comparable with
some of those which are currently performed.
Were conductors and performers familiar with Spohr's
works they would undoubtedly be grateful for a major ad-
dition to the orchestral and chamber repertories. Whether
this can be said for Jessonda and his other operas is less
certain in view of the conditions which govern commercial
opera. But Jessonda contains very fine music; it is not
simply well written and attractive, though it is both of
these, for its individuality is very strongly marked and it
bears the unmistakable stamp of genius. On account of
that and of its importance in the development of 19th-
century German opera it richly deserves a revival.

A Schubert Song Rediscovered

Reinhard Van Hoorickx

Heinrich Kreissle von Hellborn was Schubert's first real just before that of the beautiful song An den Mond
biographer. His voluminous book, of 619 pages, appeared ('Geuss, lieber Mond', D193). Anyway, Die Schiffende re-
in Vienna in 1865; only four years later it was translated mains undiscovered. In the revised German edition of the
into English by Arthur Duke Coleridge and published in thematic catalogue it is listed among the undated works as
London by Longmans, Green & Co. This last edition wasD990D, as verschollen (which could be translated as 'hid-
in two volumes (xii, 318pp.; viii, 336pp.), including an ap-
den' or, perhaps better, 'not at present located').
pendix by George Grove in which he enthusiasticallyThe second unknown song mentioned by Kreissle, Mein
describes his first visit to Vienna (in October 1867) with Finden (text by C. Heine), is not entered in Deutsch's
Arthur Sullivan, and his discovery - so to speak - thematic
of catalogue; when I raised this with Deutsch, he
said
Schubert's fict symphonies, including the incomplete that no poet of the name of C. Heine had ever ex-
Symphony in E (here numbered no.7, as it should be), and
isted, and that this was probably a mistake for another
of the Rosamunde music, which had been put away after song with a similar title, Das Finden (D219, to a text by
the second performance in December 1823 and never Kosegarten). However, it again has to be pointed out that
touched since. Kreissle had included Das Finden among the printed
Kreissle ends his book with a long list of Schubert's
works; it had been published, as Nachlass 42, in the mid-
works, divided into those which were published (alreadydle
a of 1848. That nothing is known about a poet by the
considerable number) and those which remained in
name of C. Heine is no reason to disbelieve Kreissle's
manuscript. In his list of unpublished songs there are two
listing of the song; there are plenty of obscure poets in the
items, both on p.605, which so far had not been long list of those who provided texts for the 650-odd
discovered, namely Die Schiffende (Ho5lty) and Mein Schubert songs! Anyway, Mein Finden is noted in the
Finden (C. Heine). The first is mentioned in Deutsch's revised thematic catalogue among the dubious and
thematic catalogue under no.207, Der Liebende (H61ty), spurious works, as Appendix 1, no.30, marked verschollen;
with the following remark: 'Kreissle (p.605) calls this Deutsch's surmise that it may be a mistake for Das Finden
song, by mistake, "Die Schiffende" '. This, however, isis repeated.
not correct, for Kreissle also included Der Liebende in his That a poet C. Heine did in fact exist has now been
list of unpublished songs, on p.603, with the date 1815 shown in a long article by Ignaz Weinmann, who however
and the remark 'Autograph bei Gustav Petter'. Maurice J. did not make the connection with the lost song we have
E. Brown said that the poem Die Schiffende ('The Lady on been seeking. Weinmann, in the first place a fervent col-
the Boat') by H61ty was very attractive, and that Schubert lector of Schubert first editions, in his later years spent
may have composed it in May 1815; but that is pure guess-much time searching for rare editions and manuscript
work based on the printing of the poem in Hblty's works copies in Austrian monasteries, especially the one in
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