Dorette Spohr | |
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![]() Portrait of Spohr, painted by Carl Gottlob Schmeidler | |
Born |
Kassel, Germany | 2 December 1787
Died | 20 November 1834 | (aged 46)
Nationality | German |
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]
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]
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]