Sechs deutsche Lieder (Six German Songs), Op.103

Sei still mein Herz

Zwiegesang

Sehnsucht

Wiegenlied

Das heimliche Lied

Wach auf

Just as Mozart had his Stadler and Weber his Bärmann (and Brahms was to have his Mühlfeld), Spohr had his favourite clarinettist in Johann Simon Hermstedt. Although he was a violinist himself and composer of no fewer than fifteen Violin Concertos, Spohr also wrote four Clarinet Concertos, all of which were first performed by Hermstedt between 1808 and 1828. It was presumably with the same instrumentalist in mind that he wrote his Sechs deutsche Lieder with clarinet obbligato in 1838 and, presumably again, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen was the inspiration behind it. Schubert’s music was not well known in Germany in the first half of the nineteenth century but Der Hirt auf dem Felsen was published as early as 1830 and, moreover, it was part of Anna Milder-Hauptmann’s touring repertoire.

Spohr’s Sechs deutsche Lieder would not have appealed to Milder-Hauptmann as much as Der Hirt auf dem Felsen. As far as the voice is concerned, they are attractively written but with little that is operatic about them. The virtuosity is in the clarinet part which at times – particularly in Sei still mein Herz but also in Sehnsucht and Das heimliche Lied ­– is scored much as it would be in a concerto with expressive leaps and agile arpeggios covering a wide area of its range. However, although the obbligato and the vocal line are not always as sensitively integrated as they are in the Schubert piece, the bird-song role of the clarinet in Zwiegesang, the breeze murmuring in its lower register in Wiegenlied and its running commentary of other nature sounds in Wach auf are all imaginatively and effectively scored.