Zwischen nationalem Anspruch und lokalpolitischen Zwängen: Entstehungs- und Rezeptionsbedingungen der Kasseler Opern Louis Spohrs

Abstract

In 1823 Louis Spohr published an article entitled “Aufruf an deutsche Komponisten” (Appeal to German Composers) in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (AMZ). He did so for the purpose of encouraging young German composers to contribute to the genre of German opera. But he probably had other intentions, too. He was determined to promote his latest opera Jessonda, which he mentioned as a model for his ideas of German opera. Thus one could say that the project of “German opera” was in some aspects merely a marketing strategy.A closer look at Jessonda reveals that Spohr did certainly not think along nationalist lines. In a way its dramaturgy depicts Kant’s definition of the Enlightenment and aims at a united and enlightened mankind. So did Spohr in his personal life. And by so doing he became very popular with the liberal citizens in Kassel, the city in which he worked as “Hofkapellmeister” from 1822 to 1857. This popularity in some cases misguided him. The liberal and enlightened ideas of Spohr are so prominent in his operas that they became increasingly neglected in the 1870s when chauvinistic tendencies became more prominent. This development culminated in the 1940s when the Nazis banned Jessonda from the German stage. They did however try to make it suitable for their ideas of German opera. As Spohr’s original did resist to this violation, the “Reichsstelle für Musikbearbeitungen” commissioned an amended version. Luckily the end of World War II terminated these efforts.