44, but did not meet with a permanent success. From this
time until 1857 he was engaged in making tours and producing the works of
other composers, among them those of Wagner, whose "Tannhaeuser" he
brought out in 1853, in spite of the Elector's opposition. In 1857 he was
pensioned, and two years later died. He was born a musician and died one,
and in his long and honorable life he was always true to his art and did
much to ennoble and dignify it, notwithstanding the curious combinations
in his musical texture. He never could understand or appreciate
Beethoven. He proclaimed himself a disciple of Mozart, though he had
little in common with him, and he declared Wagner the greatest of all
living composers, on the strength of his "Flying Dutchman" alone. As a
performer, he was one of the best of any period.

The Last Judgment.

Spohr wrote two oratorios upon the same subject,--"Das juengste Gericht"
("The Last Judgment") and "Die letzten Dinge" ("The Last Things"); but
the latter is now universally entitled "The Last Judgment," and the
former was shelved by the composer himself shortly after its performance.
His autobiography gives us some interesting details of each. After a
concert-tour to Hamburg, Spohr returned to Gotha, and found there a
letter from Bischoff, the Precentor of Frankenhausen, informing him that
he had been commanded by the Governor of Erfurt to arrange a musical
festival there in celebration of the birthday of Napoleon, August 15. He
invited Spohr to assume its direction and to write an oratorio for the
occasion. Previous to this a poet in Erfurt had offered him the text
called "The Last Judgment," and Spohr determined to avail himself of it.
He writes,--

"I sent for the libretto and set to work at once. But I soon felt that
for the oratorio style I was yet too deficient in counterpoint and in
fugueing. I therefore suspended my work in order to make the
preliminary studies requisite for the subject. From one of my pupils I
borrowed Marpurg's 'Art of Fugue-writing,' and was soon deeply and
continuously engaged in the study of that work. After I had written
half a dozen fugues according to its instruction, the last of which
seemed to me very successful, I resumed the composition of my oratorio,
and completed it without allowing anything else to intervene. According
to a memorandum I made, it was begun in January, 1812, and finished in
June."

I