Re: A matter of opinion
Obviously this is only a side-note to the main thrust of the discussion, but it should be mentioned that, whatever doubts he might have expressed, Spohr was a great advocate for Beethoven during his life and in the decades after his death, when Beethoven was still widely regarded as a radical in musical terms. Spohr played most of the quartets and conducted all the symphonies many times, including the 9th. I have one CD of Spohr string quartets, which contain movements that are influenced by, not to say plainly derivative of, Beethoven's middle quartets, which give the lie to the oft repeated remark that Spohr could never progress beyond the Opus 18. Which is to say that opinions can change, and may not mean exactly what we take them to. Previous Message There are many instances where expert opinion has made a major boo boo. Spohr's remarks about Beethoven's Ninth Symphony are too well-known to need quoting. To be fair to Spohr , Beethoven was as controversial a composer amongst commentators in his own day as Debussy was in Gray's and Mason's.
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