Hyperion Records

The 1810 Frankenhausen festival was such a success that another was planned for 1811, also under Spohr’s direction. For this one he was invited to compose a symphony (his first, in E flat major, Op 20) so that Hermstedt, who naturally put in a plea for another new clarinet piece, had to be satisfied with a ten-minute work. Spohr composed the Potpourri in F major in the spring of 1811 and it was first played at Frankenhausen on 11 July that year.

The Potpourri was no mere medley; rather its two chosen themes were used as the basis for virtuoso variations. Spohr selected his two numbers from a then highly popular opera, Das unterbrochene Opferfest (‘The interrupted sacrificial feast’), by the Mannheim composer Peter von Winter (1754–1825), and produced what is in effect a three-movement concertino. The opening section, Larghetto, works with Myrha’s aria ‘Ich war, wenn ich erwachte’ (No 9 in the opera) and the prominent horns at the start have been lifted from the opera along with the theme. Next comes an Allegro on a vocal quartet (the opera’s No 8) ‘Kind, willst du ruhig schlafen’, then finally an Allegretto version of the same theme.

from notes by Keith Warsop © 2005
Chairman, Spohr Society of Great Britain