Louis Spohr in Jelgava - at the end of 1802

from Louis Spohr's Autobiography, page 33:

“We heard there, also, some Russian military singers. They were six private soldiers, some of whom sang soprano parts. They shrieked fearfully, so much so that one was almost obliged to stop ones ears. They are practised in singing by a non commissioned Officer, cane in hand. In some songs they accompanied themselves on sort of Schalmey of so piercing a tone, that I expected the ladies would have fainted away. The Melodies of the songs were not bad, but accompanied by a great deal of false harmonics.”
cite as

Louis Spohr, and Frederick Freedman and Longman Roberts & Green London 1865 (ed.), Louis Spohr's Autobiography, volume 1 (1969), p. 33. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1409521780197 accessed: 25 April, 2024

location of experience: Jelgava

Listeners

Louis Spohr
Concertmaster, Violinist, Composer, Conducting
1784-1859

Listening to

hide composers
Russian military singing performed by Russian army singers

Experience Information

Date/Time at the end of 1802
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, outdoors, in public

Originally submitted by tlisboa on Sun, 31 Aug 2014 22:49:40 +0100
Approved on Tue, 23 Feb 2016 13:37:49 +0000