Louis Spohr's Autobiography / Translated from the German

The author recounts his musical life from childhood through a long career as violinist, composer, and conductor, describing formative training, early compositions and publications, appointments to court orchestras and theatre direction, extensive European tours and festival appearances, major operas, oratorios, concertos, symphonies and pedagogical works, his devotion to teaching and generosity toward pupils, family events including two marriages and bereavement, and the practical and personal challenges of a public artistic life, concluding with an account of his later years and death compiled from family sources.