Spohr was most graciously received by the duke, who was satisfied with the proofs of industry and ambition shown by his protege.  The celebrated Rode, Viotti’s most brilliant pupil, was at that time in Brunswick, and Spohr, who conceived the most enthusiastic admiration of his style, set himself assiduously to the study and imitation of the effects peculiar to Rode.  On Rode’s departure, Spohr appeared in a concert arranged for him, in which he played a new concerto dedicated to his ducal patron, and created an enthusiasm hardly less than that made by Rode himself.  He was warmly congratulated by the duke and the court, and appointed first court-violinist, with a salary more than sufficient for the musician’s moderate wants.  Shortly after this he undertook another concert tour in conjunction with the violoncellist, Benike, through the principal German cities, which added materially to his reputation.  But no amount of world’s talk or money could fully compensate him for the loss of his magnificent violin, one of the chefs-d’ouvre of Guarnerius del Gesu when that great maker was at his best.  This instrument he had brought from Russia, and it was an imperial gift.  A concert was announced for Gottingen, and Spohr, with his companion, was about to enter the town by coach, when he asked one of the soldiers at the guard-house if the trunk, which had been strapped to the back of the carriage, and which contained his precious instrument, was in its place.  “There is no trunk there,” was the reply.

“With one bound,” says Spohr, “I was out of the carriage, and rushed out through the gate with a drawn hunting-knife.  Had I, with more reflection, listened a while, I might have heard the thieves running out through a side path.  But in my blind rage I had far overshot the place where I had last seen the trunk, and only discovered my overhaste when I found myself in the open field.  Inconsolable for my loss, I turned back.  While my fellow-traveler looked for the inn, I hastened to the post-office, and requested that an immediate search might be made in the garden houses outside the gate.  With astonishment and vexation, I was informed that the jurisdiction outside the gate belonged to Weende, and that I must prefer my request there.  As Weende was half a league from Gottingen, I was compelled to abandon for that evening all further steps for the recovery of my things.  That these would prove fruitless on the following morning I was well assured, and I passed a sleepless night in a state of mind such as in my hitherto fortunate career had been unknown to me.  Had I not lost my splendid Guarneri violin, the exponent of all the artistic success I had so far attained, I could have lightly borne the loss of clothes and money.”  The police recovered an empty trunk and the violin-case despoiled of its treasure, but still containing a magnificent Tourte bow, which the thieves had left behind.  Spohr managed to borrow a Steiner violin, with which he gave his concert, but he did not for years cease to lament the loss of his grand Guarneri fiddle.