He composed the opera of “The Crusaders” in 1845, and he was invited to conduct the first performance in Berlin.  He relates two pleasing incidents in his “Autobiography.”  He had been invited to a select dinner party given at the royal palace, and between the king and Spohr, who was seated opposite, there intervened an ornamental centerpiece of considerable height in the shape of a flower vase.  This greatly interfered with the enjoyment by the king of Spohr’s conversation.  At last his Majesty, growing impatient, removed the impediment with his own hands, so that he had a full view of Spohr.

The other incident was a pleasing surprise from his colleagues in art.  He was a guest of the Wickmann family, and they were all gathered in the illuminated garden saloon, when there entered through the gloom of the garden a number of dark figures swiftly following each other, who proved to be the members of the royal orchestra, with Meyerbeer and Taubert at their head.  The senior member then presented Spohr with a beautifully executed gold laurel-wreath, while Meyerbeer made a speech full of feeling, in which he thanked him for his enthusiastic love of German art, and for all the grand and beautiful works which he had created, specially “The Crusaders.”  The twenty-fifth anniversary of Spohr’s connection with the court theatre of Cassel occurred in 1847, and was to have been celebrated with a great festival.  The death of Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn cast a great gloom over musical Germany that year, so the festival was held not in honor of Spohr, but as a solemn memorial of the departed genius whose name is a household word among all those who love the art he so splendidly illustrated.

Spohr’s next production was the fine symphony known as “The Seasons,” one of the most picturesque and expressive of his orchestral works, in which he depicts with rich musical color the vicissitudes of the year and the associations clustering around them.  This symphony was followed by his seventh quintet, in G minor, another string quartet, the thirty-second, and a series of pieces for the violin and piano, and in 1852 we find the indefatigable composer busy in remodeling his opera of “Faust” for production by Mr. Gye, in London.  It was produced with great splendor in the English capital, and conducted by Spohr himself; but it did not prove a great success, a deep disappointment to Spohr, who fondly believed this work to be his masterpiece.  “On this occasion,” writes a very competent critic, a propos of the first performance, “there was a certain amount of heaviness about the performance which told very much against the probability of that opera ever becoming a favorite with the Royal Italian Opera subscribers.  Nothing could possibly exceed the poetical grace of Eonconi in the title role, or surpass the propriety and expression of his singing.  Mme. Castellan’s Cunegonda was also exceedingly well sung, and Tamberlik outdid himself by his thorough comprehension