During his lifetime, Louis Spohr was one of his age‘s most esteemed musical personalities. Together with Niccolo Paganini, he was among the absolute top violinists; as Kassel‘s court kapellmeister, he had an essential influence on the renewal of orchestra culture. As a composer, he was more famous than many contemporaneous colleagues who would later be considered the masters of German musical tradition, e.g. Robert Schumann.

He composed violin concertos, symphonies and chamber music as well as oratorios and ten operas. Now, Der Alchymist is available for the first time on CD. This is a live recording of a performance at the Staatstheater Braunschweig on May 24, 2009 – the first time the opera was heard again after its last performance in Prague in 1838.

This is the first recording of Spohr's three act opera.