Born in Copenhagen, May 14, 1805
Died in Copenhagen, March 10, 1900
- J.P.E. Hartmann was a Danish composer of German heritage. His father and grandfather were both professional musicians as well.
- Hartmann was organist of the Vor Frue Kirke, (the cathedral in Copenhagen) and was joint director of the Copenhagen Conservatory.
- Hartmann’s music was well regarded in Denmark but due to his strong Danish Nationalism, his work wasn’t mainstream enough to achieve much fame in Europe.
- Fun fact: Hartmann grew up as a playmate to the future Danish King Frederik VII because Hartmann’s mother was a royal governess.
- Cool fact: Hartman’s wife, Emma Sophie Amalia Zinn, was also a composer, writing songs under the pseudonym Frederik Palmer.
- Fun fact: his son-in-law was the Danish composer Niels Gade.
“What composer in Scandinavia with genuine feeling for the spirit of Scandinavia does not remember today what he owes to Hartmann! The best, the most profound thoughts that a whole posterity of more or less consequential spirits has lived on have been first expressed by him, have been made to resound in us by him.”
Edvard Grieg, on the occasion of Hartmann’s 80th birthday 1
Sources
- John Bergsagel, “Hartmann family,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 22, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000012476.