Nationality: Danish

Baroque Danish German

BUXTEHUDE, Dieterich

(Probably) born in Helsingborg, ca. 1637
Died in Lübeck, May 9, 1707

No documents exist verifying Dieterich Buxtehude’s nationality or birth date, though musicologists speculate the composer was either Danish or German.¹
Buxtehude is most famous for his contributions to organ music. J.S. Bach and Handel were both known to have made pilgrimages to witness Buxtehude’s performances in Lübeck.
- Fun fact – both Bach and Handel wanted to succeed Buxtehude in his position at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck. However, there was one condition – whoever took over the role had to marry Buxtehude’s daughter. Neither Bach nor Handel agreed to the terms.
Buxtehude became particularly well-known in Germany for directing Abendmusiken, concerts containing a mix of vocal and instrumental music held at St. Mary’s Church in Lübeck.
In addition to organ music, the composer wrote a considerable amount of instrumental music and sacred cantatas.²

Sources

Kerala J. Snyder, “Buxtehude, Dieterich,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed December 28, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000004477.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Dietrich Buxtehude,” Encyclopedia Britannica (2022), accessed December 28, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Buxtehude.

Pieces

20th Century Danish

GADE, Jakob

Born in Vejle, Nov 29 1879
Died in Assens, Feb 20 1963

Gade was a violinist with no formal training who began his career as a dance fiddler and eventually worked as a bandleader and cinema orchestra leader in Copenhagen.
Gade composed light music as well as larger orchestral works.¹

Pieces

Jalousie (Tango Tsigane – 1925) (arr. Mathew Naughtin)

Romantic Danish

GADE, Niels Wilhelm

Portrait of Niels Gade (1845) by Johann Georg Weinhold

Born in Copenhagen, Feb 22, 1817
Died in Copenhagen, Dec 21, 1890

Gade was the foremost musical figure in 19^th C. Denmark.
Gade worked with Mendelssohn in Leipzig as the assistant conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and as a Leipzig Conservatory instructor before returning to Denmark to found one of the country’s first permanent orchestras.
Gade was responsible for the Danish premiere of Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and he helped raise the musical culture in Denmark to an international level.²

Pieces

Romantic Danish

HARTMANN, Johann Peter Emilius

Portrait of J.P.E. Hartmann (1884) by Otto Bache

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 ³

Pieces

Symphony No. 2, Op. 48

Classical Romantic Danish German

KUHLAU, Friedrich

Born in Uelzen, Germany, 11 Sept 1786
Died in Copenhagen, 12 Mar 1832

Friedrich Kuhlau [KOO-low, “low” pronounced like “how”] was a composer and pianist whose works straddle the transition from Classical to Romantic eras. Some of Kuhlau’s contemporaries were Carl Maria von Weber, Louis Spohr, John Field, and Niccolò Paganini.
- Kuhlau is considered among the creative forces behind the Danish Golden Age.
As a child, Kuhlau lost his right eye due to an accident, though any details about the incident are few and far between.
Born in Germany, Kuhlau lived near Hamburg until the area was invaded by Napoleon’s army in 1810. The composer fled to Copenhagen, where he found success as a composer, pianist, and educator quite quickly. He remained in Denmark for the rest of his life–in 1813, Kuhlau became a Danish citizen.⁴
Fun fact – During a trip to Vienna, Kuhlau became acquainted with none other than Beethoven. Kuhlau greatly admired the Viennese composer, whose music inspired much of Kuhlau’s own music, and the two became great friends until Beethoven died in 1827.⁵

Learn More

“Beethoven of the Flute: Rediscover Kuhlau and His Works for Flute, Piano, and Operas!” from Interlude

Biography from Dacapo Records

Pieces

Piano Concerto in C Major, Op. 7

Romantic Danish

LUMBYE, Hans Christian

Born in Copenhagen, May 2, 1810
Died in Copenhagen, March 20, 1874⁶

Pronunciation:
The Danish pronunciation of Lumbye’s last name is [lɔmˈpyː]
“lawm-PÜ”
Listen

Pieces

Late Romantic Danish

NIELSEN, Carl

Born in Sortelung, near Nørre Lyndelse, Funen, June 9, 1865
Died in Copenhagen, Oct 3, 1931

Nielsen is best known for his six symphonies, but he was also prominent in Denmark as a teacher, writer on music, conductor, and composer of songs.⁷

Biography from the Carl Nielsen Society

Pieces

Maskarade: Overture