Rued Langgaard facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Rued Langgaard
Photograph from Gerhardt Lynge: Danske Komponister (1917)
Born	Rud Immanuel Langgaard 28 July 1893 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	10 July 1952 (aged 58) Ribe, Denmark
Resting place	Holmen Cemetery, Copenhagen
Nationality	Danish
Occupation	Composer and organist
Known for	Composing numerous full works at a young age and having a more unconventional style compared to his counterparts.

Rued Langgaard (Danish: [ˈʁuðˀ ˈlɑŋˌkɒˀ]) was a Danish composer and organist. He lived from 1893 to 1952. His music was quite different from other Danish composers of his time. Because of this, his work was not fully appreciated until 16 years after he died.

Early Life and Musical Talent

Rued Langgaard was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. His parents, Siegfried and Emma Langgaard, were both talented pianists. Rued was their only child.

He started piano lessons with his mother at age five. Later, his father and another teacher helped him learn more. Rued showed great talent very quickly. By age seven, he could play difficult pieces by famous composers like Schumann and Chopin. He also began writing his own short piano pieces and playing the organ.

Learning and First Performances

When he was 10, Rued started studying the organ with Gustav Helsted. He also learned to play the violin. At 11, he performed publicly for the first time as an organist. He played at a concert in Copenhagen.

At 12, he began studying music theory. His first compositions, two piano pieces and two songs, were published when he was 13. Around this time, he even had lessons with the famous composer Carl Nielsen.

A year later, his choral work Musae triumphantes was performed in Copenhagen. This was his first public performance as a composer. As a teenager, he kept composing and met famous conductors like Arthur Nikisch.

Becoming an Organist

At 18, Langgaard worked as an assistant organist in Copenhagen. The next year, in 1913, his Symphony No. 1 "Mountain Pastorals" was performed in Berlin. The famous Berlin Philharmonic orchestra played it.

His father passed away in 1914. Rued continued working as an assistant organist at another church. He tried many times to get a permanent organist job in Copenhagen, but he was not successful.

In 1926, his mother died. A year later, Rued married Constance Tetens, who had been living with him and his mother.

Later Years and Recognition

Even though Langgaard received money from the state from age 30, his music and job applications were often turned down. He finally got a permanent job at age 46. He became the organist at the Ribe Cathedral in Ribe, Denmark's oldest town.

Rued Langgaard died in Ribe just before his 59th birthday. He was still not widely recognized as a great composer during his lifetime.

Langgaard's Unique Music

Rued Langgaard composed in a style called late Romantic. His music was very dramatic and had huge mood changes. He was inspired by composers like Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. Like Strauss, he was excellent at orchestration, which means arranging music for an orchestra. He wrote a lot of music for large orchestras, including 16 symphonies.

Music of the Spheres

His most famous and unusual work is called Music of the Spheres. It is a very complex piece for a huge orchestra, including an organ and a piano played in a special way. It also uses a choir and a distant orchestra with a soprano singer.

He wrote this piece during World War I. But it was only performed twice while he was alive. It was forgotten for almost 50 years. When it was rediscovered in the late 1960s, people thought it sounded very modern. It showed how ahead of his time Langgaard was. In 2010, Music of the Spheres was performed in Britain for the first time at The Proms.

Interesting Titles

Langgaard's unique style also showed in the names he gave his compositions. For example, his fourth symphony is called Leaf Fall. His sixth symphony is named Heaven Storming.

Other symphonies have names like Faithlessness and Deluge of Sun. He even gave descriptive names to parts of his music, like Wireless Caruso and Compulsive Energy and Daddies rushing off to the Office.

In total, Rued Langgaard wrote over 400 musical works. These include more than 150 songs, pieces for piano and organ, and an opera called Antikrist (The Antichrist).

Selected Works

Langgaard wrote many different types of music. Here are some examples of his important works.

Opera

• Antikrist (Antichrist): This is a "church opera" with two acts. It is for singers, choir, and orchestra.

Symphonies

Langgaard wrote 16 symphonies. Here are a few with their interesting names:

• Symphony No. 1, Klippepastoraler (Cliffside Pastorals)
• Symphony No. 2, Vårbrud (Awakening of Spring)
• Symphony No. 4, Løvfald (Leaf-fall)
• Symphony No. 6 "Det Himmelrivende" (The Stormy Sky)
• Symphony No. 14 (Suite) "Morgenen" (Morning)
• Symphony No. 16 "Syndflod af Sol" (Deluge of the Sun)

Other Orchestral Works

• Drapa (On the Death of Edvard Grieg)
• Heltedød (Death of a Hero)
• Saga blot (A Thing of the Past)
• The Danish National Radio (Fanfares)

Concertos

• Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
• Interdikt for Organ and Orchestra

Music for Voice and Orchestra

• Music of the Spheres (Sfærernes musik): For soprano, choir, organ, and two orchestras.
• From the Abyss (Fra dybet): For choir and orchestra.

Chamber Music

Langgaard also wrote music for smaller groups of instruments.

• String Quartets (he wrote several, like Summer Days)
• Violin Sonatas (he wrote four)
• Septet, for wind instruments

Recordings of His Music

In recent years, many of Rued Langgaard's works have been recorded. You can now find his complete symphonies on CD. Other works available include Music of the Spheres and his opera Antichrist. There are also recordings of his piano concertos and choral works. This means more people can now enjoy his unique music.

Images for kids

• 

  Langgaard in later life

See also

In Spanish: Rued Langgaard para niños