JOHANN SEVERIN

SVENDSEN (184o– )  , Norwegian composer, was born in Christiania on the 3oth of September 1840 . He learnt the elements of music and violin-playing from his father, and after serving for some time in the army, and later touring as violinist with a troup of instrumentalists, he entered the conservatorium at Leipzig through the aid of the king of Sweden . After another tour, which extended to the British Isles, Svendsen spent a year in Paris, and in 1871–1872 was leader of the once famous Euterpe concerts in Leipzig . In 1871 he married an American, and from 1872 to 1877 he conducted the Christiania Musical Society, while in 1877–1879 he lived in Rome, London and Paris . In 1883 Svendsen became court ka.pelimeister at Copenhagen . Probably we have to go back to Schubert to find a composer Whose Opus 1 has attained the wide popularity of Svendsen's A minor string quartet, while his beautiful octet, Opus 3, added to his fame . Though Svendsen was at one time intimate with Wagner, the latter does not seem to have influenced his music, which includes two symphonies, a violin concerto, and a.romance for violin, as well as a number of Norwegian rhapsodies for the orchestra .