Celebrating Rued Langgaard’s 125th anniversary
In 2018 the Danish Cultural Institute in Brussels will be celebrating Rued Langgaard’s 125th anniversary
This year, DCI in Brussels will be celebrating the Danish composer Rued Langgaard’s 125th anniversary. In recent years, his works and personality have gained increased attention around the world and, especially, in Central Europe.
DCI in Brussels is planning a range of activities together with Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, University of Copenhagen, Dacapo Records and the Langgaard Festival in Ribe with the purpose of connecting professional environments and shed light on the composer and his music.
The activities will lay the groundwork for an international publication as well as recordings by Dacapo Records.
2018 celebrations of Rued Langgaard’s 125th anniversary
The main event of the celebrations is The Langgaard Day, which will take place April 14th at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (mdw). The Langgaard Day will consist of an exhibition, a piano matinée, lectures and a roundtable conversation addressing issues of musicology and cultural studies as well as the composer’s life and work.
Another highlight of the year will be the first performance in Germany of Langgaard’s opera Antikrist in Mainz on June 3rd. In connection with the premiere there will be an exhibition, a symposium and a roundtable conversation with Langgaard scholars and the German music critic Jan Brachman moderated by Per Erik Veng, the director of DCI in Brussels.
The Langgaard Day
The program for the big event in April brings together a host of skilled and knowledgeable professionals in the field of music. At the opening of the exhibition “Rued Langgaard – a true Romantic in a turbulent time” Bendt Viinholt Nielsen from the Danish Arts Foundation, publisher of critical editions of Langgaard’s work, will attend, while Per Erik Veng will welcome the audience together with Christian Meyer from mdw. Juri Giannini, also from mdw, will open the exhibition officially.
The piano matinée will be played by Danish pianist Berit Johansen Tange together with Katharina Bleier from mdw. Johansen Tange will play pieces by Langgaard, Bleier will play Cowell, Ornstein and Liszt.
After the matinée, the day continues with the lecture and roundtable sessions. The participants are: Juri Giannini (mdw), Stephan Jena (mdw), Signe Rotter-Broman (Universität der Künste Berlin), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universität Wien), Esben Tange (Rued Langgaard Festival Ribe), Sophie Wennerscheid (Universiteit Gent), Michael Fjeldsøe (Københavns Universitet), Tomi Mäkelä (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), Fritz Trümpi (mdw), Sakari Oramo (Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra) and DCI’s Per Erik Veng.
The Langgaard Day is supported by The Langgaard Foundation, The Obel Family Foundation, The Knud Højgaard Foundation and the Aage & Johanne Louis-Hansen Foundation.
Earlier events
In the German-speaking countries, there have been several activities relating to Langgaard initiated by the Danish Cultural Institute in Brussels in collaboration with the Danish State record company Dacapo Records, orchestras, opera houses and festivals.
At Musikfest Berlin in 2016, his Music of the Spheres was performed with huge success, and in 2017 and 2018 in Vienna Konzerthaus, the Vienna Philharmonic have performed and recorded symphonies by Langgaard for Dacapo Records.
Rued Langgaard
Rued Langgaard (1893-1952) was an outsider and did not really fit in with his contemporaries and the Danish musical life. He was orientated towards the late-romantic German composers and the music world. In his time, his music was not really appreciated before after his death – in the late 1960’s, where among others the composers György Ligeti and Per Nørgaard praised his originality and musical visions. Since then, his tragic fate and fascinatingly diverse music have caught the interest of an increasing number of people.
The Langgaard Day, April 14th, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, Vienna
Registration is free but mandatory. Get your tickets here.
photo: Royal Danish Library