Gade, Niels. (1817–1890)

Rebus Claveerstykker [Opus 2a]

Copenhagen: C.C. Loses Bog- & Musikhandel. 1876. First Edition. Upright folio.  Title, 2-7 pp.  Lithographed. [PN] 2626.  Bound with a single, bright-red thread.  Composer's name playfully rendered on cover as the notes G, A, D, and E on a staff, a musical version of the titular puzzle in which words are typically represented by combinations of pictures and individual letters.  Includes three piano pieces: Scherzo, B-flat major; Intermezzo, G major; Alla marcia, C major. Inscription in an unknown hand upper right of title, heavy foxing to front cover, light foxing throughout, else fine.  10.75 x 13.75 (27.3 x 34.9 cm.). Uncommon. 

Born in Copenhagen, Gade began his career as a concert violinist, later taking a position with the Royal Danish Orchestra. Mendelssohn, who was much impressed by and premiered Gade’s First Symphony, invited him to teach at the famous Leipzig Conservatory. After Mendelssohn’s death in 1847, Gade was appointed director of the Conservatory and also conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra. In 1848, he returned to Copenhagen the next year when war broke out between Prussia and Denmark. In Copenhagen, Gade became director of the Copenhagen Musical Society and established a new orchestra and chorus. He was widely regarded as Denmark's most important composer from the mid-Romantic period. He taught and influenced several Scandinavian composers, including Edvard Grieg, Carl Nielsen and Otto Malling. His own music often shows the influence of both Mendelssohn and Schumann. (18948)


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