thumb|right|johan severin svendsen johan severin svendsen (30 september 184014 june 1911) was a norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. born in christiania (now oslo), norway, he lived most his life in copenhagen, denmark. svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a violin concerto, a cello concerto, and the romance for violin, as well as a number of norwegian rhapsodies for orchestra. at one time svendsen was an intimate friend of the german composer richard wagner. ==life== his father was a music teacher and svendsen learned both the violin and clarinet from him. by the time he finished school, he was working as an orchestral musician, and occasionally made short concert tours as a violinist. in lÃ¼beck, on one of his tours, he came to the attention of a wealthy merchant who made it possible for him to study from 1863-67 at the leipzig conservatory. he began his studies with ferdinand david, but problems with his hand forced him to switch to composition, which he studied with carl reinecke. he completed his studies in leipzig in 1867, receiving first prize in composition. during this period, svendsen had a son out of wedlock, johann richard rudolph (1867â1933). gradually his attention turned to conducting. after spending time in paris (1868â70) and leipzig (1870â72), he returned to christiania. in the summer of 1871, he went to new york city to marry sarah (sally, later changed to bergljot) levett schmidt, whom he had met in paris. he was conductor of the musical society concerts in christiania (1872â77), then spent three years in germany, italy, england and france. he returned to teach and conduct in kristiania (1880â1883). in 1883, he was appointed principal conductor of the royal theater orchestra in copenhagen, where he lived until his death. in 1884, he and his wife separated, and she moved to paris. their relationship had been chaotic for several years. a famous anecdote would have it that in 1883, in a fit of anger, she had thrown the only copy of his symphony no. 3 in the fire. this incident was used by henrik ibsen in hedda gabler. if anything was caught up in the fire at all, it is rather unlikely it was anything near a complete symphony. however, some sketches, most likely for a symphony, were found by conductor bjarte engeset in 2007. they were elaborated and orchestrated by bjÃ¸rn morten christophersen and premiered by the bergen philharmonic orchestra and engeset in 2011. following a divorce from sarah (10 december 1901), he married (23 december 1901) juliette haase, with whom he had been living and had three children. his younger son from this marriage was the famous danish actor eyvind johan-svendsen (1896â1946). in stark contrast to his more famous contemporary and close friend, edvard grieg, svendsen was famous for his skill of orchestration
1840_births 1911_deaths 19th-century_classical_composers 20th-century_classical_composers Honorary_Members_of_the_Royal_Philharmonic_Society Norwegian_classical_composers Norwegian_classical_violinists Norwegian_conductors_(music) Romantic_composers