page_title: Sophie Dedekam
section_title: Musical Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Sophie Dedekam / Musical Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: The first page of Sophie Dedekam's song "En Aften ved Alsteren," published in 1885 by the Theodora Cormontan Publishing Company in Arendal, Norway.
context_page_description: Sophie Dedekam was a Norwegian composer and diarist, one of the most significant Norwegian women composers of the 19th century, and principally remembered today for a hymn included in the Church of Norway Hymn Book and for her published recollections of a visit to Paris.
  Dedekam was born in the Norwegian coastal town of Arendal, the daughter of the town's mayor. She became active in the social and cultural life of the city at an early age, where she sang and played the piano. She traveled to Paris when she was 25 for a visit of several weeks, recording her experiences in letters and in a diary that were published after she died. Dedekam did some public concertizing as a singer and collaborative pianist early in her life, but most of her performing was limited to amateur venues in the Arendal area or at home with her family and friends.
  Dedekam also composed songs from an early age, again mostly for local consumption. Many of her pieces were eventually published by Wilhelm Hansen Music Publishers in Copenhagen. A number of her songs became quite well known in Norway as a result, but Sophie rarely received recognition as their composer, nor did she seek it.
context_section_description: About 40 of Dedekam's songs were published during her lifetime, despite her disinterest in public recognition.  Perhaps her economic situation after 1861, coupled with the support of well-connected friends, resulted in their release.  Her primary publisher was Wilhelm Hansen Music Publishers in Copenhagen.  Established in 1857 when Jens Wilhelm Hansen decided to expand his engraving business, the success of the enterprise was significantly aided by his wife Hanne, especially when her husband experienced health issues after the first few years of business.
  In the early 1880s Dedekam would turn to another woman composer from Arendal by the name of Theodora Cormontan, the first woman professional music publisher in Norway.   The Cormontan Music Publishing Company released two Dedekam songs in 1885 with the apparent intent of publishing more than 40 of them, but Arendal's severe economic depression of 1886 resulted in the dissolution of Cormontan's business.
  Dedekam's most enduring set of songs is her "6 Sange: udsatte for to syngestemmer og pianoforte" ("6 Songs for two voices and piano"), originally published by Wilhelm Hansen and reissued by Recital Publications in 2009.  The collection includes "Sang af ‘Arne’" (text by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson), "Naar Solen ganger til Hvile" (text by Valdemar Adolph Thisted), "De to Drosler" (text by Christian Winther), "Taaren" (text by Hans Christian Andersen), "Ungbirken" (text by Jørgen Moe), and "Hvad jeg elsker" (text again by Andersen).  The works are representative of Dedekam's compositional style: engaging melodies, a literate sensitivity to the texts, and straightforward accompaniments.  Their popularity during Sophie's lifetime and the lack of recognition she received for them are documented by Emma Ree as she notes how her aunt was amused "when she traveled along the coast [of Norway] and heard girls on the steamer and various groups wherever she went singing her songs 'Naar Solen ganger til Hvile,' 'Taaren,' 'De to Drosler,' etc. and nobody knew she was the composer.  Her songs had all become folk songs."
caption: The first page of Sophie Dedekam's song "En Aften ved Alsteren"
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