Gade

This is a splendid fellow and musician - with this quote Robert Schumann characterized the then 26-year-old Danish composer-colleague Niels Wilhelm Gade in a letter of January 5, 1844 to his Dutch friend Johannes Verhulst. The works on this release are testimonies of three different creative periods of Gade: an early work is the first Sonata in A major, op. 6 (dedicated to Clara Schumann) - the second Sonata in D minor, op. 21, (dedicated to Robert Schumann) was composed in 1850 - the third Sonata in B flat major, op. 59, (dedicated to Wilma Normann-Neruda) belongs to the circle of his late compositions. Among Gade's last works is the collection Volkstänze i'm nordischen Charakter, op. 62, written in 1886 for the great violinist Joseph Joachim.

Niels Gade's three violin sonatas are spread across his entire career, the early A major dating from 1842 before his period of study in Leipzig, while the late B flat major was written in 1885, just five years before his death. Like Sibelius later Gade in his younger years entertained notions of becoming a violin virtuoso and the First and Second Sonatas (the latter composed in 1849 shortly after his return to Copenhagen) are products of this active interest in and familiarity with the instrument. T

During the mid-19th century, the Danish composer Niels. W. Gade was one of Europe's most well-known composers, conducting his own works all over the continent. Starting out as a protégé of Mendelssohn's, he later became his successor as music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, and of Liszt and Wagner. Initially known as a composer of symphonies, Gade mastered the German musical idiom to perfection, while adding a Nordic accent to it, particularly noticeable in his best works. His eight symphonies were composed between 1841 and 1871, and although Gade remained active as a composer until his death in 1890, he wrote no more symphonies. When questioned, he is said to have stated that 'there is but one Ninth Symphony!'

During the mid-19th century, the Danish composer Niels. W. Gade was one of Europe's most well-known composers, conducting his own works all over the continent. Starting out as a protégé of Mendelssohn's, he later became his successor as music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, and of Liszt and Wagner. Initially known as a composer of symphonies, Gade mastered the German musical idiom to perfection, while adding a Nordic accent to it, particularly noticeable in his best works. His eight symphonies were composed between 1841 and 1871, and although Gade remained active as a composer until his death in 1890, he wrote no more symphonies. When questioned, he is said to have stated that 'there is but one Ninth Symphony!'

During the mid-19th century, the Danish composer Niels. W. Gade was one of Europe's most well-known composers, conducting his own works all over the continent. Starting out as a protégé of Mendelssohn's, he later became his successor as music director of the famous Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and made the acquaintance of Robert and Clara Schumann, and of Liszt and Wagner. Initially known as a composer of symphonies, Gade mastered the German musical idiom to perfection, while adding a Nordic accent to it, particularly noticeable in his best works. His eight symphonies were composed between 1841 and 1871, and although Gade remained active as a composer until his death in 1890, he wrote no more symphonies. When questioned, he is said to have stated that 'there is but one Ninth Symphony!'