Launy Grøndahl

Launy Grøndahl

Launy Valdemar Grøndahl (born June 30, 1886 in Ordrup near Copenhagen , † January 21, 1960 in Frederiksberg , buried in Gentofte ) was a Danish composer and conductor .

life and work

Launy Grøndahl was a natural. Thanks to his broad musical talent, he worked his way up from small backgrounds to the highest positions. At the age of eight he learned to play the violin from his school principal, the composer Ole Jacobsen (who composed the song “Den lille Ole med paraplyen” - Little Ole with the umbrella, which is popular in Denmark, among others). Soon he was able to perform at evening parties together with his teacher, e.g. B. at the age of twelve in the village inn of Ordrup.

After his confirmation he began to take regular lessons from the royal orchestra musician Anton Bloch (violin) and the regimental music conductor J. Norup (trumpet). After joining the Copenhagen Casino Orchestra in 1906 at the age of just 20 (he worked there until 1919), he studied the violin with Axel Gade and composition and music theory with Ludolf Nielsen . The following year he worked on both his violin playing and composition skills. He earned general recognition with a string quartet (1913) and a violin concerto (1917), both of which had been performed by the Danish Concert Association with Peder Møller as primary violinist , and later regularly performed his symphonic fantasy “Pan and Syrinx” (1915) and his string quartet No. 2 (1922) on the lecture.

The following works include: the “Symphonic Variations on an Old Jutland Folk Song”, four solo concerts, extensive and often quite large-scale radio music (mostly for radio drama recordings) and highly acclaimed arrangements of folk music. Further concerts followed, e.g. B. his Symphony Op. 9 in Paul von Klenau's “Danish Philharmonic Society” with Peter Gram as conductor. In 1924, thanks to a grant from the Copenhagen Orchestra Association, Grøndahl was given the opportunity to study in Vienna, France (Paris) and Italy (Rome). After his return he worked for a short period as chairman of the “Society of Young Musicians”. In October 1925, on the initiative of the head of the “Statsradiofonie”, chamber singer Emil Holm, he was appointed permanent conductor of the newly founded radio orchestra, a position that Grøndahl, who had conducted concerts of the Danish Concert Association for several years since 1919, gladly accepted and held until it was passed in 1956. Grøndahl started with 11 musicians in a small studio on Købmagergade, known by the population as the “icing on the cake”. Together with Nikolai Malko (who replaced him as conductor in 1956) and Emil Reesen, he played an active role in the development of broadcasting in Denmark. Launy Grøndahl was at the head of the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, which has now grown to 100 people. In this multi-year work he asserted himself in all areas, both in daily work, when overview and ingenuity were required, as well as in the large symphony concerts, which required artistically and musically qualified commitment. Grøndahl earned great merit with his performances of Danish music. Another focus was on works by lesser-known composers (Louis Glass, Hakon Børresen, Herman Sandby, Rudolf Simonsen, August Enna, Ludolf Nielsen, Victor Bendix, Fini Henriques).

The radio orchestra developed into Denmark's most important professional orchestra and one of the most exciting new orchestras in Europe with permanent guest conductors such as B. Fritz Busch. Over time, Launy Grøndahl felt somewhat overshadowed by foreign conductors and enthusiastic Danish band masters such as Thomas Jensen and Erik Tuxen . But his commitment to the Danish musical tradition soon made up for it.

Through his position in radio, he secured the legacy of the Danish Concert Association, the Music Association and other musical societies, which threatened to perish in competition with the new radio medium. Thanks to Grøndahl's commitment to new Danish music, a number of symphonic works by composers such as Rued Langgaard (with whom Grøndahl had extensive, also public correspondence), Ludolf Nielsen, Louis Glass and many others were performed in concerts or recorded in the studio for radio broadcasts. As a composer, Grøndahl shaped the early days of radio not only with the performance of his own symphonic works, but above all as a “house composer” with music for radio plays and the like. In addition, he appeared as a guest conductor in Berlin, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, Prague, Amsterdam, repeated times in Warsaw and at various concerts in Danish provincial cities. He had a great deal of experience and a sure musical feeling that made him famous as a conductor in other European cities. But he never disappointed his Danish audience, traveling to Silkeborg or Kolding just as much as to Berlin or Helsinki. Grøndahl was a humble person. The German conductor Fritz Busch often emphasized the great empathy with which Grøndahl processed the material of the classical symphonies from the Danish archives for the radio orchestra. His interpretations of the works of Carl Nielsen were considered ideal in his time. After the end of the Second World War, Grøndahl took part in the performance of Carl Nielsen's 4th Symphony with the Danish Radio Orchestra (1951). Until 1959 he was still involved in some radio recordings.

Compositional focus

Although Grøndahl also composed songs, piano and chamber music, his main interest as a composer was in solo concerts. Between 1916 and 1955 he wrote four concertos: for violin, trombone , bassoon and horn. Of these, the trombone concerto (1924) belongs to the standard repertoire and is often played in orchestral competitions. It is available as a multiple recording both in the version for symphony orchestra and for solo trombone with chamber orchestra and lasts on average 16 minutes. Grøndahl was in Italy while he was composing this concerto, where he also had the piano reduction for his trombone concerto printed. It was the end of his student days. He dedicated the work, written in the romantic gesture, to his good friend in the Copenhagen Casino Orchestra, the trombonist Wilhelm Aarkrogh.

In the 1920s, Grøndahl had begun to break away from the romantic virtuoso concerto type, and the trombone concerto already belongs stylistically to neoclassicism . His trip abroad to Paris, Rome and Vienna in 1924 brought him into contact with current trends in European composition. This acquaintance with new French and Eastern European music by composers such as Debussy , Ravel , Bartók and Kodály or Prokofiev is reflected in u. a. in his trombone concerto with distinctive syncopations, rhythms and a 7/8 time in the second movement. The concerto also stands out in terms of composition: the trombone sets the tone and does not strive to be integrated into the orchestra. The soloist gives the orchestra motifs with which it should accompany him. Grøndahl took up this approach again in his bassoon concerto in 1942 and refined it. In terms of orchestral mood and melody, the trombone concerto also has a lot in common with various pieces of music by the Swedish composer Kurt Atterberg , a contemporary of Grøndahl. It consists of three movements: Moderato assai (ma molto maestoso), Quasi una leggenda (Andante grave) and Finale (Maestoso).

It is noteworthy that parts of the soundtrack for the silent film “ Häxan ” (“Witches”) were made in 1922 by Launy Grøndahl. The full-length feature film caused a sensation at the time with its unusual depictions of satanic cult acts.

family

Parents: Milk supplier Carl Frederik Ferdinand G. (1835–1903) and Ane Kirstine Jensen (1846–1920). Married on February 2, 1913 with Dagmar Liddi Louise Clothilde Adelaide Heggemann, born on September 8, 1887 in Fredensborg, died on January 31, 1962 in Skodsborg, daughter of master tanner Ferdinand Valdemar Heggemann (1860-1940) and Adelaide Josephine Johanne Becker (1852 –1914)

Web links

• gravsted.dk
• komponistforeningen.dk
• youtube.com