Niels Wilhelm Gade

Synopsis

Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. 

• 1817 born in Copenhagen
• 1841 as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra. He saw his first work premiered there, the concert overture Efterklange af Ossian.
• 1843 Mendelssohn premiered Gade's Symphony No. 1 in Leipzig, where it was received enthusiastically. Gade moved to Leipzig, where he became friends with both Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. He was assistant conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and briefly became chief conductor after Mendelssohn's death.
• 1848 war between Denmark and Prussia forced Gade to return home. In Copenhagen he became director of the Copenhagen Musical Society and organist at the Copenhagen Cathedral. He also founded the Copenhagen Orchestra.
• 1850 lost his position at the Copenhagen Cathedral to J.P.E. Hartmann, and became organist instead at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen.
• 1852 married Hartmann's daughter.
• 1866 he became head of the newly established Royal Danish Music Conservatory, along with Hartmann and Holger Simon Paulli. He encouraged and taught both Edvard Grieg and Carl Nielsen, as well as Otto Malling, August Winding and Asger Hamerik.
• 1890 died in Copenhagen

Gade is considered the most important Danish musician of his day. His most famous organ work is Drei Tonstucke, opus 22. His musical language is typical of his time period.

For details, see the Wikipedia article on Niels Gade.

List of Organ Works

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Opus	Title	Year
Op. 22	Drei Tonstucke	1851
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Background and General Perspectives on Performing These Organ Works

From Robert Layton, Oxford Music Online:

"His work inhabits a polite and well-regulated world, and any Nordic accents are muted. For all his charm and skill, his music rarely makes any significant escape from the orbit of Mendelssohn."

Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

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Recordings

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Free Online

Three pieces for organ, Opus 22:

• Nos. 1 and 2, Moderato and Allegretto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYzuhSWqs9E&list=PLzlGP2cRBgoghmh8q5O_or_KeJrbJtKLR
• No. 3, Allegro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PYWShRptTo&list=PLzlGP2cRBgoghmh8q5O_or_KeJrbJtKLR&index=2

Pay to Listen

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Other Resources

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Notes

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