Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) was a Norwegian composer who turned to conducting and moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. Since he did most of his composing before leaving the country, Svendsen – along with Grieg – helped shape the national romantic genre of Norwegian music in the late 1800s.
Romance for violin and orchestra is Svendsen’s most famous work. His skillful orchestration is evident in two symphonies, four Norwegian Rhapsodies, and tone poems such as Norwegian Artists’ Carnival, Zorahayda and Romeo and Juliet.
All of Svendsen’s chamber music – a string quartet, quintet and octet – was written while he studied at the Leipzig conservatory, yet these works hardly count as student works. In fact, Svendsen was regarded as one of the most talented students at the conservatory 1863–1867.
Unlike Grieg, Svendsen is not performed very often, although Neeme Järvi with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra produced three CDs of Svendsen’s orchestral works some years ago, and Urtext editions of his works have appeared in print.
Coronation March was composed for military band and performed by four separate bands along the procession route to the Nidaros cathedral in Trondheim on the coronation of the Swedish-Norwegian royal couple of Oscar II and Sophie in July 1873.
It has been told that the bands did not syncronize their performances, so that the march sounded quite dreadful on this occasion.
Later, Svendsen orchestrated the march for symphony orchestra. It was received enthusiastically when played in London. The wind band version presented here is a transcription of the orchestral score.
Set contains one score and one copy of each part, as download or on paper. Copying allowed by acquiring band for their performances only. Additional copies may be obtained from the J. W. Pepper webshop.
Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) was a Norwegian composer who turned to conducting and moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. Since he did most of his composing before leaving the country, Svendsen – along with Grieg – helped shape the national romantic genre of Norwegian music in the late 1800s.
