Joachim Brunn de Neergaard (27 April 1877 – 31 October 1920) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Joachim Bruun de Neergaard (1877-1920) by Hansen & Weller

Neergaard was born in Stubberup, a small village in the east-central part of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

in 1877. He came from scions of an aristocratic family with long service to the Danish government and as such was eventually sent to take a law degree which he finished in 1901. However, Neergaard's true love was music and not the law. He had studied piano from the time of his youth and wished to pursue a career in music. To this end, he took advanced piano studies while at the same time studying theory and composition. Neergaard, whose life was relatively short, was not a prolific composer and left us with less than 30 works. He died in

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality in Region Sjælland on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in east Denmark. The population is 7,999 (2022).

, south of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, in 1920. He wrote a little-known but highly regarded string quartet between 1908 and 1910. It is written in a post-Brahmsian, late Romantic idiom, a style cultivated at that time by composers such as

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

(before he started composing 12 tone music), Ernő Dohnányi,

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conducting, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfath ...

Karl Weigl Karl Ignaz Weigl (6 February 1881 – 11 August 1949) was a Jewish Austrian composer and pianist, who later became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Weigl was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a bank official who was al ...

, and Franz Schmidt. Of this quartet, the editor of ''The Chamber Music Journal'' has written, "Neergaard's Quartet is as fine as anything from this period. The melodies are lush and memorable, the movements perfectly executed and the part-writing leaves nothing to be desired."

References

Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

External links

Joachim Neergaard String Quartet No.1, Op.6
Description.

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neergaard, Joachim Danish composers Male composers 1877 births 1920 deaths Neergaard (noble family) People from Faxe Municipality