Johanne Amalie Fenger (September 5, 1836 – August 11, 1913) 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 a ...

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 ...

. Fenger was born in the town of Lynge to a family of priests, doctors and officials. Her father was the priest and theologian . Fenger composed music from a young age, and her family's association with the poet

Bernhard Severin Ingemann Bernhard Severin Ingemann (28 May 1789 – 24 February 1862) was a Danish novelist and poet. Biography Ingemann was born in Torkilstrup, on the island of Falster, Denmark. The son of a vicar, he was left fatherless in his youth. While a s ...

likely influenced her musical development and interest in composing songs for literary texts. When her father was given a new parish in Høje Tåstrup in 1854, 18-year-old Fenger was able to travel to

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 ...

by train to receive piano and music theory lessons from

Leopold Rosenfeld Leopold Rosenfeld (21 July 1849 – 19 July 1909) was a Danish composer and singing teacher. He was also a music critic at the newspapers ''Danneborg'', ''Musikbladet'' and ''Tidsskrift for Musik og Teater''. In 1889, he was titled professor. On ...

and

Edvard Helsted Edvard (or Eduard) Mads Ebbe Helsted (8 December 1816 – 1 March 1900) was a Danish composer. He was born in Copenhagen and died in Fredensborg. He is buried in Asminderød Cemetery. See also *List of Danish composers A list of notable ...

. She was also musically influenced by her relative Christian Barnekow, who was a composer and the president of the Society for the Publication of Danish Music. From 1866 to 1911, Fenger published 46 songs and two piano pieces, mainly in collections of 6-8 pieces. Almost all of her works were published prior to 1885. Fenger's early works were inspired by Grundtvigian philosophy and were usually based on spiritual or folk-historical texts. Her notable later compositions include ''Lyriske Sange'' (''Lyric Songs'') in 1881 and ''Digte af Helene Nyblom'' (''Poems by

Helena Nyblom Helena Nyblom (7 December 1843 – 9 October 1926) was a Danish-Swedish children's story author. She is perhaps most remembered for ''The Swan Suit.''

'') in 1884. After her parents' deaths, Johanne Fenger lived with her uncle and taught choir and piano. In 1885, Fenger suffered an apoplectic seizure (stroke), which partially blinded her and caused her to experience

delusion A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or some o ...

s. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and remained there until 1896. Her last composition, ''Menneskets Engle'' (''The Angels of Man''), was published in 1904.

Notable works

* Sex danske Sange (1866) * Ahasverus (1871) * Lyriske Sange (1881) * Digte af Helene Nyblom (1884) * Menneskets Engle (1904)

References

*''This article was initially translated from the Danish Wikipedia.'' 1836 births 1913 deaths Danish women composers 20th-century Danish composers 19th-century Danish composers 20th-century women composers 19th-century women composers {{Denmark-composer-stub