Axel Borup-Jørgensen (22 November 1924 – 15 October 2012) was a
Danish 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 def ...
. He was born in
Hjørring
Hjørring () is a town on the island of Vendsyssel-Thy at the top of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Hjørring Municipality in the North Jutland Region. The population is 25,908 (acco ...
in Denmark, but grew up in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. He died in
Birkerød
Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Nordbanen, Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban networ ...
.
He studied piano at the
Royal Danish Academy of Music
The Royal Danish Academy of Music, or Royal Danish Conservatory of Music (), in Copenhagen is the oldest professional institution of musical education in Denmark as well as the largest, with approximately 400 students. It was established in 186 ...
in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
. As a composer, apart from studies in instrumentation with
Poul Schierbeck and
Jørgen Jersild, he is self-taught. He emerged on the international spotlight when his ''Nordisk Sommerpastorale'', Op. 51 (Nordic Summer Pastoral, 1964) won first prize in the competition for a short orchestral work held by Denmarks Radio in 1965. Borup-Jørgensen was one of the first Danish composers to go to the
Darmstädter Ferienkurse
Darmstädter Ferienkurse ("Darmstadt Summer Course") is a regular summer event of contemporary classical music in Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany. It was founded in 1946, under the name "Ferienkurse für Internationale Neue Musik Darmstadt" (Vacation Co ...
(1959 and 1962), but he never composed
serial music
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
. While the avant-garde of the sixties exerted a strong influence on his sound world, he always followed his own intuition and obeyed his extraordinary sense of organizing sound combined with a passionate, almost mystical regard for nature. Nevertheless, his encounter with
Ligeti's early orchestral works and the works of the Swedish composer Bo Nilsson left traces in his output from the 1960s, primarily in the orchestral work ''Marin'' (‘Marine’) op.60 (1963–70), a large symphonic suite that includes 44 individual string lines. ''Marin'' is one of his more notable compositions and is regarded by many as his masterpiece.
Borup-Jørgensen once said: ‘To compose is not to do what one can; if anything good is to come out of it, one must surpass oneself.’ His prolific output includes music for orchestra, chamber music, and vocal and instrumental works. Among his important works are ''Nordisk Sommerpastorale,'' ''Marin, Sirenernes kyst'' (‘The Coast of Sirens’) for seven instruments and tape (1985) and ''Thalatta! Thalatta!'' for piano op.127 (1987).
References
Naxos bioClassical Composers DatabaseProfile and works at Edition SAxel Borup-Jørgensen's obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borup-Jorgensen, Axel
1924 births
2012 deaths
20th-century Danish classical composers
20th-century Danish male musicians
Danish male classical composers
People from Hjørring
Musicians from the North Jutland Region