Axel Ejnar Hakon Børresen (2 June 1876 – 6 October 1954) was one of the foremost Danish composers of the 20th century.

Life

Børresen was born and died in Copenhagen, and was descended from a merchant family. As a child, he was given

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

lessons. When Børresen made clear to his father that he wished to become a composer, the latter arranged for him to study at the Royal Danish Conservatory in 1895. There he studied composition with

Johan Svendsen Johan Severin Svendsen (30 September 184014 June 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, he lived most of his life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a vi ...

. After further private studies, his First Symphony was privately premiered in 1901. It made his name as an up-and-coming composer. There followed travels in Germany, France and Belgium, where he made many useful connections. From 1902 on he divided his time between Copenhagen and Skagen where he maintained a second home. Børresen was an important organizer of several Danish music festivals and served as the president of Danish Composers Union between 1924 and 1949. At the time of his death, he was widely regarded as one of Denmark's most important musicians. His

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

'' The Royal Guest'' is widely regarded as the best early 20th-century Danish opera, and his

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

works received considerable critical praise. His work was part of the music event in the art competition at the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

Tonal language

Børresen's style and musical language are primarily that of the late Romantic. His music shows little or no influence from more modern tendencies. Instead, his music takes as its inspiration Danish cultural ideas and folk melodies. His style reflects the influence of his teacher Svendsen, as well as that of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

Selected works

Orchestra

* Symphony No. 1 C minor, Op. 3 (1901) * Symphony No. 2 A major, Op. 7 "The Ocean" (1904) * Symphony No. 3 C major, Op. 21 (1925/26) * Violin Concerto in G major, Op. 11 (1904) * "The Normans", A Concert Overture, Op. 16 (1912, rev. 1935) * Serenade in C major for Horn, Strings and Percussion (1944) * "Nordic Folkmelodies" for String Orchestra (1949)

Vocal

* Various art songs (Lieder) and choral works

Stage

* "The Royal Guest", Opera (1919) * " Kaddara", Opera (1921) * "Tycho Brahe's Dream", A Ballet (1924)

Chamber

* String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 20 (1913) * String Quartet No. 2 in C minor (1939) * String Sextet in G major, Op. 5 (1901) * Sonata for Violin & Piano in A minor, Op. 9 (1907) * Romance for Violoncello and Piano in D major, Op. 4 (1902)

Piano

* Several occasional pieces

References

External links

Hakon Børresen String Sextet-Sound-bites and discussion of workProfile and list of works at Edition S
* *''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', Editor Stanley Sadie, Macmillan, London 1980 {{DEFAULTSORT:Borresen, Hakon 1876 births 1954 deaths 19th-century Danish classical composers 19th-century Danish male musicians 20th-century Danish classical composers 20th-century Danish male musicians String quartet composers Danish opera composers Danish Romantic composers Danish male opera composers Composers from Copenhagen Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics