Knudåge Riisager (6 March 1897 in Kunda,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

– 26 December 1974 in

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 ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

) was a Danish composer. His work was part of the music event in the art competition at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

Early life and education

Knudåge Riisager was born in what is today

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

of Danish parents. His father Emil Riisager was an engineer, and the family returned to Denmark in 1900 when Knudåge was three years old. He graduated from

Copenhagen University The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

where he received violin lessons from Peder Møller, and studied music theory under Otto Malling and Peder Gram. For many years he worked in a government job, and also as a composer. In 1923 he went to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

to study with

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

and

Paul Le Flem Marie-Paul Achille Auguste Le Flem (18 March 1881 – 31 July 1984) was a French composer and music critic. Biography Born in Radon, Orne, and living most of his life in Lézardrieux, Le Flem studied at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent d'Indy ...

, where he experienced at first hand French neoclassicism and the music of

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

and '' Les Six''. Later he also studied in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

with Hermann Grabner.

Career

Knudåge Riisager's international fame is largely due to his extensive work in ballet music, which was primarily a result of collaboration with

Harald Lander Harald Alfred Bernhardt Stevnsborg Lander (25 February 1905 – 14 September 1971) was a Danish dancer, choreographer and artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Lander was born in Copenhagen. He started as a dancer, studying under ballet ...

. The first work he composed for the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

was music for the ballet ''Benzin'' by

Storm P. Robert Storm Petersen (19 September 1882 – 6 March 1949) was a Danish cartoonist, writer, animator, illustrator, painter and humorist. He is known almost exclusively by his pen name Storm P. Biography He was the son of a butcher ...

staged by Elna Ørnberg in 1930. Knudåge Riisager was also an industrious writer: his bibliography includes nearly 400 titles spread over six decades. In 1956–67 he was director of the Royal Danish Academy of Music. His compositions are stored in the Music and Theatre Department at the

Royal Danish Library The Royal Library ( da, Det Kongelige Bibliotek) in Copenhagen is the national library of Denmark and the university library of the University of Copenhagen. It is among the largest libraries in the world and the largest in the Nordic countri ...

. He was a commander of the 1st degree in the Dannebrogordenen, and is buried at Tibirkegård.

Music

According to his entry in ''

Grove Grove may refer to: * Grove (nature), a small group of trees Places England *Grove, Buckinghamshire, a village * Grove, Dorset * Grove, Herefordshire * Grove, Kent * Grove, Nottinghamshire, a village * Grove, Oxfordshire, a village and civil ...

'', "Riisager became the most prominent representative of the French-orientated trend in Danish music of the interwar years". His trumpet concertino (1933) is considered a leading example of Danish neoclassical music.

Notable works

;Opera *''Susanne'', Op. 49 (1948) ;Ballet music *''Benzin'', Op. 17 (1930) *''Cocktails-Party'', Op. 19 (1930) (ikke opført) *''Darduse'', Op. 32 (1935–36) *''Tolv med Posten'', Op. 37 (1942) *''Slaraffenland'', Op. 33 (1936–40) *''Qarrtsiluni'', Op. 36 (1938–42) *''Fugl Fønix'' (1944/45) *''Etudes'' (1947) *''Månerenen'', Op. 57 (1956) *''Fruen fra havet'', Op. 59 (1959) *''Galla-Variationer'' (1966) *''Ballet Royal'' (1967) *''Svinedrengen'' (1968) ;Film music *''Niels Ebbesen'' (1945) ;Revymusik *''Paa Hodet'', første PH-revy, musik til finalen (1929) ;Orchestral music *''Erasmus Montanus'', Op. 1 (1920) *''Suite dionysiaque'', Op. 6 *Symphony No. 1, Op. 8 (1925) *''Variationer over et tema af Mezangeau'', Op. 12 (1926) *Symphony No. 2, Op. 14 (1927) *''Fastelavn'', Op. 20 (1929/30) *Concerto for orchestra, Op. 24 (1931) *Concertino for trumpet and strings, Op. 29 (1933) *Symphony No. 3, Op. 30 (1935) *Symphony No. 4, Op. 38 (Sinfonia gaia) (1939–40) *Symphony No. 5, Op. 52 (Sinfonia serena) (1949–50) * Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1950-1951) ;Chamber music *Violin Sonata No. 1 *Violin Sonata No. 2 (1923)

References

External links