Norgård, Per
Norgård, Per
Norgård, Per, prominent Danish composer and pedagogue; b. Gentofte, near Copenhagen, July 13, 1932. He began piano lessons when he was 8. In 1949 he became a private composition pupil of Holmboe. After entering the Royal Danish Cons, of Music in Copenhagen (1952), he continued his training with Holmboe there and also took courses with Hffding (theory), Koppel (piano), and Jersild (solfège), passing his examinations in theory, composition, and pedagogy (1955). Following further studies with Boulanger in Paris (1956–57), he was awarded the Lily Boulanger Prize in 1957. He was a music critic for Copenhagen’s Politiken (1958–62), and also taught at the Odense Cons. (1958–60). After teaching at the Royal Danish Cons, of Music in Copenhagen (1960–65), he joined the faculty of the Ârhus Cons, in 1965, where he was made prof. of composition in 1987. In 1988 he was awarded the Henrik-Steffens-Preis of Germany. In 1995 he was made an honorary member of the ISCM, the first Dane ever to be accorded that distinction. In 1996 he received the Léonie Sonning Music Prize of Denmark. After a period of adolescent emulation of Sibelius, Nrgárd plunged into the mainstream of cosmopolitan music-making, exploring the quasi- mathematical serial techniques based on short tonal motifs, rhythmic displacement, metrical modulation, pointillism, graphic notation, and a “horizontal” invariant fixing certain notes to specific registers; then shifted to a pointillistically impressionistic colorism evolving in a tonal bradykinesis.
Works
dramatic:operaLabyrinth (1963; Copenhagen, Sept. 2, 1967); Gilgamesh (1971–72; Árhus, May 4, 1973); Siddharta (1977–79; Stockholm, March 18, 1983); The Divine Tivoli, chamber opera (1982). ba11et:Le Jeune Homme à marier (1964; Danish TV, April 2, 1965; first stage perf., Copenhagen, Oct. 15, 1967); Tango Chicane (Copenhagen, Oct. 15, 1967); Trio for 3 Dancers and Percussion (Paris, Dec, 1972). orch.:Metamorphose for Strings (1952); 6 syms.: No. 1, Sinfonia austera (1954; Danish Radio, Aug. 19, 1958), No. 2 (Àrhus, April 13, 1970), No. 3 (1972–75; Copenhagen, Sept. 2, 1976), No. 4, Indian Rose Garden and Chinese Witch Lake (Hamburg, Oct. 30, 1981), No. 5 (1990), and No. 6 (1999; Danish Radio, Jan. 6, 2000); Constellations, concerto for 12 Solo Strings or 12 String Groups (Copenhagen, Nov. 3, 1958); Lyse Danse for Chamber Orch. (1959); Fragment VI for 6 Orch. Groups: Winds, Brass, Percussion, Harp, Pianos, and Timpani (1959–61; Àrhus, Feb. 12, 1962); Iris (Copenhagen, May 19, 1967); Luna, 4 Phases (Danish Radio, Sept. 5, 1968); Recall for Accordion and Orch. (1968); Voyage into the Golden Screen for Chamber Orch. (Copenhagen, March 24, 1969); Mosaic for 16 Winds (1969); Doing for Wind Orch. (1969); Dream Play for Chamber Orch. (1975); Twilight for Orch. and Conga Player Obbligato with Dancer ad libitum (1976–77); For a Change, percussion concerto (1982); Burn (Glasgow, Sept. 17, 1984); Between for Cello and Orch. (Copenhagen, Aug. 30, 1985); Prelude to Breaking (Göteborg, Sept. 26, 1986); Remembering Child for Viola and Chamber Orch. (St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 12, 1986); Helle Nacht, violin concerto (1987); Pastorale for Strings (1988); King, Queen, and Ace for Harp and Chamber Ensemble (1989); Night Symphonies, Day Breaks (1991); Spaces of Time (1991); Piano Concerto (1995). chamber: Quintet for Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Piano (1951–52); Suite for Flute and Piano (1952); 7 string quartets: No. 1, Quartetto Breve (1952), No. 2, Quartetto Brioso (1952–58), No. 3, 3 Miniatures (1959), No. 4, Dreamscape (1969), No. 5, iwscape (1969), No. 6, Tintinnabulary (1986), and No. 7 (1993); Solo intimo for Cello (1953); Diptychon for Violin and Piano (1953); 2 trios for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (1955,1974); Songs from Aftonland for Contralto, Flute, Harp, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1956); Waves for Percussion (1969); Returns for Guitar (1976); I Ching for Percussion (1982); 9 Friends for Harmonica or Piano (1985); Lin for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (1986); Hut ab for 2 Clarinets (1988); Syn for Brass Quintet (1988); Swan Descending for Harp (1989); Nemo Dynamo for Percussion and Computer (1991); Tjampuan for Violin and Cello (1992). keyboard:piano: 2 sonatas (1952,1957); Sketches (1959); 9 Studies (1959); 4 Fragments (1959–60); Grooving (1967–68); Turn (1973); Achilles and the Tortoise (1983). organ:Canon (1971); Triapartita (1988). vocal:Triptychon for Mixed Voices and Wind Instruments or Organ (1957); Nocturnes, suite for Soprano and Piano or 19 Instruments (1961–62); 3 Love Songs for Contralto and Orch. (1963); Prism for 3 Vocalists and Instrumental Ensemble (1964); The Fourth Day for Chorus and Orch. (1984–85; 4thmovement of a collaborative work, Hexaemeron, depicting the 7 days of creation); Entwicklungen for Alto and Instrumental Ensemble (1986); L’Enfant et l’aube for Soprano, Tenor, and Chamber Ensemble (Radio France, Paris, June 7, 1988).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire