Simonsen, Rudolph (Hermann)
Simonsen, Rudolph (Hermann)
Simonsen, Rudolph (Hermann), eminent Danish music historian and composer; b. Copenhagen, April 30, 1889; d. there, March 28, 1947. He studied piano with Agnes Adler and theory with Otto Mailing at the Copenhagen Cons. (1907–09), completing his piano studies with Teresa Carreño and Anders Rachlew; also earned a law degree from the Univ. of Copenhagen (1912). He taught at the Copenhagen Cons. from 1916, succeeding Nielsen as director in 1931. Although his compositions reveal the influence of Nielsen, he succeeded in producing works of distinction and individuality, but it is as a compiler of books on music culture and philosophy that he is best known.
Works
ORCH.: Piano Concerto (Copenhagen, Nov. 15, 1915); 4 syms.: No. 1, Zion (Göteborg, Feb. 4, 1920), No. 2, Hellas (Berlin, Sept. 23, 1921), No. 3, Roma (1923; Copenhagen, March 5, 1928), and No. 4, Danmark (1925; Copenhagen, April 4, 1931). CHAMBER: Piano Quintet (1908); 2 string quartets (1923, 1925); Clarinet Quintet (1929). VOCAL: Works for Chorus and Orch.; songs.
Writings
(all publ, in Copenhagen): Musikkultur (1927); Musikhistoriske hovedstrmninger (1930); Alenmenneskelige vaerdier: Plato-Spinoza-Goethe (1940); Sub specie aeternitatis (1942); Musik-historisk kompendium (1946).
Bibliography
Mindeskrift om R. S.(Copenhagen, 1949).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire