Among the composers of Norway, Mme. Betty Holmberg has devoted herself
to the violin, publishing an excellent suite and other compositions for
it. Magda Bugge, who has made America her home, is the author of many
piano pieces and songs. The most famous Norwegian woman composer,
however, is Agathe Backer-Groendahl. Born in 1847, she received a
thorough musical training, counting among her teachers Kjerulf, Kullak,
Von Buelow, and Liszt. Her work has won her many honours, including the
royal gold medal of Sweden. Her compositions are not many in number, but
all of them show the most delightful freshness and originality. Like her
great fellow countryman, Grieg, she aims to give her music a distinctive
style of its own, and not make it a mere imitation of the usual models.
Her andante for piano and orchestra and her orchestral scherzo are
excellent works, which meet with frequent performance, while her suite
is another example of striking beauty. Her piano works, which include
etudes, fantasies, sketches, and humoreskes, are full of the same
characteristic charm, while her songs display exquisite poetic feeling.
Bohemia and Hungary, though politically parts of the Germanic nations,
may well be classed as separate from them in matters of art. Their
peoples are different racially, and their national music, especially in
the latter case, has a distinctive character of its own. Smetana and
Dvorak are the most famous types of the German dependency, while the
music of the Austrian province partakes of the wild gipsy flavour that
is so well reflected in some of Schubert's works.
One of the earliest Bohemian women composers was Veronica Cianchettini.
She came of a musical family, for she was one of the sisters of Dussek,
whose wife and daughter have already been mentioned in connection with
England's composers. Like her brother, she became a pianist of high
rank, and settled in London. Her works include a number of piano
concertos, sonatas, and other lesser pieces.
Elise Barth was a famous Bohemian pianist of the last century. She, too,
published many piano compositions. Another celebrated performer was
Auguste Auspitz, one of Smetana's best pupils. She produced many songs
and piano works, and would have done greater work but for her death at
the age of thirty-five. Mathilde Ringelsberg devoted herself to lighter
compositions, and wrote many popular dances. Wilhelmine Clausz, besides
being one of the best women pianists of to-day, has composed a few
pieces for her instrument, and has done much excellent editing and
arranging. Anna Schimon, who studied with Halevy, won renown as a singer
and teacher. She has published many vocal works, and has two operas in
manuscript. Rosa Bleitner, a teacher at the Prague Conservatory, has
published several sets of songs, also a very effective funeral march.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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