Herman Severin Løvenskiold

Baron Herman Severin Løvenskiold (born 30 July, 1815 in Holmestrand, Norway - died 5 December, 1870 in Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Norwegian composer, most noted for his score for August Bournonville's 1836 version of the ballet "La Sylphide" for the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen.

Life

Løvenskiold was born on July 30, 1815 in Holmestrand, Norway where his father, Baron ECF Løvenskiold, was director of the royal ironworks. In 1829 Løvenskiold's father relocated his family to Denmark where he had accepted a position with the forestry service, where he supervised the area surrounding Furesø Lake north of Copenhagen.

Løvenskiold was originally intended for military service, but his great musical talent came to the attention of the composers Christoph Weyse and Friedrich Kuhlau, and through their intervention the young Løvenskiold was allowed to study music.

Soon Løvenskiold took up composition, showing a great facility for melody and instrumentation. In 1835 he came to the attention of the great choreographer August Bournonville, "Maître de Ballet en Chef" of the Royal Danish Ballet, who commissioned the twenty-one year old composer to create the music for his version of the ballet "La Sylphide".

The work had originally been staged in Paris by Filippo Taglioni for the legendary Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique (today known as the Paris Opéra Ballet) to the music of Jean-Madeliene Schnietzhoeffer. Bournonville saw the ballet in 1834, and was so delighted with it that he decided to stage the work for the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen. But the administration of the Royal Danish Theatre refused to supply Bournonville the funds for the extremely high price the Paris Opéra demanded for Schnietzhoeffer's orchestral parts. In light of this, Bournonville chose to stage his own version. Rather than create a musical pastiche from popular airs derived from operas and/or various other sources (which was how a great many ballet scores of the period were crafted), the Balletmaster turned to the young Løvenskiold, who supplied an original score filled with the melodious, rhythmically clear "musique dansante" Bournonville required. Burnonville's version of "La Sylphide" premiered to great success on November 28, 1836, with the legendary ballerina Lucille Grahn as the Sylph. The Danish version of the work would prove to be the most enduring (though by default), and has been staged for many companies throughout the world

In 1838 Løvenskiold traveled to Vienna, Leipzig, and St. Petersburg to continue his musical studies. He settled in Copenhagen in 1842 when he was appointed "royal kammermusikus" to the Royal Danish Court. By 1851 he was named "court organist" to the church of Christiansborg Palace by King Frederick VII.

Løvenskiold continued composing ballets, as well as music for plays, "singspiels", and several piano and chamber pieces. However, none of this work attained the fame of his score for Bournonville's "La Sylphide". Having been Baron by title, he was considerably wealthy, and composed merely for his own pleasure.

He died in Copenhagen on December 5, 1870.

Notable works

*"La Sylphide", ballet, 1836
*"Hulen i Kullafjeld", Singspiel, 1839
*"Ny the Penelope", ballet, 1847
*"Turandot", opera, 1854
*"Fra skoven ved Furesø", Concert Overture, 1863

External links

* [http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/home/forsiden?opendocument&url=http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2002092510234515586633 Music Information Centre Norway]
* [http://www.kunststyrelsen.dk/db/files/danish_music_1800_1850_golden_age_.pdf Danish Music: The Golden Age 1800-1850]