Svendsen, Johan Severin

Johan Severin Svendsen

(b. Christiania [Oslo], 30 September 1840 — d. Copenhagen, 14 June 1911)

Octet in A Major for 4 Violins, 2 Violas, and 2 Cellos, Op. 3 (1866)

I Allegro risoluto ben marcato p. 1
II Allegro scherzoso – Un poco più vivo – Poco lento – Tempo primo – Più mosso quasi presto p. 14
III Andante sostenuto p. 29
IV Finale. Moderato – Allegro assai con fuoco p. 38

Preface
As a student at the Leipzig Konservatorium from 1863-1867 Johan Svendsen studied violin and conducting with Ferdinand David (1810-73), music theory with Moritz Hauptmann (1792-1868), counterpoint with Ernst Friedrich Richter (1808-79) and composition with Carl Reinecke (1824-1910). In early 1865 Svendsen composed his String Quartet in A Minor opus 1, in which he demonstrated exceptional talent and fine compositional skill. The quartet was premiered on May 21 in Leipzig, and it was published in 1868 by E.W. Fritzsch. In 1865 Svendsen also began the first movement of his First Symphony in D Major opus 4, which he would complete in 1867. (The first movement was first played on May 9, 1866, and movements 2 – 4 on May 29, 1867, in Leipzig; the complete symphony was first performed in Oslo on October 12, 1867.) In November 1865 he completed the Two Songs for Men’s Chorus opus 2, using texts by King Charles XV of Sweden and Denmark, to whom the work was dedicated (Till Sverige and Aftontöster). At this time Svendsen hat already started work on his Octet.
The Octet for Strings in A Major opus 3 was completed on February 3, 1866. It was an immediate success and brought Svendsen sudden fame as a composer. As he wrote in a letter to Edvard Grieg on December 15, 1878, he composed the work alone, completely independent from his composition teacher Carl Reineke: “The Octet was written, rehearsed and performed before Reinecke got to see a single note.” The work was first performed in a private concert in the Konservatorium, probably on February 24, 1866 (according to the standard biography by Finn Benestad and Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe: Johan Svendsen. The Man, the Maestro, the Music [Norway 1990, English translation by William H. Halverson, Columbus/Ohio, 1995], which served as the source of information for this preface). The first public performance of the Octet occured, together with the first movement of the First Symphony, in the Konservatorium’s Final Exam Concert on May 9, 1866. On May 24 Svendsen described it in a letter to his father:
“I was awarded the conservatory’s first prize. A few days before this happened, I was unanimously elected president of the Conservatory Society. The Octet […] has now been publicly performed; under my own leadership, of course. When I tell you that we had a total of 14 rehearsals for this performance, you can well imagine that the performance was exemplary in every respect. Each movement was rewarded with generous applause; indeed, the second movement (Scherzo) had to be repeated twice, and after the conclusion of the finale I had to make four curtain calls. The Symphony movement was equally successful. […] Two days after this very fortunate experience as a composer and conductor I got a letter from Breitkopf & Härtel offering to publish the Octet. Naturally I accepted this offer.”

On September 11, 1866, Svendsen, still a student at the Konservatorium, delivered the finished manuscript to the publisher. The work was dedicated “to Queen Louise with deep gratitude and admiration”. After being printed the following year the Octet received enthusiastic reviews in the Leipzig papers. Already in this composition Svendsen showed himself to be Norway’s leading symphonist, and in this respect an ‘antipode’ to his friend, the master miniaturist Edvard Grieg. Many regard this work as the pinnacle of Nordic romantic chamber music. It seems to follow the model of the Mendelssohm Octet and yet achieves, with its folkloric inspiration and bold harmonies, a unique counterpointal language and an almost symphonic fullness of sound. By the way, it would be quite appropriate for a fine string orchestra to play an arrangement of this work — even more than this is the case with Mendelssohn’s Octet with its very soloistic treatment of the first violin.
Translation: Ariadne Daskalakis, 2003.

For performance materials please contact the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden (www.breitkopf.de).

Reprint of a copy from the music library archives of the Münchner Stadtbibliothek, 2003.