Gunnar Berg

Despite being placed in a children's home after the death of his father and enduring continuous ill health, Berg managed to study piano and eventually enter Copenhagen Conservatory, studying counterpoint, music history and instrumentation. After conducting refugee choirs for the Danish underground from 1943-44, Berg moved to Paris to study with Honegger and Messian. His early compositions were atonal and impressionistic. The influence of these two composers led Berg to explore serialism in his Suite for cello (1950). Although his works were widely performed in Denmark, his state of financial difficulty lasted for many years, partly because his desire to compose was stronger than his desire to make money. The Danish government finally awarded him an annual artist's stipend in 1965. ~ Lynn Vought