Christian Frederik Emil Horneman

A student of Moscheles, Richter, and Hauptmann at the University of Leipzig (also meeting Grieg in the process) Horneman and his father established a publishing company upon his return to Copenhagen. He set a number of popular arrangements and also composed a string quartet and the overture "Aladdin" perhaps his best known work. Horneman founded the musical society Euterpe which first performed his overture, and traveled throughout Europe. Grieg was a fellow member. His opera "Aladdin" was finished in 1887, a work that took him over twenty years. It was not well received when performed at the Royal Theatre on King Christian IX's twenty fifth anniversary. In 1902 it received many cudos. The musical characteristics of Horneman's instrumental music included vivid sounds and romantic expressiveness. His music was the apex of Danish sincerity, truth, emotion and purity. ~ Keith Johnson