Crossing the Border

Danish-German muscial connections 1760-1914

Over the past 500 years Danish music and musical culture have gained inspiration and embraced the challenge presented by musical currents from south of the border: Danish composers have travelled in Germany to learn, Danish kings have called in German masters to lend lustre to their court music, and a number of German composers have lived in Denmark for briefer or longer periods.

Towards the end of the 18th century it is possible to speak in terms of a national musical culture in Denmak, and this is due not least to the presence in Denmark of several prominent German composers, first and foremost Johann Hartmann, F.L. Ae. Kunzen, C.E.F. Weyse and Fr. Kuhlau. Not only did they contribute to establishing a "Danish tone" - through ballad operas, romances and operas - , but they were also instrumental in increasing the Danes'  knowledge of German masters such as Mozart and Beethoven.

J.P.E. Hartmann, Niels W. Gade and Emil Hartmann tried at the time - with varying luck and under very different conditions - to promote their music in Germany, and at the beginning of the 1900s particularly Paul von Klenau and Carl Nielsen personified Danish connections with Germany.

Through a number of chosen themes the exhibition shows how this process has manifested itself in the years stretching from about 1760 to 1914 - both in the music itself, and in a number of institutions and events in the musical culture of both countries.