Christian Sinding

He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mine superindendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding (1811–1860) and Cecilie Marie Mejdell (1817–86). He studied music first in Christiania before going to Germany, where he studied at the conservatory in Leipzig under Salomon Jadassohn and fell under the musical influences of Wagner and Liszt. He lived in Germany for much of his life, but received regular grants from the Norwegian government. In 1920–21 he went to the United States of America to teach…

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He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mine superindendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding (1811–1860) and Cecilie Marie Mejdell (1817–86). He studied music first in Christiania before going to Germany, where he studied at the conservatory in Leipzig under Salomon Jadassohn and fell under the musical influences of Wagner and Liszt. He lived in Germany for much of his life, but received regular grants from the Norwegian government. In 1920–21 he went to the United States of America to teach composition for a season at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Sinding’s first major works were the Piano Quintet in E minor. Op. 5, which was premiered in 1885, the Variations in E-flat minor for two pianos, Op. 2, premiered in 1886, the Piano Concerto in D-flat major, Op. 6 (1889), and the Symphony No. 1 in D minor, Op. 21, premiered in 1890. These works won Sinding a degree of fame both in Norway and abroad, and he was recognized as one of the important Norwegian composers, next to Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen.