Svendsen, Johan

Rødnæseriddermarsch, op. 16

(Humoristisk marsj "Purpurnæsemarsj" (Title used in F. Benestad & D. Schjelderup-Ebbe: Johan Svendsen, mennesket og kunstneren, Aschehoug, Oslo, 1990))

March of the Red-Nosed Knights, Op. 16

JSV 63

In 1874, Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) wrote a work for the annual festive party of Kunstnerforeningen, Christiania’s(Oslo’s) artists’ association. The work, curiously titled March of the Red-Nosed Knights, is a little fantasy over a Nordic folk melody, known under the title Ritsj ratsj filibom bom bom in Norway. In Denmark, the melody is known as Ruder Es. The complete score and parts are lost today, but some sketches and drafts are preserved. The music is also preserved in an arrangement for violin, cello and two pianos made by one of Svendsen’s students, the conductor and composer Giovanni Tronchi (1876–1952). The sketches and fragments are all written for string quintet (or string orchestra) and piano four hands.

Composition: 1874.

Christiania

Allegretto

Key: C major

Extent: ca. 4:30 min.