Svendsen, Johan

Ouverture

Overture

JSV A01

It was not until 2020 that Jørn Fossheim, one of the editors of Johan Svendsen’s Works, discovered the autograph score of an overture in D minor, registered as a ‘Schriftprobe’ in the archives of the Berlin State Library. The manuscript is dated 6 November 1860.

This is the only piece in a minor key among Svendsen’s 17 early orchestral works; the rest are all dances and marches in major keys. This was Svendsen’s first attempt at one of the more dramatic classical forms of orchestra music.

In a letter of 27 April 1895 to the Norwegian author and editor Kristian Anastas Winterhjelm (1843–1915), Svendsen mentions an overture from the time before his studies in Leipzig. Responding to Winterhjelm’s request for some biographical information, Svendsen lists the following: ‘Unpublished compositions before the Leipzig period: About 30, among which an overture, some songs, and otherwise marches, dances, etc.’12
An overture is also mentioned in Olav Gurvin’s notes for a biography about Svendsen. Gurvin wrote several letters to the library of the Danish Radio, looking for the score to an overture. It is, of course, possible that Gurvin found traces of a different overture than the one from 1860.

Composition: Christiania (Oslo) 6 Nov. 1860.

Andante patetico

Key: D minor

Primary texts

Letters:

27 Apr. 1895

from Johan Svendsen to Kristian Anastas Winterhjelm, Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo Brevs. 196:151 . NBdigital