Vagn Holmboe

Vagn Gylding Holmboe (; 20 December 1909 – 1 September 1996) was a Danish composer and teacher.

Early life and education Vagn Holmboe was born in Horsens, Jutland, into a merchant family of dedicated amateur musicians. Both parents played the piano. His father earned his living as a maker of colours and lacquers at Horsens. The Danish journalist Knud Holmboe was his elder brother.

From the age of 14 Vagn Holmboe took violin lessons. In 1926, at the age of 16, he began formal music training at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on the recommendation of Carl Nielsen. He studied under Knud Jeppesen (theory) and Finn Høffding (composition).

Career After finishing his studies in 1929 he moved to Berlin where for a short period Ernst Toch became his teacher. During his time in the German capital he met the Romanian-born pianist and visual artist Meta May Graf (1910–2003) from Sibiu/Hermannstadt. She had studied at the Musikhochschule Berlin since 1929, with Paul Hindemith as one of her teachers. The couple married in 1933 and left Berlin for Romania, where they visited obscure and remote villages and studied Transylvanian folk-song.

Vagn Holmboe's students included Per Nørgård, Ib Nørholm, Bent Lorentzen, Arne Nordheim, Egil Hovland and Alan Stout.

Vagn and his wife Meta had bought a piece of land at Lake Arresø in Ramløse/Zealand in 1940, where they set up a farm, "Arre Boreale" (Latin for Northern Arresø), in the 1950s and spent the rest of their lives together there. Vagn Holmboe was a keen nature-lover who lived in the countryside until his death in 1996 and over the years personally planted 3000 trees on his land.

Major works (M.—Meta number—for Metamorphosis. Might also be said to be named after his wife, Meta May Holmboe... numbering system assembled by Prof.

Symphonies: Symphony No. 1, 1935, for chamber orchestra, M. 85 Symphony No. 2, 1938–9, M. 107 Symphony No. 3, 1941, Sinfonia rustica, M. 126 Symphony No. 4, 1941, Sinfonia sacra for chorus and orchestra, M. 132 Symphony No. 5, 1944, M. 145 Symphony No. 6, 1947, M. 155 Symphony No. 7, 1950, M. 167 Symphony No. 8, 1952, Sinfonia boreale, M. 175 Symphony No. 9, 1967–9, M. 235 Symphony No. 10, 1970–2, M. 250 (premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Sixten Ehrling) Symphony No. 11, 1980–1, M. 304 Symphony No. 12, 1988, M. 338 Symphony No. 13, 1993–4, M. 362 Chamber Symphony No. 1, 1951, M. 171 Chamber Symphony No. 2, 1968, M. 240 Chamber Symphony No. 3, 1969–70, M. 246 Sinfonia in memoriam, 1954–5, M. 185 Sinfonia I for strings, M. 194 Sinfonia II for strings, M. 196 Sinfonia III for strings, M. 200 Sinfonia IV for strings, M. 215 (Kairos) Symphonic metamorphoses for orchestra: Epitaph, 1956, M. 189 (premiered by the BBC Symphony Orchestra) Monolith, 1960, M. 207 Epilog, 1961–2, M. 213 Tempo variabile (Changeable weather), 1971–2, M. 254

Ten Preludes for Sinfonietta No. 1: To a Pine Tree, Op 164, No 1 (1986) No. 2: To a Dolphin (1986) No. 3: To a Maple Tree (1986) No. 4: To a Willow Tree, Op 170, No 4 (1987) No. 5: To a Living Stone (1987) No. 6: To the Seagulls and the Cormorants, Op 174, No 6 (1987) No. 7: To the Pollution of Nature, Op 180, No 7 (1989) No. 8: To the Victoria Embankment (1990) No. 9: To the Calm Sea, Op 187, No 9 (1991) No. 10: To the Unsettled Weather (1991)

Concertos: (about twenty, including especially): Concerto for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra, 1948, M. 157. Eleventh of a series of 13 concertos with chamber orchestra originally called "chamber concertos" Cello Concerto, 1974–9, M. 273 Recorder Concerto, 1974, M. 275 Flute Concerto No. 1, 1975–6, M. 279 Tuba Concerto, 1976, M. 280 Flute Concerto No. 2, 1981–2, M. 307

Choral Liber Canticorum, motet series (1951–1984): 34 movements, contained in 17 opus numbers and five volumes Requiem for Nietzsche for tenor, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, 1963–4, M. 219

Chamber: String Quartets: 21 written, excluding numerous un-numbered student works From No. 1, 1948–9, M. 159 to No. 20, 1985, M. 322 (this the last of four works representing the times of the day) (also a twenty-first, Quartetto sereno, completed by Per Nørgård) Notturno for wind quintet, 1940, M. 118 Brass Quintets No. 1, 1961–2, M. 212, and No. 2, 1978, M.293 Two Sonatas for guitar, Opp. 141–2 Music with Horn, Op 148 (1981) Five Intermezzi for guitar, Op. 149 Sonata for Trombone and Piano, Op 172a (1987)

Commercial recordings of his symphonies by Owain Arwel Hughes are still available, as are recordings of his Ten Preludes for Sinfonietta (1986–1991), string quartets, chamber concertos, and some other works. His choral or brass music, or his wind Notturno from 1940 may be performed more often than his works for full or chamber orchestra.

Private tapes exist of performances of Holmboe's music; these were made by Fritz Mahler, Nikolai Malko, among others.