Johan Svendsen was born in Oslo, Norway, on September 30, 1840. The son
of a bandmaster, he dabbled in music for many years before receiving
formal instruction. When he was twenty-three he embarked for the first
time on a comprehensive musical education by attending the Leipzig
Conservatory where he was a pupil of Ferdinand David, Reinecke, and
others. After that he toured Europe as a concert violinist and lived for
a while in Paris where he played in theater orchestras. In 1870 he
visited the United States where he married an American woman whom he had
originally met in Paris. Following his return to his native land he was
the conductor of the Christiana Musical Association from 1872 to 1877
and again from 1880 to 1883. In 1883 he settled in Copenhagen where for
sixteen years he was court conductor, and part of that time conductor at
the Royal Theater as well. As a composer Svendsen distinguished himself
with major works for orchestra in a pronounced Norwegian style, the most
famous being four Norwegian Rhapsodies and the _Carnaval des artistes
norvégiens_, in all of which Norwegian folk melodies are used
extensively. He also produced many works not of a national identity,
among which were symphonies, concertos, chamber-music works, and the
highly popular _Carnival in Paris_, for orchestra. Svendsen died in
Copenhagen on June 14, 1911.
_The Carnival in Paris_ (_Carnaval à Paris_), for orchestra, op. 9
(1873) is one of Svendsen’s best-known works, even though it is not in
his characteristic Norwegian style. His early manhood in Paris had been
one of the composer’s happiest experiences in life, and some of that joy
and feeling of excitement is found in this music describing a Mardi Gras
in Paris. The full orchestra enters after a swelling trumpet tone over
drum rolls. There is then heard an exchange among the wind instruments
and a quickening of the tempo to lead into the first main theme, a
delicate subject for flutes and clarinets. This theme is twice repeated
after which the music becomes stormy. Divided violins then bring on the
second theme, which like the first is quiet and gentle. In the
development, in which much is made of the first subject, there are
effective frequent alternations of tempo. A rhapsodic section, with a
subject for divided strings, followed by extended drum rolls and calls
for muted horns, precede the concluding section.