# 20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces: Part Eleven - Langgaard's Symphony No. 6, "Det Himmelrivende"



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

20th Century Symphonic Masterpieces: Part Eleven - Langgaard's _Symphony No. 6, "Det Himmelrivende"_



















Symphony No. 6, consisting of one movement, was originally untitled. The work was inspired by Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 4 "The Inextinguishable" (1916), but Langgaard went a step further and anticipated in places the new- realistic music of Paul Hindemith, his contemporary of the same age. Shortly after the completion of the symphony Langgaard went as far as to say that he found the major-minor system restrictive in relation to what he wanted to express, that is, extension, expansion and "the boundless longing".

Later, by giving it the title "Det Himmelrivende" ("The Heaven-Rending") he turned the music into something more expressly religious, a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. It was, he said, "the sharp knife-edge of the shimmering, golden heavens in dissonance... [it] is a state, not 'absolute music'..." (note from 1949).

[Article taken from the composer's website: Rued Langgaard website]

More information -

The one work that most clearly illustrates Langgaard's attitude to life and his human involvement (but most certainly also his absolute technical mastery) is the sixth symphony, in which Langgaard releases the forces of good and evil, light and dark, and God and Satan against each other. The symphony was composed in 1919-20 and was only later christened The Heaven-storming. The symphony is one continuous movement in the form of variations on the theme heard at the very beginning, which permeates the entire work. This theme is played in both a 'pure', 'light' version and subsequently in a strange chromatic one. This theme or motif bears some resemblance to the main theme in the fourth movement of Carl Nielsen's 4th symphony which had been written three years previously, but Langgaard's purpose is entirely different from Nielsen's: what he concentrates on is not the purely musical potential inherent in it, but the exploitation of its potential as the expression of a cosmic conflict. He created a motto for the work by combining a verse by the Danish religious poet Hans Adolf Brorson with St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "Then Jesus used force and drove the storming armies of evil under the canopy of heaven..." The work has the following divisions: Theme (version 1) - Theme (version 11) Variation I (introduction) - Variation II (fugue) - Vanation III (toccata) - Variation IV (sonata) - Variation V (coda). The first performance took place in Karlsruhe in 1923, with Langgaard conducting, and in September of the same year he conducted it again in Copenhagen. Langgaard's propensity to revise, rework and (at this time) shorten his works also affected the sixth symphony, which was to be the subject of many changes between 1928 and 1930. On 7 July 1930 Langgaard, with the assistance of Constance Langgaard, completed a new score, which was actually to be dated November 1930. It was this manuscript that, with just a few corrections, was to become the basis for the published edition of 1946. The first performance of the revised version was given by the state broadcasting network in 1935, under the direction of Launy Grendahl, who went on to conduct the work again in 1937, 1941 and 1949. For this last performance, Langgaard prepared a programme note outlining the musical premise of the work: It is in one movement and consistently built upon one motif whose intervals immediately suggest music latching on to all different keys at once, music which bv the strict develon ment of the intervals comes to sound like modern music, but which is not. The organ motif is developed into a passage of ringing, major triad harmonies in the light, romantic style, which indeed marks the motif ffom the beginning. Langgaard's use of the word "romantic" can safely be taken as an expression of distaste for the trend in music that would have been regarded as modern at the time of the work's composition, and which would still have held little appeal for Langgaard in 1949 when the programme note was written.

[Article taken from the Danacord Records website]

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Another symphonic masterwork from Langgaard. This is a more concise symphony than many of his others. There have been many performances of this symphony on disc, but my favorite is Neeme Järvi/Danish NRSO on Chandos. What do you guys think of this work?


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

It seems there's little love for this work (and composer) on this forum, but I ADORE IT! This quirky creation can be too much addictive to me, so I have to be careful whenever I listen to it. That epic ending means a load of endorphins to me, it's the most affirmative and shattering ending in F major I know (in the right performance, something Dausgaard spoils horribly IMO). I share your favorite performance of it, Järvi does it nearly to perfection (it could be an overstatement, I know).


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

MusicSybarite said:


> It seems there's little love for this work (and composer) on this forum, but I ADORE IT! This quirky creation can be too much addictive to me, so I have to be careful whenever I listen to it. That epic ending means a load of endorphins to me, it's the most affirmative and shattering ending in F major I know (in the right performance, something Dausgaard spoils horribly IMO). I share your favorite performance of it, Järvi does it nearly to perfection (it could be an overstatement, I know).


You and I seem to share many common musical interests (or as evidenced from some of your recent posts). I agree with you about Langgaard. I believe him to be one of the greats. He certainly deserved more acclaim during his lifetime. We also agree about Dausgaard. While I have to thank Dausgaard for his championship of Langgaard, his symphony cycle, while some of it is excellently performed, doesn't quite match the earlier Stupel cycle on Danacord even though Stupel's orchestra, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra, isn't quite the match for Dausgaard's Danish National RSO. There's more of a rawness and spontaneity to Stupel's performances. Of course, YMMV.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Neo Romanza said:


> You and I seem to share many common musical interests (or as evidenced from some of your recent posts). I agree with you about Langgaard. I believe him to be one of the greats. He certainly deserved more acclaim during his lifetime. We also agree about Dausgaard. While I have to thank Dausgaard for his championship of Langgaard, his symphony cycle, while some of it is excellently performed, doesn't quite match the earlier Stupel cycle on Danacord even though Stupel's orchestra, the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra, isn't quite the match for Dausgaard's Danish National RSO. There's more of a rawness and spontaneity to Stupel's performances. Of course, YMMV.


There are some performances where Dausgaard/DNSO are superior to Stupel/Arthur Rubinstein PO and viceversa as far as I am concerned, e.g. Stupel nails the 4th (so does Järvi), and the 13th, and Dausgaard is better on the 5th (first version), 10th and 15th. Fortunately these cycles complement each other quite well.


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