Agathe Backer-Grøndahl

Composer and pianist Agathe Backer Grøndahl, whose later music anticipated Impressionism, was a prolific figure who wrote more than 400 works, mostly art songs and piano works. A close friend of Edvard Grieg, she was an influential teacher as well. Backer Grøndahl was born Agathe Ursula Backer on December 1, 1847, in Holmestrand in southern Norway. She was the youngest of four sisters, all musically or artistically inclined. The family moved to Christiana in 1857, where Agathe enjoyed a thorough musical education from local teachers. In 1865, she traveled to Berlin, where she studied piano with Theodor Kullak, took composition classes with Richard Wuerst at the Akademie der Tonkunst, and attracted notice for her performances of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major, Op. 73 ("Emperor"). She made her formal debut as a pianist, with Grieg conducting the Philharmonic Society in Christiana in 1868. Her Three Songs, Op. 1, and other early compositions date from this period. Continuing to gain wider attention, she was recommended by violinist Ole Bull for lessons with Hans von Bülow, one of the top pianists of the day. She went on to take lessons from Franz Liszt. In 1874, she married conductor and teacher Olaus Andreas Grøndahl, from then on using the name Agathe Backer Grøndahl. In the 1870s and 1880s, she was a major concert attraction in the Scandinavian countries and toured as far as Paris and London, where playwright and critic George Bernard Shaw pronounced her one of the greatest pianists of the day. Backer Grøndahl suffered from hearing loss and nerve problems in the 1890s and gradually gave up performing, but she continued to teach and compose. While her earlier songs and piano works drew heavily on the styles of Schumann and Mendelssohn, she developed a more personal style later in life that showed the influence of French Impressionism. Backer Grøndahl died in Ormøya, near Christiana, on June 4, 1907. She remained largely obscure for several decades, but increasing attention given to music by women has led to a revival of her music, and by 2022, more than 50 of her works had been recorded.
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