Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, whose long name is commonly shortened to J.P.E., was, along with his son-in-law Niels Gade, the major figure in Danish nineteenth-century Romanticism. Hartmann's worklist is impressively enormous and his music has been recorded with considerable depth, particularly by Danish labels. While the generous offering on behalf of Hartmann is certainly welcome, it can be hard to know where to start, and the poor worklist for Hartmann in Grove's offers little assistance for non-Danes to get a grip on ...
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Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, whose long name is commonly shortened to J.P.E., was, along with his son-in-law Niels Gade, the major figure in Danish nineteenth-century Romanticism. Hartmann's worklist is impressively enormous and his music has been recorded with considerable depth, particularly by Danish labels. While the generous offering on behalf of Hartmann is certainly welcome, it can be hard to know where to start, and the poor worklist for Hartmann in Grove's offers little assistance for non-Danes to get a grip on what he produced. Perhaps anticipating this need, the Danish Dacapo label has issued J.P.E. Hartmann: Volvens Spådom -- Overtures, which contains some of Hartmann's most significant and accessible creations, the cantata Vølvens Spådom and a selection of overtures from Hartmann's operas and stage works.Vølvens Spådom (The Prophecy of the Seeress, 1872) is a large work for chorus, based on a modern verse retelling by poet Frederik Winkel Horn of a Norse mythological tale as transmitted...
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