Musiklivet på Fuglsang 1892 til 1931

Abstract

In 1891, squire Viggo de Neergaard (1837–1915) from Fuglsang on Lolland and hisyoung wife Bodil (1867–1959), who was the daughter of composer Emil Hartmannand granddaughter of J.P.E. Hartmann, met the German-Dutch composer, pianist andconductor Julius Röntgen (1855–1932) and his family on a trip in Norway. When theyparted, they agreed to visit one another in Amsterdam and at Fuglsang respectively.It was the start of a unique life of music at the manor on Lolland from the Röntgenfamily’s first visit the following year and up until Bodil Neergaard’s death as a widowin 1959. Almost every year up until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, JuliusRöntgen along with this wife and children, who were all musicians, spent the month ofAugust at Fuglsang, where he was the driving force in a cornucopia of house concerts.There was chamber music with a varied program every single evening. Julius Roentgenplanned “the season” as they called it before he left Holland and wrote programs eachyear for every single concert. These programs, which cover the years 1893, 1897–1914,1916, 1923, 1931, 1940, 1944, 1946–1958 and 1978, were recently found among thesurviving papers of presiding judge Fritz Michael Hartmann (1909–2000). In 2012they were donated to the Royal Danish Library by the Hartmann family. These programsprovide an excellent insight into what was played, and form the basis of thisarticle that covers the period from 1893 to 1931, which was the last time Julius Röntgenwas at Fuglsang before his death the following year. The music was performed partlyby the Röntgen family and partly by members of the Hartmann family and the otherguests, who came to Fuglsang during the summer. Among these were Carl Nielsen,who in 1906 performed his string quartet in F-major, opus 19 for the very first time atFuglsang. During these years, the program consisted of music by 113 different composers,music ranging from Baroque and up to what at the time was contemporarymusic. Because even though the main emphasis was on music by the classics, especiallyBeethoven, 47 of the composers were still alive at the time of performance.