Danish school
English composer
Definition
The tradition of late Classical and early Romantic composition centred in Copenhagen, of which Kuhlau was a leading figure. Along with Johann Peter Emelius Hartmann and Niels Wilhelm Gade, Kuhlau helped establish a distinctly Danish musical voice within the European Classical tradition, drawing on Danish folk songs and national subject matter while maintaining the Viennese formal language he had absorbed in Hamburg.
Interpretive Guidance
Kuhlau's Danish school identity is most audible in his variation sets on Danish and Norwegian folk songs (Op. 15, Op. 16, Op. 22) and in his opera Elverhøj — the national opera of Denmark. Even in the purely abstract sonatinas, there is a directness and clarity that characterises the Scandinavian response to Viennese Classicism.