John Frandsen (born 13 March 1956) is a Danish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and choral conductor, whose work includes operas, chamber music, and

religious music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for Religion, religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ri ...

. His 1999 ''Now Flashes the White Light of the Spirit'' commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was performed simultaneously in over 100 Danish churches on the day of the anniversary.

Biography

Frandsen was born in

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

and studied at

Aarhus University Aarhus University (, abbreviated AU) is a public research university. Its main campus is located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Group, the Guild, and Ut ...

and the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus with

Hans Abrahamsen Hans Abrahamsen (born 23 December 1952) is a Danish composer born in Kongens Lyngby near Copenhagen. His ''Let me tell you (Abrahamsen), Let me tell you'' (2013), a song cycle for soprano and orchestra, was ranked by music critics at ''The Guard ...

and

Karl Aage Rasmussen Karl Aage Rasmussen (born 13 December 1947) is a Danish composer and writer. He was born in Kolding. Composition Quotation and particularly collage played an important role in his music from the early 1970s, but increasingly he used pre-existing ...

. From 1993 to 1995 he was chairman of the music committee of the Danish National Arts Foundation, and since 1999 he has been chairman of the Danish Composers' Association. His opera trilogy, ''Tugt og Utugt I Mellemtiden'' (''Virtue and Vice in the Meantime''), based on the novel of the same name by

Svend Aage Madsen Svend is a Danish and Norwegian male given name. Notable people with the given name include: * Svend or Sven Aggesen (c.1145–?), Danish historian * Svend Asmussen (1916–2017), Danish jazz violinist known as "The Fiddling Viking" * Svend Auke ...

premiered in 1998 at the Aarhus Summer Opera. His other operas include ''Amalie'' (premiered 1995 at the Musikteateret Undergrunden in Aarhus), ''Dronning Boudicca'' (''Queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, from Brittonic languages, Brythonic * 'victory, win' + * 'having' suffix, i.e. 'Victorious Woman', known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh language, Welsh as , ) was a queen of the Iceni, ancient ...

'') (premiered in 1997 at Anden Opera in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

) and ''I-K-O-N'' (premiered in 2002 at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

.Aarhus Sommer Opera

Religious music

John Frandsen's commissions for religious music include: *''

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

'' for

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

and organ, commissioned by the Sorø Organ Festival (1986) *''Det evige Halleluja'' (''The Eternal Hallelujah'') cantata for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

, mixed choir, recitation and organ, commissioned by the Amager Music Festival (1992) *''Talsmand som på jorderige'' (''Advocate as on Earth'') for mixed choir

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

, commissioned by the Dansk Kirkesang (Danish Sacred Song Society) *''Nu blitzer Åndens hvide lys'' (''Now Flashes the White Light of the Spirit'') ten variations for organ solo with a concluding choral movement, commissioned by the Danish National Evangelical Lutheran Church (1999) *''Messe til det nye Årtusinde'' (''Mass for the New Millennium'') for five soloists, chamber choir, male choir, large choir, brass, chamber orchestra and organ, first performed in Aarhus on 31 December 1999.

Notes and references

Sources

*Nielsen, Svend Hvidtfelt
John Frandsen
2000 *Aarhus Sommer Oper

References

Profile and list of works at Edition S (publisher)Profile at Dansk Komponist Forening
1956 births Musicians from Aalborg 20th-century Danish classical composers 21st-century Danish classical composers Aarhus University alumni Danish male classical composers Danish classical organists Danish male classical organists Living people 21st-century Danish organists 20th-century Danish male musicians 21st-century Danish male musicians {{Denmark-composer-stub