Niels Gade

Niels Wilhelm Gade was born on February 22, 1817, in Copenhagen, the son of an instrument maker. He won instant acclaim with his 1840 concert overture Efterklange af Ossian (Echoes of Ossian). When his Symphony No. 1 in C minor was rejected in Copenhagen, he sent the score to Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig, who performed it to rapturous applause.

Gade moved to Leipzig, teaching at the conservatory and co-conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra, assuming full directorship upon Mendelssohn's death in 1847. Returning to Copenhagen in 1848, he led the Copenhagen Musical Society for four decades, composed the iconic Danish dramatic cantata Elverskud (The Elf-King's Daughter, 1854), and co-founded the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1867.