Otto Daniel Winge (1810−1886)

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Otto Daniel Winge was born in Sko Parish, Uppland on 2 May 1810 and died in Stockholm on 16 January 1886. He was a composer, pianist and teacher. After his childhood in Sweden, he was taught by several teachers abroad, including Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn and Henri Herz. 1860–77 he was a music theory teacher at the educational institution of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Winge wrote primarily piano music and instructional method books, in addition to a string quartet and vocal works.

Life

Background, and studies in Sweden

The composer, pianist and pedagogue Otto Daniel Winge came from a family of hereditary professional musicians. This vocation was passed down to him from his father, and he passed it on to his own children. He was born on 2 May 1810 in Sko Parish as the son of the organist, teacher and leader of singing in the church and composer Daniel Winge (1774–1845), who had been taught during his youth by the German composer Georg Joseph Vogler. Otto Daniel was initially taught by his father, but later studied music under various instructors for several decades while simultaneously working as a teacher himself.

Winge completed his degree as Music Director at the Kungliga Musikaliska akademiens undervisningsverk (the educational institution of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music) in 1832 and was elected later that year as an agré (a junior member) into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. 1833–40 he worked as a teacher at Adolf Fredrik Lindblad’s Piano Institute in Stockholm and at one point he studied under the noted piano virtuoso Edmond Passy. After an appearance in Stockholm in 1841, in which he performed a piano concerto by Ferdinand Ries in addition to his own work, Variationen nebst einem Capricietto für die linke Hand über ein Thema aus Il crociato op. 35, Winge departed Sweden, not returning again until 1859.

Years in Berlin and Paris

Winge first settled abroad in Berlin, where from circa 1843 until 1845 he was a teacher at the Fanny Schindelmeisser School of Music. At this institution, a dozen piano students had group lessons on silent paper keyboards, according to a method introduced by the school’s founder. (This teaching method originated from Johann Bernhard Logier’s pedagogical ideas on group teaching, which were practiced at Lindblad’s institute in Stockholm, where Winge had taught earlier.) At the same time, he devoted himself to studies in harmony and composition under the music theorist Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn.

He then spent the next five years in Paris, where he studied for an extended period under the piano virtuoso Henri Herz and taught harmony and piano at the Lycée Bonaparte 1846–49.

In 1850, Winge returned to Berlin to study under the Austrian composer Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm while working as a teacher himself. During his years abroad, Winge met a long line of the era’s leading European musicians such as Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn and the Lied composer Carl Loewe. On various occasions, he also took piano lessons from virtuosos such as Frédéric Kalkbrenner, Henri Bertini, Antoni Kątski, Sigismond Thalberg and Ignaz Moscheles.

Return to Stockholm

After 18 years abroad, Winge returned to Stockholm in 1859. Following the retirement of Erik Drake, in 1860 Winge began to teach harmony at the Musikaliska akademiens undervisningsverk. He held this position until 1877, admidst giving private lessons and the occasional concert appearance.

Otto Daniel Winge died in Stockholm on 16 January 1886. Together with his wife from Berlin,  Sophie (née Baër), he had two daughters who both became organists. Daniella Sophia Louisa (1861–1885) died at only 23 years of age, five months before her father’s death. By then she had already achieved recognition as a talented organist and pupil of Wilhelm Heintze. The slightly younger Terzetta Vilhelmina Ottilia (1864–1945) worked for 51 years as a church musician in Västra Ed in northern Småland.

In 1853, Winge was elected as a foreign member to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music before being elected as a full Swedish member in 1860.

Works

The majority of Winge’s musical production consists of piano pieces. Some are primarily intended for educational use, others have pianistic virtuosity in mind, whereas a third group can be categorised as character pieces. The collection Canons mélodieux op. 52 has an explicitly educational purpose. According to the preface, it is intended for piano and counterpoint studies, and is similar in this regard to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Das Wohltemperierte Klavier. Winge proved though that such music could also be presented to a listening audience by performing three of his canons at a concert at the Musikaliska akademien (The Royal Swedish Academy of Music) on 4 December 1859, shortly before he took office as a teacher at the educational institution the following year. For this program, he was given the opportunity to showcase different facets of his compositional skills: the didactic Canons mélodieux, the technically brilliant Grande fantaisie op. 33 and the tone-painting piano piece, Aubade op. 37.

Several of Winge’s compositions are based on traditional Swedish songs. His Grande fantaisie includes variations of ‘Värmlandsvisan’ and ‘Domaredansen’, and his Lied collection Schwedische Nationallieder op. 30 includes arrangements for voice and piano of a number of Swedish folk tunes. Traces of this musical heritage can also possibly be heard in the mazurkas that Winge dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, which lie closer to Swedish folk music than that by the Polish composer.

Winge’s works also include a string quartet op. 53, a duet for piano and harmonium, op. 39 and the choral anthem Hymn med anledning af H. Maj.t Konung Carl XVs kröning den 3dje maj 1860.

Martin Edin © 2016
Trans. Thalia Thunander

Publications by the composer

Pedagogical works
Seméiographie musicale ou représentation des sons par des signes visibles en deux parties … op. 49.
Otto Winge’s theoretisch-praktische Studien für Pianofortespieler. Melodische Tonstücke für das Pianoforte op. 50, 1856.
Exercices journalières, contenant: la théorie et la pratique de toutes les gammes majeures et mineures avec un doigté systématique … op. 51.
Theoretisk-praktisk harmonilära med originaltabeller, förklaringar öfver konstord, uttryckstermer m. m. jemte exempel-bok med särskildt afseende å koralens behandling såsom förberedande studier till vocal- och instrumental-musik samt kompositionsläran, enligt äldre och nyare lärogrunder, bearbetad uti fem kurser, Stockholm, 1862.

Translations
Cherubini, Luigi:
‘Theorie för contrapunkten och fugan’, trans. O. D. Winge, manuscript, Musik- och teaterbiblioteket, Hdskr 67.

Bibliography

‘* *’: ‘MUSIK. Aubade: Prière, Aube du Jour, Espérance’, in: Post- och inrikes tidningar, 2 Sept. 1856.
‘Dödsfall’, in: Aftonbladet, 18 Jan. 1886.
‘Dödsfall’, in: Svensk musiktidning, vol. 6, no. 3, 1 Feb. 1886, p. 24.
‘Hr Otto Winges, till följd af konsertgifvarens insjuknande, för någon tid uppskjutna konsert’ [and ad] in: Aftonbladet, 3 Dec. 1859.
Höijer, Leonard:
‘Winge, Otto Daniel’, in: Musik-lexikon, Stockholm: Abr. Lundquist, 1864, pp. 548–549.
Lindgren, Adolf:
‘Winge, Otto Daniel’, in: Nordisk familjebok, new revised and richly illustrated ed., vol. 32, Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förlag, 1921, pp. 676–677.
Nyström, Pia & Elmquist, Anne-Marie:
Kungl. Musikaliska akademien: matrikel 1771–1995, Stockholm: Kungl. Musikaliska akademien, 1996, pp. 79, 173 & 245.
‘Otto Daniel Winge’, Det musikaliska Sverige, vol. 2, no. 11, 18 Sept. 1886, pp. 1–2.
‘Otto Daniel Winge’, in: Arvid Ahnfelt (ed.): Europas konstnärer: Alfabetiskt ordnade biografier öfver vårt århundrades förnämsta artister, Stockholm: Lamm, 1887, p. 646.
Palm, Josef:
‘Winge, Otto Daniel’, in: ‘Svenskt musik-lexicon’, manuscript at the Musik- och teaterbiblioteket.

Advertisements and notices
Aftonbladet 23 Apr. 1831; 8 Mar. 1841; 9 June 1847; 4 Nov. 1859; 5 Oct. 1864; 23 Oct. 1866; 12 Aug., 4 Nov. 1869.
Dagens Nyheter 3 Nov. 1866; 9 Jan. 1867; 13 Aug., 6 Nov. 1869; 30 Apr. 1881; 19 Jan. 1886.
Göteborgs-Posten 17 May 1877; 19 Jan. 1886.
Svenska Dagbladet 18 Jan. 1886.

Sources

Musik- och teaterbiblioteket (including letters from Otto Daniel Winge to Abraham Hirsch 25 Apr. 1854, letters from Otto Daniel Winge to Erik Drake 17 July & 31 Oct. 1853).

Summary list of works

Chamber music (string quartet, duet for organ and piano), piano works (approximately 30 piano pieces, including variation pieces, mazurkas, canons, Aubade, 1 piece for piano 4 hands), 1 organ work, vocal music (1 choral work, 10 arrangements of folk songs for voice and piano), several pedagogical works.

Collected works

Chamber music
Duo pour orgue expressif et pianoforté op. 39.
String quartet op. 53.

Piano solo
Trois mazurkas expressives, homage à Chopin op. 31. 1. La mélancolique, 2. La chevaleresque, 3. L’insouciante.
Sonate non difficile ... dédiée à mes elèves qui ne peuvent prendre l’octave op. 32.
Grande fantaisie sur deux airs suédois et la marche de bataille favorite de Charles XII (Wermelands visa, Domare dansen, Signal, Konung Carl XIIs fältmarsch) [Parts of the work were also printed separately as Domare-dansen ... aus Werk 33 and Marche de bataille de Charles XII ... aus Werk 33] op. 33.
Petits préludes pour le pianoforté dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs, contenant tous les signes et termes usités en musique op. 34.
Variationen nebst einem Capricietto für die linke Hand über ein Thema aus Il crociato [in Egitto, Meyerbeer] … dem Herrn Franz Liszt … zugeeignet op. 35, performed 1841.
Aubade op. 37, 1854 (dat. 11 June). 1. Prière, 2. Aube du jour, 3. Espérance [also under the title: Espoir].
Marches op. 38. 1. Marche solennel, 2. Marche funèbre.
Le printemps, tableau musical ... (Il y a calme dans la nature, on entend dans le lointain l’appel du coucou et un chant d’amour accompagné du murmure des ruisseaux) op. 40.
Exercices préparatoires théoriques et pratiques op. 48.
Canons mélodieux dans différents Intervalles et de diverses Manières, sans et avec des Parties de Remplissage op. 52, printed 1858.
Airs suédois pour piano seul, Wermelands visa [setting of the theme is identical to that in op. 33, but the rest of the composition is different].
Grand fantasie et capriccio, 1832 (dat. 16 June).
Introduction and variations on a theme by J. Haydn, in: Nordmannaharpan no. 6, 1832/33.
Marche d’encouragement pour la main droite [manuscript].
Polka, Stockholm, 1878 [manuscript].
Polonaise brillante.

Piano 4 hands
Song for piano à quatre mains, 1878 (dat. 4 July) [manuscript].

Organ
Chants religieux avec préludes, pour orgue expressif op. 36.

Choir
Hymn for the coronation of His Majesty King Charles XV, the 3rd of May 1860, text from Psalm 21, mixed choir with organ or piano.

Arrangements
Organ
Duetto di F. Durante. Aus den alten Notenschrift ... für die Orgel gesetzt v. Winge.
Motetto da G. B. Casali. Aus den alten Notenschrift … für die Orgel gesetzt v. Winge.
Pieno a Quattro di A. Perti. Aus den alten Notenschrift … für die Orgel gesetzt v. Winge.
Sanctus Deus di L. Vittoria. Aus den alten Notenschrift ... für die Orgel gesetzt v. Winge.
Toccata di G. Frescobaldi. Aus den alten Notenschrift … für die Orgel gesetzt v. Winge.

Songs with piano
Schwedische Nationallieder op. 30 [printed]. 1. Necken (Afzelius), 2. Jämtlandslied, 3. Dalekarlienlied, 4. Södermanlandslied, 5. Ostergothlandslied, 6. Wermelandslied.
Schwedische Lieder [in manuscript]. 1. Roslags visa, 2. Sjömans-sång 3. Upplands visa, 4. Våren i Sverige.

Choral music – arrangements
Strids- och segersång: Vår Gud är oss en väldig borg … in antique and modern style adapted for women’s and men’s voices (text and melody by M. Luther), 20 Sept. 1866, premiered 4 Nov. 1866.


Works by Otto Daniel Winge

There are no works by the composer registered