Niels W. Gade: Gjenklang af Ossian / Nachklänge von Ossian (Echoes of Ossian).
Music and Theatre Department, Gade’s Collection

The motto that Gade used when he entered the competition with his overture: Formel hält uns nicht gebunden, Unsre Kunst heißt Poesie.	Title page

P. 2: First sheet of music	P. 4: Introduction of the theme that is inspired by the ballad of “Ramund”

In March 1841 the 23-year-old violin student at the Royal Orchestra, Niels W. Gade, won the Philharmonic Society’s prize for the best orchestral overture. Gade was inspired by the Danish writer St. St. Blicher’s translation of the Scottish Ossian poems, and the main theme of the overture bears resemblance to the Danish ballad “Ramund var sig en bedre mand” (Ramund was a better man). The composition was both published and performed in Leipzig, one of the music centres of Germany, and Gade was all of a sudden a well-known name in the Danish world of music. The overture belongs to the composer’s best known compositions and is often performed.

26.1 x 37.1 cm.

For more information see the website of the Music and Theatre Department The Ossian Overture by Niels W. Gade (only in Danish).

© Det Kongelige Bibliotek 2003