ABSTRACT
Christian Sinding’s star was in the ascendant. Following the death of Edvard Grieg in 1907 and that of Johan Svendsen in 1911, Sinding was the only one left of the great Norwegian composers of the ‘Golden Age’. Sinding’s works run to some 130 opus numbers – far too many for all of them to be referred to in the short account of his life. As the new century dawned, the relationship between Sinding and Frederick Delius was more or less drawing to a close. Sinding’s music is deeply rooted in Germanic culture, whilst Delius looks more towards French ideals. Sinding did not even share Delius’s great passion for the Norwegian mountains. Grieg arrived in 1887 and it was Sinding who introduced Delius to the much-feted composer. Grieg was given a few of Delius’s early compositions to look at, among them some songs and two larger orchestral works, the Florida suite and Hiawatha.
