Born in Copenhagen, Rued Langgaard was the only son of composer and Royal Chamber musician Siegfried Langgaard (1852–1914) and Emma Langgaard (née Foss, 1861–1926), both of whom were pianists. At the age of five Rued began taking piano lessons with his mother, and later with his father and a private teacher. His talent emerged quickly, and at seven he was able to play Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and Chopin’s mazurkas. By then he had begun to compose short pieces for the piano and play the organ. At 10 he began to study the organ under Gustav Helsted, organist at the Jesuskirken in Valby, and the violin under Chr. Petersen, formerly of the Royal Orchestra.
At the age of 11 he made his first public appearance as an organist and improviser on the organ at a concert at the Frederikskirken (Marmorkirken) in Copenhagen. When he was 12, he started to study music theory under C. F. E. Horneman and, later, Vilhelm Rosenberg.
Langgaard’s first compositions, 2 piano pieces and 2 songs, were published when he was 13, and around that time he was taught counterpoint by the celebrated composer Carl Nielsen for about a month. A year later, his choral work Musae triumphantes was performed at a concert in Copenhagen, marking his public debut as a composer. During his teen years he continued composing and travelled with his parents around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, meeting conductors Arthur Nikisch and Max Fiedler.
At 18, Langgaard served as assistant organist at the Frederikskirken (Marmorkirken) in Copenhagen. The following year (1913) his Symphony No. 1 "Mountain Pastorals" received its first performance at a concert in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Max Fiedler.
His father died in 1914, and from 1915 to 1917 he was assistant organist at the Garnisons Kirke in Copenhagen. From 1917 onward he applied without success for the post of organist at a large number of churches in Copenhagen. In 1922 a young woman named Valborg Constance Olivia Tetens (she was known as Constance) moved in with Rued Langgaard and his mother in Copenhagen. A year after his mother died in 1926, Langgaard married Constance Tetens.
Although Langgaard was given a state grant from the age of 30, his works and job applications were almost continually rejected by the establishment. Only at the age of 46 did he manage to obtain a permanent job, as the organist at the cathedral in Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark, situated in southwest Jutland. Just shy of his 59th birthday, Rued Langgaard died in Ribe, still unrecognized as a composer.
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645057
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 835224
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 837419
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 839324
for: Baritone Voice and Orchestra
Score
Item no.: 838656
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 837725
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 837659
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 837384
Choir score
Item no.: 1176148
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1645068
Aften
Choir score
Item no.: 1175663
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1645046
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 839946
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 839672
for: Trumpet, Trombone and Organ
Score
Item no.: 839502
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 838281
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838162
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838091
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 837744
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Buch
Item no.: 836873
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 839449
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 1552448
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 1552443
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 839143
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 839025
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 837719
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 837322
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 836998
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 836696
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 840485
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 839631
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 839069
for: Choir
Piano reduction
Item no.: 839008
Choir score
Item no.: 837225
Choir score
Item no.: 1176114
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 1173338
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 835222
for: Voice, orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645060
für Violine und Orchester
(Koncert I En Sats For Violin og Orkester)
for: Violin, orchestra
Single part (Violin solo)
Item no.: 643169