A Biographical Multimedia Mosaic...


The young promethan


Contemporary photograph of a painting from 1910 by Sally Philipsen (1879-1936).

This heavily symbolic painting reveals the way those closest to him saw the young Langgaard: the virtuoso with a likeness to Liszt, staring with a faraway look into the sacred world of art.

The lady in the background is possibly just a symbolic element in the picture - the man behind Langgaard might be Sally Philipsen himself.

 

At the age of 17, Rued Langgaard expressed his artistic goal as follows:

"Yes... I want to tread the sacred paths, those not destined for man, but for the Spirit alone. I want my art to be holy, purely spiritual. The earthly spheres are too low for me, and human feelings, so long as they cling to the body, too imperfect "
(From one of Rued Langgaard's letters, 1910, Musikhistorisk Museum).