Bad-tempered and devil-may-care

There are many stories about how Langgaard gave vent to his sarcastic humour. There was, for example, the time when the treasurer of the parish council was holding his daughter's wedding in Ribe Cathedral. Langgaard was in conflict with the parish council because they would not agree to give the cathedral organist a higher salary, and the treasurer in particular was the obejct of a good deal of unpleasantness on the part of Langgaards. At the wedding of the man's daughter, therefore, he improvised around the notes F-E-D-B-A-E flat, which in the Danish notation (f-e-d-h-a-es) spell out the Danish word 'fedthas', which means 'skinflint'!

On another occasion, Langgaard was forced to use at a service a hymn tune he did not like. Tove Bjerg Nielsen, who sang in the choir at the time, has described the episode.

There was also the occasion when a special festival concert was to be played in the cathedral, involving the organist, Finn Viderø, to whom Langgaard did not wish to lend "his" organ. Thomas Alvad, who had to act as a bodyguard for Viderø, tells the story as he remembers it.