Christian Sinding

Christian August Sinding was a Norwegian violinist and composer born on January 11, 1856 (Brahms was 23 years old.) The love of art and culture ran in his family and he was immensely popular before the Second World War. He first studied music in Oslo before going to Leipzig, Germany, where he studied at the conservatory under Salomon Jadassohn. One of his other violin teachers was Henry Schradieck. In 1920, he came to the U.S. to teach at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He wrote a large number of short piano pieces and songs, one of which he is best remembered for (Rustles of Spring, 1896.) Sinding later spent much of his life in Germany. He also wrote a suite for violin which Heifetz used to play very often. A recording of it is posted on YouTube. Among his larger works are three symphonies, three violin concertos, a piano concerto, choral works, and an opera (The Holy Mountain, 1914.) For political reasons, his music is seldom heard today, not even in Norway. You can read the complex story about that situation (his black listing) at other sites if you care to. Sinding died on December 3, 1941, at age 84.