Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider
Amalie Stalheim Johannes Brahms
Anders Hillborg
Antonín Dvořák

In 1879, Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Breslau, now Wrocław in Poland. As a token of gratitude, he composed a Festive Overture the following year, but at the same time, as a kind of counterbalance, he also wrote the Tragic Overture. He wrote to a friend: “I could not deny my melancholic nature the satisfaction of composing an overture for a tragedy.”

Anders Hillborg (b. 1954) was nominated for the Nordic Council Music Prize for his Cello Concerto (2020), which has been widely praised for its intimate orchestration and elegant references to Renaissance music. The nomination described how Hillborg demonstrates “a playful relationship between detail and entirety, long lines and volcanic eruptions, like a distillation of Nordic nature.”

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) gained immense popularity in England during the 1880s, and in 1884, the Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned a new symphony, which premiered in London the following year. Symphony No. 7 is darker and more dramatic than his Sixth Symphony, blending influences from Czech folk music with the symphonic grandeur of his friend Johannes Brahms.