Christian Sinding

Christian (August) Sinding
(b Kongsberg, 11 Jan 1856; d Oslo, 3 Dec 1941). Norwegian composer. He trained for a career as a violinist, taking lessons during his school years with Gudbrand Bøhn and also studying music theory with L.M.

Lindeman. In 1874 he went to the Leipzig Conservatory, where he was a pupil of Schradieck (violin) and Jadassohn (theory and composition). He stayed in Leipzig for four years, during which time his talent for composition became increasingly evident, and he abandoned his violin studies. His association with German culture remained close throughout his life: he spent some 40 years in the country. In addition, he was in the USA for a year (1920–21), teaching theory and composition at the Eastman School. He received from the Norwegian government regular grants from 1880, an annual bursary from 1910 and from 1924 Henrik Wergeland's house ‘Grotten’. In 1921 he was given a national award for his contributions to music.