Born in Copenhagen, Rued Langgaard was the only son of composer and Royal Chamber musician Siegfried Langgaard (1852–1914) and Emma Langgaard (née Foss, 1861–1926), both of whom were pianists. At the age of five Rued began taking piano lessons with his mother, and later with his father and a private teacher. His talent emerged quickly, and at seven he was able to play Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze and Chopin’s mazurkas. By then he had begun to compose short pieces for the piano and play the organ. At 10 he began to study the organ under Gustav Helsted, organist at the Jesuskirken in Valby, and the violin under Chr. Petersen, formerly of the Royal Orchestra.
At the age of 11 he made his first public appearance as an organist and improviser on the organ at a concert at the Frederikskirken (Marmorkirken) in Copenhagen. When he was 12, he started to study music theory under C. F. E. Horneman and, later, Vilhelm Rosenberg.
Langgaard’s first compositions, 2 piano pieces and 2 songs, were published when he was 13, and around that time he was taught counterpoint by the celebrated composer Carl Nielsen for about a month. A year later, his choral work Musae triumphantes was performed at a concert in Copenhagen, marking his public debut as a composer. During his teen years he continued composing and travelled with his parents around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, meeting conductors Arthur Nikisch and Max Fiedler.
At 18, Langgaard served as assistant organist at the Frederikskirken (Marmorkirken) in Copenhagen. The following year (1913) his Symphony No. 1 "Mountain Pastorals" received its first performance at a concert in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of Max Fiedler.
His father died in 1914, and from 1915 to 1917 he was assistant organist at the Garnisons Kirke in Copenhagen. From 1917 onward he applied without success for the post of organist at a large number of churches in Copenhagen. In 1922 a young woman named Valborg Constance Olivia Tetens (she was known as Constance) moved in with Rued Langgaard and his mother in Copenhagen. A year after his mother died in 1926, Langgaard married Constance Tetens.
Although Langgaard was given a state grant from the age of 30, his works and job applications were almost continually rejected by the establishment. Only at the age of 46 did he manage to obtain a permanent job, as the organist at the cathedral in Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark, situated in southwest Jutland. Just shy of his 59th birthday, Rued Langgaard died in Ribe, still unrecognized as a composer.
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 840294
Begravet I Helvede
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1645081
Symphony No. 9 From Queen Dagmar's Town, 1942, BVN 282
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645080
Efter Tagore
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1645084
Choir score
Item no.: 1175731
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1173345
Klassik
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 1173342
Ab Major
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 840237
Klassik
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 839383
Ukomplet
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 838925
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 838860
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838744
for: Voice
Score
Item no.: 838606
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838415
Præludium
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838320
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838228
Festmarch
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 838048
Af 3 Smaa Klaverstykker
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 837727
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 837619
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 837033
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1645074
for orchestra score, archive copy - BVN216
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 655414
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 839551
for: Voice (mezzo-soprano), string quartet [string orchestra]
Set of parts
Item no.: 642013
Ufuldendt, 2 Satser
for: Violin
Sheet music
Item no.: 839675
Klassik
Choir score
Item no.: 840113
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 840462
Klassik
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Buch
Item no.: 1173346
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645078
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645065
Klassik
for: Baritone Voice, Men's Choir [TTBB] and Orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1645077
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1645052
Klassik
for: Voice
Choir score
Item no.: 835223
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 840394
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 839954
E-Dur
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 839651
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 838302
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 837448
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 837418
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Choir score
Item no.: 641966
Klassik
for: Mixed choir (SATB), orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1645075
Klassik
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1645049
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1171299
Cliifside Pastorals'
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 642315
Klassik
for: Soprano and Tenor Voice, Horn, Trumpet and String Quartet
Score
Item no.: 1645061
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 1645072
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 1552445