Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Norman, (Fredrik Vilhelm) Ludvig

(b Stockholm, 28 Aug 1831; d Stockholm, 28 March 1885). Swedish composer and conductor. He showed an early talent for improvisation at the keyboard and for composition, and as a child began his study of the piano with Theodor Stein and Jan van Boom, and of composition with A.F. Lindblad. His first publication (1843) was a book of songs composed at the age of 11. After his father's death, which left him poor, interest shown by the Crown Prince Oskar, Jenny Lind and others enabled him to continue his musical education at the Leipzig Conservatory (1848–53) under Hauptmann, Moscheles and Rietz. Through the mediation of Schumann, two of his piano pieces were published in 1851.

In 1858, a few years after his return to Stockholm, Norman was appointed teacher of composition at the conservatory, remaining in that post until 1861, when he became conductor of the royal orchestra. His role in the enrichment and expansion of the city's musical life was also evident from his work for the Tidning för theater och musik, which from 1859 he edited with A. Rubenson and F. Hedberg, and from his founding, in 1860, of the Nya Harmoniska Sällskap, whose orchestra he conducted until 1878. After that he occupied himself with the establishment of the Musikförening and of the royal orchestra's subscription concerts, which formed the basis of the later Konsertförening. He was also active as a pianist, most notably during the 1860s as accompanist for the violinist Wilma Neruda, to whom he was married from 1864 until their divorce in 1869. He returned to the conservatory in the early 1870s to teach composition and the piano. He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1857.

As a composer Norman was in the Leipzig Classical-Romantic tradition; his works reflect the influence of Mendelssohn, Gade and of Schumann, his early champion, as well as that of Franz Berwald, whose cause Norman supported in articles about Berwald's chamber music and by conducting the first performance of his Fourth Symphony. Norman's output includes three symphonies and a variety of chamber music in all forms; it is distinguished by excellent taste and craftsmanship, but, though fluent and accomplished, his art tends to be more drily academic and less distinctively personal than that of Berwald or Stenhammar.

WORKS

(selective list)

printed works published in Stockholm unless otherwise stated

vocal

Rosa rorans bonitatem, cant., Mez, chorus, str, op.45 (1878)

Humleplockningen [Hop-Picking], cant., solo vv, chorus, orch, op.63 (1884)

Other works: Sånger för tvenne röster [duets], 2vv, pf, op.17, 1851–72 (1880); 8 smärre sånger, 1v, pf, op.13, 1850–51 (1861); Skogssånger [Forest songs], 1v, pf, op.31, 1867 (1874); other songs

instrumental

Orch: 3 syms., F, str orch, op.22, 1858, E, op.40, 1871 (1874), d, op.58, 1881 (1885); Konsertstycke, F, pf solo, op.54, 1875 (1882); 4 ovs., incl. Antonius och Cleopatra, op.57, 1881, ed. (1911)

Str: Sextet, A, op.18, 1854; Suite, 2 vn, op.26, c1865 (1887); Octet, C, op.30, 1866–7; Qnt, c, op.35, 1870 (Leipzig, 1875); 6 qts

Pf, str: Vn Sonata, d, op.3, 1848 (Leipzig, 1852); 5 Tonbilder im Zusammenhange, vn, pf, op.6, 1851 (1854); Pf Qt, E, op.10, 1856–7 (Leipzig, 1862); Vc Sonata, D, op.28, 1867 (1876); Sextet, a, pf, 2 vn, va, vc, db, op.29, 1868–9; Va Sonata, G, op.32, 1869 (1875); Pf Trio, b, op.38, 1871–2, ed. (1911)

Pf: 2 Klavierstücke (Leipzig, 1851); [4] Fantasistycken, op.5 (1852); Barnens danser och lekar [Children's dances and games], op.47, c1878 (1887)

WRITINGS

Musikaliska uppsatser och kritiker (1880–85) (Stockholm, 1888) [essays and reviews]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Lindgren: ‘Fredrik Vilhelm Ludvig Norman’, Svenske hofkapellmästare 1782–1882 (Stockholm, 1882)

J. Bagge: Förteckning öfver Ludvig Normans tonverk (Stockholm, 1886) [incl. catalogue of works]

L. Lagerbielke: ‘Ludvig Norman’, Svenska tonsättare under Kittonde Smandradet (Stockholm, 1908), 78–82 [incl. catalogue of works]

D. Fryklund, ed.: ‘Några brev från Ludvig Norman’, STMf, ii (1920), 83–91

D. Fryklund, ed.: ‘Tyska brev från Ludvig Norman’, STMf, xi (1929), 190–221

H. Glimstedt, ed.: ‘Ludvig Normans brev till Ludvig Josephson’, STMf, xiii (1931), 130–55; xiv (1932), 59–68

J.D. Degen: ‘Ludwig Norman: ein Vermittler zwischen deutscher und schwedischer Romantik’, Romantikkonfernz 2: Dresden 1982, 131–9

ROBERT LAYTON

Norman & Beard.

See Hill, Norman & Beard.

Normand, Marc-Roger [‘Cuoprin’, ‘Coprino’]

(b Chaumes-en-Brie, bap. 30 Dec 1663; d Turin, 25 Jan 1734). French organist, active in Italy. He was the son of Elisabeth Couperin and Marc Normand, and may have studied in Paris with his uncle, Charles Couperin (ii). He moved to Turin in 1688 and worked as harpsichord master to the princesses of Carignan. In the same year he took part, as harpsichordist, in Carisio's opera Amore vendicato. He proceeded to serve the King of Sardinia and became known as Cuoprin or Coprino. He was appointed second organist in 1699 and succeeded Francesco Ugo as Organiste de la Chapelle Royale et controleur de la musique in 1720, also becoming valet de chambre to the queen mother in 1723. In 1725 he married Jeanne Constance de La Pierre, granddaughter of the composer Paul de La Pierre, and on 9 April 1726 he was naturalized as a subject of the King of Sardinia. He was thanked by Couperin in the preface to Les nations (1726) for having sent him scores of Italian music, perhaps the works of his Turin colleagues, especially Francesco Michele Montalto, precentor of Turin Cathedral.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

M. Thomas: ‘Chaumes-en-Brie, pépinière d'organistes avant et après les Couperin’, RMFC, vii (1967), 75–102

M.-T. Bouquet: Storia del Teatro Regio di Torino, i: Il Teatro di Corte dalle origini al 1788 (Turin, 1976)

M. Thomas: Les premiers Couperin dans la Brie (Paris, 1978)

M.-T. Bouquet: Turin et les musiciens de la Cour 1648–1775: Vie quotidienne et production artistique (Lille, 1988)

MARIE-THÉRÈSE BOUQUET-BOYER