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Forgotten Danish Romantic Piano Composer

The composer Carl Schwarz (1803-1834) is a puzzling figure in Danish music. There are only a few composers about whom we know less. He is not mentioned in any reference book on the history of Danish music, nor in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The all-inclusive German Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart also has nothing to say about him.

It is, however, certain that he was born in Kiel, the capital of the Danish-owned duchy Holstein, in 1803. There was a considerable and fruitful exchange of knowledge between the universities in Copenhagen and Kiel, so it is hardly surprising that Carl Schwarz arrived in Copenhagen and became a pupil of Kuhlau: he and Weyse were the leading Danish composers at the beginning of the 19th century. Unfortunately, we do not know when Schwarz began to receive tuition, but given that his year of birth was 1803, it is hardly unrealistic to assume that it happened around 1820.