Herman Løvenskjold (1815-1870). Norwegian-born Danish composer and musician
Herman Løvenskjold was a Norwegian-born Danish composer most famous for his score of La Sylphide for the Royal Danish Ballet. He studied composition with Peter Krossing in Denmark, before studying further in Vienna, Leipzig and St Petersburg. After returning to Denmark, Løvenskjold began working for the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, composing music for theatre productions. When choreographer Auguste Bournonville desired to create a version of La Sylphide in 1836, he approached the Paris Opéra, as the ballet had originally been composed there by Jean Schneitzhoeffer. However, the price the company set for the score was too high, so Bournonville commissioned Løvenskjold to write the music instead. The ballet became so popular in Denmark that it has remained in the repertory of the Royal Danish Ballet ever since, and this has served to memorialise Løvenskjold, whose few other works (chamber music and several orchestral overtures) have not endured.