(b Gentofte, 13 July 1932). Danish composer. He studied with Holmboe (from 1949) at the Copenhagen Conservatory (1952-5) and in Paris with Boulanger (1956-7), and has taught at the conservatories of Odense (1958-61), Copenhagen (1960-65) and Århus (from 1965). He has occupied a central position among younger Danish composers as a leader and originator of ideas. His earliest works were post-Sibelian and a feeling for slow harmonic growth survived his contact with the avant garde in the late 1950s: but from that time, while composing the instrumental series Fragmenter, he adopted a system for establishing intervallic hierarchies in textures that are often repetitive, sometimes suggesting (though independent of) American minimalism. He used this in the ballet The Young Man Shall Marry (1965). His works include operas, four symphonies (1954-81) and much vocal and chamber music.

The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.