Karl Valentin

Karl Valentin was born on 30 May 1853 in Gothenburg (Sweden) into a wealthy and musically interested family. After school he began to study law in Uppsala in 1873 and remained there for six years, but mainly attended musical lectures and did not finish law. Quite the contrary the director of the music department of the university advised him to move to Leipzig and study music. Karl Valentin followed the suggestion, enrolled in 1879 and studied under Oscar Paul (composition, piano, music history) among others. He completed his music studies in 1884. 
Karl Valentin then moved back to Gothenburg where he worked as a critic for the local newspaper, founded the choir Harmoniska Sallskapet in 1887 and became its conductor and organised concerts for the labouring class to make classical music more popular. In 1897 Karl Valentin moved to Stockholm where he continued the popular concerts and musical education of the masses became a main task in his life. The popular concerts were a huge success and always began with a lecture about the music that was later heard in the concert. In 1901 he co-founded the Folkkonsertförbundet (the Popular Concert Society) and organised 10 to 20 concerts each season.
Beside this activity Karl Valentin continued to work as a critic, now at the Svenska Dagbladet. Since 1903 he also lectured music history at the Stockholm conservatory and was named a professor in 1912. Since 1897 Karl Valentin was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and in 1910 co-founded the Swedish Music Society (that in 1915 became the "Svenska samfundet för musikforskning") and was its first chairman. 
Karl Valentin died on 1 April 1918 in Stockholm (Sweden).

The work catalogue of Karl Valentin has a strong emphasis on vocal works, mainly songs (for voice with piano or orchestra) and several cantatas. In addition he composed a festival ouverture for orchestra, a festival march for orchestra, an Adagio for violin and orchestra and some piano pieces.

Adagio for violin and orchestra

In my possession is a set of orchestral parts for the "Adagio for violin and orchestra" op.17 by Karl Valentin. This set came from the estate of violinist Henri Marteau to whom the work is dedicated. I am not sure if these parts were created by Karl Valentin himself or by a copyist. But the parts were used for performances as some handwritten notes in the parts indicate. For example the bass trombone part has the name "Oskar Kochendörffer" written in it and the place and date "Warschau, 5. 4. 99". So with this Marteau provenance and the fact that these parts were used during the lifetime of the composer, the strangest fact is that the work in all parts is titled "Andante"! I have no idea for the reason of this different title because the work is identical to the Adagio which was published in a piano reduction. Therefore I present the original orchestral version here under its common title "Adagio".