Mogens Wöldike brief biography
Mogens Wöldike, 1897-1988 occupied a central position in Danish musical life for more than half a century. He prevailed in many areas of church music both as an organist and especially as a choral conductor. In addition he did extensive work as an orchestral conductor as well as being an organiser and initiator in a wealth of areas of musical life.
Wöldike graduated in 1915 and one year later took his organists’ exam privately at the RoyalDanishAcademy of Music. By the time, in1920, he took the Masters’ Degree at the University of Copenhagen he had come under the influence of Thomas Laub’s ideas on the nature of church music. The following year he was appointed to the position of cantor at Holmens Church in Copenhagen where Laub was organist and in 1925 he succeeded Laub in that position. Already in 1922 he had helped to found the Danish Church Singing Society. By 1927 he succeeded Laub as its Chairman.
As early as 1922 Wöldike also founded the Palestrina Choir whose many concerts at home and abroad showed that in a few years he had created and ensemble with a high standard that had hardly been heard in Denmark. In 1928 the Radio Choir was created. Many former members of the Palestrina Choir which was disbanded became members of it. In 1937 Wöldike became leader of the choir,now known as the Radio Madrigal Choir which specialised in A capella works.
In his choir training Wöldike was inspired by the Thomanerchor of Leipzig and by the Choir of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge among others. He founded the Copenhagen Boys’ choir in 1924 and under his influence the CopenhagenMunicipality transformed one of the local schools into a special singing school; the St. Annæ High School which is still very much alive today.
Christiansborg Palace Chapel was transferred in 1931 to a parish church and Wöldike became the organist. He attached the Boys’ Choir to the church and held many musical evening events with it. He continued this practice in the Cathedral Church of Our Lady after taking up office as organist there in 1959. The Church Music Evenings presented a repertoire that was largely unknown at that time to Danish audiences. But before the war he included major works such as The Creation of Haydn with full orchestra. It was through these concerts that Wöldike gained experience as an orchestral conductor which would latercome to be of great importance both to himself and to Denmark’s future musical life.
In 1943 Wöldike and his wife had to move to Sweden as she was of Jewish descent and would have come under the Nazi spotlight. He was soon linked to the national radio corporation Radiotjänst both as choral and orchestral conductor especially in the Haydn and Mozart repertoire. Home again after the war, Wöldike’s work on the Danish Radio steadily grew. In 1948 the choir was again reorganised and the next year with the introduction of two radioprogrammes instead of one the Radio Chamber Orchestra was created, again from his initiative. As an employee at the State Broadcasting as choir and orchestra conductor from 1950, Wöldike now had, in effect, his own orchestra of hand-picked members of the Symphony Orchestra with which he could work intensively to realise his own sound ideals. Over time this arrangement led to the formation of fractions and some grumbling within the Symphony Orchestra but the musical results of it were excellent and through numerous tours an international reputation was established.
Wöldike played an important part in the world of publishing. Most famous of his achievements are the Folk High School Melody Book and the official Danish Choral Book of The Danish Church. His organisational skills ensured that his ideas had both firm foundations and were practical and viable. In addition he had the gift of presenting his plans convincingly and to the right people. He was especially skilled in winning the support of his colleagues and his artistic integrity always guaranteed quality.Over the years Wöldike received numerous awards and recognitions. Here are a few: Ingenio et Arti (1948), member of the RoyalSwedishAcademy of Music - in recognition of his efforts in Sweden during the war (1950). The Carl Nielsen Prize (1957), Sonning´s Music Prize (1976). In 1965 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Copenhagen. After a major US tour with the Boys’ Choir on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776, Mogens Wöldike waseven made an honorary citizen of the State ofKentucky. Claus Byrith 29/08/2011.