Background
Holger Gilbert-Jespersen was born on 22 September 1890 in Ordrup, Denmark, the son of the physician Gilbert Lauri Jespersen (1851–1929) and the artist Anne Marie Schack Bruun (1849–1925).
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Holger Jespersen
Edit ProfileEducation
Gilbert-Jespersen studied the flute from 1908 to 1911 at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. After a few years of employment in a casino orchestra he went to London, where he studied with Albert Fronella.
Career
In 1926, Carl Nielsen"s Flute Concerto was written for, dedicated to, and first performed by Gilbert-Jespersen in Paris. His primary instructor was Frederik Storm of the Royal Danish Orchestra. From 1913 to 1914, Gilbert-Jespersen was in Paris, studying flute with Adolphe Hennebains, the principal flute of the Grand Opéra in Paris, and was employed occasionally in the opera orchestra.
When World War I broke out in 1914, he returned to Denmark to enter the security force.
Gilbert-Jespersen debuted in 1917 and started working as part of the Tivoli Concert Hall Orchestra and the Palace orchestra. Gilbert-Jespersen soon returned to Paris to study flute with Philippe Gaubert, the conductor of the Grand Opéra.
Nielsen wrote his Flute Concerto for him and dedicated it to him. Gilbert-Jespersen played the first performance in Paris in 1926.
His playing was characterized as delicate and light, inspired by the French style of his instructors.
Simultaneously, Gilbert-Jespersen was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1927 to 1962, where he trained legions of Danish flutists, including Johan Bentzon, Poul Birkelund, Franz Lemsser, and Erik Thomsen. During his career, he received many honors.
Achievements
Membership
He was a member of the Royal Danish Orchestra from 1927 to 1956 as well as a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music from 1927 to 1962, where he trained generations of flutists. In 1922, he debuted as a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet performing Carl Nielsen"s Wind Quintet. Nielsen was so taken with their performance that he began to compose a solo concerto for each member of the quintet.
Nielsen"s health began to deteriorate, so only one more of the proposed solos for the members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet was finished: the Clarinet Concerto for Aage Oxenvad, which was completed in 1928.
From 1927 to 1956, Gilbert-Jespersen was a member of the Royal Danish Orchestra, a soloist in the wind quintet from 1929, and played in the Danish Quartet from 1935.
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Born
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Died
July 30, 1975 (aged 84) -
Nationality
Denmark