The Royal Danish Orchestra

With its 566 years, The Royal Danish Orchestra is the world’s oldest orchestral institution. It started out as a trumpeter corps, and today it is an opera and symphony orchestra based at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen.

Its long history is told in short, independent sections centred on the musicians: to date, 1,062 have been employed in the orchestra. Among them, we discover colourful individuals sometimes also working as officers, entertainers and envoys for their employers who were the Danish kings until 1849. Its members included world famous composers such as John Dowland, Heinrich Schütz, Niels W. Gade and Carl Nielsen.

The book is liberally illustrated with a selection of the treasures of art that surround The Royal Danish Orchestra, presenting its everyday-life as well as its members. There are paintings and drawings by artists such as C.W. Eckersberg, Louis Aumont, P.S. Krøyer, Michael Ancher, Erik Henningsen, Carlo Rosberg, Harald Isenstein and Henrik Bloch. Many of their works are here published for the first time.