Biography

Hilda Sehested was born in Funen

Funen

Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...

, Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

, of parents Niels Frederik Bernhard Sehested (1813–82), an archeologist, and Charlotte Christine Linde (1819–94). She studied music with C.F.E. Hornemann in Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and later with Louise Aglaé Massart in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. She studied organ with Ludvig Birkedal-Barfod

Ludvig Birkedal-Barfod

Ludvig Birkedal-Barfod was a Danish composer and organist.The son of the writer Frederik Barfod, he was trained as an organist at the Royal Danish Academy of Music 1870-1872. In 1873 he became organist at Metodistkirken in Copenhagen, 1877–1895, he was at Our Lady Church in Svendborg and...

 and composition with Orla Rosenhoff, and began composing at the age of 30.

Sehested's mother died in 1894, and she moved to Copenhagen to live with her sister Thyra. She became engaged to archaeologist and museum director Henry Petersen there, but he died before the wedding. Shocked by his death, Sehested took a job as a nurse for a while and then as a church organist, and eventually returned to composing. She died in Copenhagen.

Works

Sehested wrote a number of songs, compositions for instruments and orchestra and one opera. Selected works include:

• Fantasy Pieces, 1891
• Sonata for Pianoforte, 1896
• Intermezzi for Piano Trio, sonata, 1904
• Suite für Cornet in B und Klavier, 1905
• Songs with Piano, 1907
• Agnete and the Merman opera, 1914
• Miniatures for Orchestra, 1915
• Rhapsody, 1915
• Quartet in G for strings
• Morceau pathétique for trombone and orchestra, 1923
• Four Fantasy Pieces for flute and piano, 1927

Her compositions have been recorded and issued on CD, including;

• Romantic Piano Works by Danish Women Composers Cathrine Penderup, Nanna Liebmann
  Nanna Liebmann
  Nanna Magdalene Liebmann was a Danish , music educator, music critic, concert promoter and composer. She studied at The Royal Danish Academy of Music with Victor Bendix, Johann Christian Gebauer, J.P.E. Hartmann, Niels W. Gade, August Winding and Carl Helsted. At the conservatory she met composer...
  
  , Hilda Sehested, Benna Moe (2009) Danacord Records