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Among the Dutch and Belgian leaders of this period, many of them trained at Leipsic, may be emphasized Jean Verhulst (d. 1891), a pupil of Mendelssohn, from 1842 royal conductor at The Hague, from 1848 also at Rotterdam, and the organizer of many popular festivals, with a symphony, 3 overtures and 3 quartets, besides sacred works; Anton Berlijn (d. 1870), long conductor at Amsterdam, with many orchestral and chamber works; Hubert Ferdinand Kufferath (d. 1896), from 1844 for a half-century influential at Brussels as conductor and pianist, with some symphonies; the Belgian Adolphe Samuel (d. 1898), in 1865 the projector of popular concerts at Brussels, and from 1871 head of the Ghent conservatory, with 7 symphonies, many overtures and quartets, and 5 operas (1845-52); and the many-sided Richard Hol (d. 1904), from about 1850 at work at Amsterdam and from 1862 town-musician at Utrecht, besides serving as conductor at The Hague, with varied strongly romantic instrumental and vocal works.

In Denmark the Nestor among musicians was Emil Hartmann (d. 1900), born in 1805, the son and pupil of a Copenhagen organist, whose musical productiveness began about 1825 and lasted a full 70 years. From 1849 he was court-conductor. Gade married his eldest daughter and the two composers were always associated. He was an admirer of Spohr and in his younger days wrote symphonies, overtures and chamber music in regular form, though his mature genius was better shown in 4 operas (1832-46) and smaller works for the piano or the voice. Niels Wilhelm Gade (d. 1890), born in 1817, became the noted link between Leipsic and Copenhagen, where he worked from 1848. His style reflected that of Mendelssohn at first, later that of Schumann, but with original Scandinavian freshness of his own (see secs. 195-196). Another link with Leipsic was Erik Siboni (d. 1892), at work in Copenhagen from 1853 and teacher at Sorö from 1864, with 2 symphonies, an overture and some chamber pieces, besides choral works and an opera (1862). The new Scandinavian movement in instrumental music began with the Norwegian Edvard Hagerup Grieg (d. 1907), born in 1843, whose work belongs wholly to the recent period (see sec. 232).

214. Liberal Tendencies in Austria and Russia.—While the whole of northern Germany was largely controlled by deliberate conservatism, either of the moderate Leipsic type or of the more severe Berlin variety, in Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, also in Russia, there was a far greater readiness not only to throw instrumental music into the foreground, but to handle its forms and styles with freedom. Within the general circle of which Vienna is the centre orchestral music had been cultivated with fine constructive instinct for nearly a century. Proximity to the folk-music of the Czechs and the Magyars seemed to yield a persistent stimulus. At all events, in this quarter appeared some of the promptest illustrations of how the sterling constructive vigor of classical and post-classical composers could