SINDING, Christian (1856-1941). Norwegian composer.
Autograph Letter Signed in German to Dr Walter Hinrichsen, 1 page 4to (small marginal splits professionally repaired), Oslo, 12 February 1913. Thanking him warmly for his letter and for sending him the book 'Around the World in Eighty Days', which he has found inspirational. With a full translation.

This book has enchanted me and re-awakened my old childhood dream - to make just such a journey myself! What a pity that one grows old. ... Later on, one may have an opportunity to make these dreams come true, but then one no longer is in the mood, or famous Old Age has caught up with us. I can see from the book that you were fortunate though, and knew how to enjoy. Good luck!

Sinding is best remembered for one of his piano works, Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring, 1896). Eight weeks before his death in 1941, he joined the Norwegian Nazi party. The circumstances surrounding his membership are controversial as he had previously made several remarks against the occupation, had fought for the rights of Jewish musicians during the early 1930s, and had suffered from severe dementia since the late 1930s. The Nazis were strongly motivated to recruit Sinding, given his immense popularity before the war. As it was official practice for the postwar national broadcasting monopoly to boycott those seen as Nazi sympathisers, his reputation in Norway is now relatively obscure and letters of Sinding very rarely appear on the market.
It is likely that Walter Hinrichsen was a close relative of the German Jewish Hinrichsen family who had been partners and proprietors of the C.F. Peters music publishing company since the 1860s. The publishing house's heyday in Leipzig came to an end when the persecution of Jews in Germany intensified in the 1930s. The then sole proprietor of the company, Henri Hinrichsen managed to survive until 1942 when he was captured and deported to Auschwitz where he died.
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