Ellen Bodil Neergaard née Hartmann (10 February 1867 – 18 May 1959) was a Danish philanthropist and patron of the arts. She is remembered for her many charitable activities as well as for her life in Fuglsang Manor on the island of Lolland where, together with her husband Rolf Viggo de Neergaard, she hosted every Summer prominent artists and musicians.
Early life and family background
Born on 10 February 1867 in Copenhagen, Ellen Bodil Hartmann was the daughter of composer Emil Hartmann (1836–1898) and Bolette Puggaard (1844–1929). Her paternal grandfather, J.P.E. Hartmann, was also a renowned composer while her maternal grandfather, Rudolph Puggaard was a prosperous merchant, patron of the arts and philanthropist. Hans Christian Andersen was her godfather. She was thus brought up in a home with cultural interests and contacts, where the writers, artists and musicians of the times went in and out.
Marriage to Viggo Neergaard
On 2 May 1885, she married Rolf Viggo Neergaard (1837–1915), a cousin, and himself a philanthropist and amateur cellist, who owned the Fuglsang and Priorskov estates, one of the most extensive properties in the Eastern provinces. The couple moved into Fuglsang Manor, to which Bodil Neergaard brought the paintings inherited from her family [3], mostly by masters of the Danish Golden age such as Wilhelm Marstrand, Constantin Hansen, Jørgen Sonne, Peter Christian Skovgaard, Jørgen Roed, Christen Købke, Ditlev Blunck, Christian Albrecht Jensen, Vilhelm Kyhn, but also later painters such as Kristian Zahrtmann and Otto Bache, as well as sculptures by Bertel Thorvaldsen, Herman Wilhelm Bissen, Carl Hartmann or Carl Frederik Holbech. Further works by Fuglsang guests such as Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen or Rudolph Tegner were later added.
Many of the leading Scandinavian musicians of the day also came to stay in Fuglsang. They would often live there for several weeks in a row, particularly in the Summer months. During the day, they would enjoy the free life in the beautiful surroundings, sail to the small islands in Guldborgsund, have tea there, or compose in their rooms, and in the evening, after a fine dinner, where the table was always decorated with varied artistic flower arrangements, daily concerts were played for mutual enjoyment by the guests in the large and beautiful music room. Every evening, the concerts were different and they would usually include three major works of the repertoire and also often new creations by guests of the house.
Cultural interests
A strong supporter of the arts, Bodil Neergaard invited many cultural personalities to Fuglsang. Carl Nielsen in particular was a close friend and frequent visitor. Nielsen's String Quartet No. 4 in F major was first performed privately at Fuglsang in August 1906. Or Nielsen would play for the guests on the piano his newly composed opera Maskarade even before it was put on stage. Nielsen wrote various works in Fuglsang. He composed At the Bier of a Young Artist for Bodil’s brother, the painter Oluf Hartmann's funeral in 1910.
Edvard Grieg was also a popular guest and friend and among those who played the grand piano in the music room and his wife Nina regularly played herself and sang.
Beyond the members of Bodil’s own Hartmann musical family - above all Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann and Emil Hartmann -, other musicians who regularly visited Fuglsang included August Winding, Asger Hamerik and his wife Margaret Hamerik, C. F. E. Horneman, Johan Svendsen, Franz Neruda, Angul Hammerich and his wife Golla Hammerich, and also Emil Telmányi, Johanne Stockmarr, Fridtjof Backer-Groendahl and a long list of other leading Scandinavian musicians of the day.
The soul of the musical life in Fuglsang over many decades was however Julius Röntgen, who came every year for long periods together with his six musical sons as well as his wife Amanda Maier (and after her decease his second wife, Abrahamina des Amorie van der Hoeven, a pianist). Julius Röntgen had an immense repertoire and followed with curiosity any novelty in the musical world. He participated both as pianist and violist and liked occasionally to bring along musicians, often from the Netherlands, such as Peter van Anrooy, Gerard Van Brucken Fock, or Johannes Messchaert or the Austrian Oskar Posa.
And in later years, also composers of the younger generation, in particular Niels Rudolph Gade, Ebbe Hamerik and foremost Niels Viggo Bentzon took part in the daily musical soirées.