Homohoax: Legacy of a Nobody

[Homohoax: A hoax, prank, deception or fraud committed by, targeted at, or attributed to the lgbt community]

There are many composers who were huge celebrities in their lifetime and national heroes, yet there are also once-famous composers who are virtually unknown in the modern music world and yet have become cults because of it. One such composer is Dag Esrum-Hellerup (1803-1891).

Born in the Danish city of Aarhus Dag was blessed with having a musical father (very little is known about his mother and he says little about her in his own memoirs published in 1883, or in the biography of him written by Prof. A. Pirro published in 1909). Dag’s father, Johan Henrik Esrum-Hellerup (1773-1843), was a humble railway crossing guard who became a self-taught virtuoso on the flute and the ophicleide, a precursor of the modern tuba.

Johan’s musical talent was spotted by a member of the court orchestra of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who happened to be waiting at the station crossing where Johan worked and who heard him playing the ophicleide during a break from his duties. Johan was duly invited to join the Duke’s court orchestra. The whole family, including young Dag, moved to Schwerin. Not long after that Johan was appointed to the chamber orchestra of King Christian IX of Denmark. With this background Dag was able to mix with the top musicians in Scandinavia.

Dag studied the ophicleide under his father but efforts proved unsuccessful and Dag turned to the flute. He studied under Friedrich Kuhlau, a pianist and composer known as the “Beethoven of the Flute” (despite not being able to play the flute himself!). Dag became an accomplished flautist and began to gain a reputation in his early 20s as a composer. He rapidly became popular with the public, fellow musicians and royalty. Richard Wagner called him “the Danish Wagner”.

For a while Dag was the toast of the upper class musical circles of Europe. Recently discovered documents at Windsor Castle have revealed that he gave a recital of one of his flute quartets for Queen Victoria. This was shortly after the marriage of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark (the princess had known Dag at the Danish court of her father King Christian IX).

For reasons not entirely understood Dag’s reputation and popularity faded quickly in the 1860s. Neither his memoirs nor the 1909 biography give any details. His final years were spent in seclusion and he died in 1891, choking on a fish bone while attending a performance of Wagner’s “Parsifal” (at the invitation of Wagner’s gay son, Siegfried). His death attracted only one sentence in a Danish newspaper. He was remembered by few and even his 1909 biography went largely ignored.

Dag Esrum-Hellerup was rediscovered in the late 1970s by musicologist and authority on Nordic music, Robert Layton (1930-2020) who came across one of the few remaining copies of the biography. It immediately sparked his interest and he began researching deeper. At the time Robert was involved in preparations for the publication of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and thought Dag Esrum-Hellerup deserved an entry. Robert quickly wrote an entry on Dag and submitted it just before publication.

Even though next to no music by Dag has survived his legacy remains. More details of his life have been emerging slowly over the years and he has become something of a cult figure. In 2013 he became the inspiration for a contest organised by Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. This legacy is remarkable because – Dag Esrum-Hellerup didn’t exist.

Everything you’ve read in this article so far, except for the two immediately preceding paragraphs, is fiction. Dag Esrum-Hellerup was the brainchild of the above-mentioned Robert Layton, who was indeed a respected musicologist, expert on Nordic music, and contributor to the New Grove Dictionary.

Before we look at Robert Layton I’ll just separate some facts from the above fiction. The ophicleide is a genuine musical instrument. Friedrich Kuhlau was a real person who composed flute music and called the “Beethoven of the Flute”, and it’s true that he didn’t play the instrument. Esrum and Hellerup are names of real villages with railway crossings.

Robert Layton’s expertise in classical Nordic music led to him writing several articles for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. He was known for his sense of humour and some people were on the receiving end of his practical jokes, which included the global musical world with his entry on Dag Esrum-Hellerup.

The hoax article was revealed very quickly when a Danish musician read the fake entry and tried to find Dag’s birth certificate. When Robert admitted it was all a hoax the editor of the dictionary, Stanley Sadie, was furious and had it removed from the second edition. However, Dag Esrum-Hellerup became a cult when Stanley Sadie acknowledged the hoax in an article on this and other musical hoaxes in “Musical Times”, which he also edited. Other musical writers and critics have added to the story over the years with fictional additions to Dag’s life story, as I have above.

Robert Layton was a leading authority on the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and in 1986 was awarded the Sibelius Medal by the Sibelius Society of Finland. In 1988 Robert was made a Knight of the order of the White Rose of Finland, and in 2001 was made a Knight of the Royal Order of the Polar Star (Sweden). Robert was survived by his civil partner Chuan Chiam.

The Dag Esrum-Hellerup hoax was the main inspiration for the Grove Music Spoof Article Contest organised by Grove Music/Oxford Music Online. There could be a danger that Dag Esrum-Hellerup will become more famous than Robert Layton, the gay man who invented him.