Norwegian composer Christian Sinding (1856-1941) was one of the original faculty members when the Eastman School of Music began its first official school year in 1921. Brought in to teach theory and composition after plans to bring another noted European composer, Jean Sibelius, fell through, Sinding’s tenure at the school was brief; he left at the conclusion of the first school year. Sinding enjoyed much popularity during his lifetime, and is seen as one the most important composers of Norway after Grieg, though his career and reputation have become largely obscure in the years since his death. Today, he is best known as the composer of “Rustle of Spring,” a short piano piece which would have been quite popular with pianists during the early years of the Eastman School.
Download the score for Rustle of Spring
But…doesn’t everyone have Rustle of Spring? (I guess they do now.)
I’ve been cataloging a ton of piano music ca. 1880-1930, here at CWRU Kulas Library, and there’s a fair bit of Sinding in there (but more Melartin, Iakymenko and other Russians, and 3rd-string Weimar Republic composers). I’d love to be digitizing like y’all, but we haven’t gotten the money-and-time thing together yet.