Lorentz Severin Skougaard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 11 May 1837 Farsund, Norway |
| Died | 14 February 1885 (aged 47) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Partner | Alfred Corning Clark |
Lorentz Severin Skougaard (11 May 1837 - 14 February 1885) was a Norwegian tenor.
Lorentz Severin Skougaard | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Born | 11 May 1837 Farsund, Norway |
| Died | 14 February 1885 (aged 47) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Partner | Alfred Corning Clark |
Lorentz Severin Skougaard (11 May 1837 - 14 February 1885) was a Norwegian tenor.
Lorentz Severin Skougaard was born on 11 May 1837 in Farsund, Norway, the son of Jonas Eilertsen Lund Schougaard (1807-1877) and Sara Helene Jonasdatter Lund (1813-1910).
At first he was a trading officer, working at first in Memel, Norway, and then London. He later studied music in Paris and Italy. [1]
In 1864, Lorentz Severin Skougaard sang in Stockholm, Berlin, and Christiania. He met Alfred Corning Clark in Paris in 1866. [2]
In 1866, Skougaard gave a series of recitals in New York City in conjunction with Alfred H. Pease at the Irving Hall. The recitals introduced him favorably to the New York public, and he became a successful vocal teacher. [3] In 1874 he gave a charitable concert at the Steinway Hall in aid of the Scandinavian poor of New York City. There were a large number of performers and it was under the patronage of many prominent persons. [4]
Lorentz Severin Skougaard moved to the United States in 1866. [3] Clark began making annual summer visits to Norway with Skougaard in 1869, the same year that Clark married. The American eventually built a house on an island near Skougaard's family home. [3] [2] Clark's eldest son, born in 1870, was given the middle name of Severin. When in New York City, Skougaard stayed in Clark's flat at 64 West 22nd Street. [5] The apartment was a favorite spot for evening musicales, attracted by Skougaard's companionable qualities, and the house for years was known as "Severini Hall". [3] [6] According to Nicholas Fox Weber's biography of the Clark family (The Clarks of Cooperstown, 2007), Clark led a double life, in the United States a family man, in Europe a gay aesthete. For 19 years his closest companion was Skougaard. [3] [7] [8]
On 14 February 1885, in New York City, Skougaard died of typhoid fever. [2] [3]
Clark eulogized his friend in a privately published biographical sketch, Lorentz Severin Skougaard: a sketch, mainly autobiographic, [9] and created a $64,000 endowment in his memory for Manhattan's Norwegian Hospital, at 4th Avenue & 46th Street. [10]
Clark also commissioned Brotherly Love (1886–87), by American sculptor George Grey Barnard, to adorn his friend's grave in Langesund, Norway. [11] The homoerotic sculpture depicts two nude male figures blindly reaching out to each other through the block of marble that separates them. [12]
Later, Barnard moved to New York City and Clark helped to maintain him. [13]