Symphony No. 11

After about twelve attempts, Symphony No. 11 ended up with the title Ixion, named after the legendary king in Greek mythology who, as a punishment for having offended the gods, was bound for all eternity to a rotating wheel of flame. Langgaard, as usual, attached a lot of significance to the title. Not only could Ixion's fate be compared with his own, but the rotating wheel of flame was also a symbol of the sun - though not the life-giving sun, but rather an absurd, destructive sun, the sun of decline. For this reason the symphony - which only lasts 6 minutes - also bore for a while such titles as Solrædsel (Sun Nightmare) and Solámok (Sun-Gone-Amok), the latter being a word Langgaard himself had coined to express the ambiguity of the sun symbol.

In this postcard from 1949 (without addressee) Langgaard expresses his pessimism and desperation, and refers to a "March" based on the theme from Symphony No. 11.

Listen to the striking theme of the symphony, which is repeated again and again...