Georg Casper Hansen (1844-1924)

Trailblazer and music teacher. Georg Hansen started teaching in the 1870s and was pivotal in nurturing music-making in Tórshavn. He founded the town bras band, Havnar Hornorkestur, in the 1890s. Commonly known as baker Hansen.

Georg Hansen. Source: The National Museum of the Faroe Islands

Baker Hansen’s funeral drew a multitude. He had lived in Tórshavn for 55 years, and he spent his last two decades focusing exclusively on teaching music. He is rumoured to have taught right up until the day he died. At his grave it was said that he loved flowers and harmonies, birdsong and string chords. His first pupils carried his coffin.

Georg Hansen was born in Neksø, Bornholm. His father was a captain employed by Restorff’s store. In 1866 he joined his father as a scullion, so Old Restorff offered him to apprentice as a baker. He accepted and returned to Tórshavn in 1867 as a qualified baker. He worked this trade for many years, but in the 1870s he also started to teach violin.

Tórshavn benefited from a series of initiatives taken by Baker Hansen to foster interest in music. He was one of the founders of the Faroe Islands’ first string quartet, in which he played the cello. His flurry of activity around the turn of the 19th century was described in detail in the paper Dimmalætting in 1922 on the occasion of his 78th birthday:

‘In the early 1890s Georg Hansen began his work to establish a brass band in Tórshavn, and succeeded in putting one together fairly quickly. Hr. Hansen was a teacher and took part himself in the brass band and for many years he was also the band’s conductor. In the late 1890s the music association Tjaldri and choir association Ljómur merged into one association, and George Hansen conducted both for many years time. He played in the brass band for as long as his constitution allowed it…’

In 1922 the wind band GHM (Georg Hansen’s Memorial) was founded in his honour. GHM celebrated its centenary on 14th May 2024.

Sources:

Fara til Danmarkar at heiðra faðirin at føroyskum tónleiki: https://www.dimma.fo/grein/fara-til-danmarkar-at-heidra-fadirin-at-foroyskum-tonleiki

Georg Hansen 3. september – 15. februar 1924. In: Tingakrossur 20^th February 1924. Tórshavn.

Long, Rikard. 100 ár Georg Kaspar Hansen 3. september 1844 – 3. september 1944. In: Tímin 31^st August 1944. Tórshavn.

Musiklærer Georg Hansen. In: Dimmalætting 6^th September 1922. Tórshavn.

Viðstein M.S. Horvnar Havnarmyndir. 1983. Tórshavn.