Tracing the music

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My great-grandfather (mother's side)

Anders Madsen

Carpenter/Violin-builder in Denmark.

1869-1950

I never met him, but in this photo I see a gentle, strong man with a passion for music.

Grandfather (mother's side)

Alfred Holger Madsen

1900-1965 Violinist, conductor in Horsens, Denmark.

Great Grandfather (Grandmother's side)

Peter Wilhelm Salamonsen

Carpenter, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Reportedly he was a very happy man and would sing non-stop, as he was working in his little shop, turning out door-handles and yo-yos.

Each spring he would load his family (wife and four daughters) and all their belongings into a horse-cart, drive to the country and find an apartment where they all lived until Fall, when he would go back to the city and find another home.
My Great Grandmother remembered all the addresses she and Great Grandfather had ever lived at - probably 50 or so. This is her - on in years - Johanne Salomonsen (1870 - 1963). She was said to have had a great singing voice in her youth and sang in many choirs.

This is my Grandfather (father's side)

Christian Emil Andre Hansen
Pianist, artist, merchant
in Horsens, Denmark.

1890-1964

Here with me in the early days. He had a sense of humor and a voice that could command a circus audience.

There was a barrel of dried fish in his shop with a sign on it: "Salted Fish, 25 cents each, or 3 for a dollar". One day a man came in a bought three for a dollar. He returned later to complain, but did not get his money back. "If you are that stupid, you have to pay", my grandfather said.

My mother,

Lillian Myggen (Hansen/Salomonsen)

Concert Pianist

My father met her as a press photographer, covering her performance. A grand piano was the first piece of furniture the newly-married couple bought .

When I was a baby I used to love to lie under this piano to listen to my mother play. When I could reach, I started to figure out how to make music.

Here I am realizing that the road of music is sometimes long and slow.

Perhaps I started writing my own stuff because it took so long to learn what others had written.

My father,

Arne Myggen (Hansen)

Writer / photographer, later the most popular radio-personality in Denmark EVER.

Naturally, I was keen to follow his footsteps, and adopted soon the serious look of concentration.