Christian August Sinding (11 January 1856 – 3 December 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known for his lyrical work for piano Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring, 1896). He was often compared to Edvard Grieg and regarded as his successor.

Sinding was born at Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway. His parents were mine superintendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding and Cecilie Marie Mejdell. He was a brother of the painter Otto Sinding and the sculptor Stephan Sinding. His sister Thora Cathrine Sinding was married to jurist Glør Thorvald Mejdell.

Christian Sinding was a nephew of Nicolai Mejdell and Thorvald Mejdell. He was also a first cousin of journalist and writer Alfred Sinding-Larsen.

In November 1898 he married actress Augusta Gade, née Smith-Petersen (1858–1936). She was the daughter of Morten Smith-Petersen and Cathrine von der Lippe. She had previously been married to physician and art patron Fredrik Georg Gade.

He studied music first in Christiania (now Oslo) before going to Germany, where he studied at the conservatory in Leipzig under Salomon Jadassohn and fell under the musical influences of Wagner and Liszt. He lived in Germany for much of his life, but received regular grants from the Norwegian government. In 1921–22 he went to the United States of America to teach composition for a season at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Sinding's publishers required from him piano and chamber music, which had broader sales than the symphonic works he preferred. His own instrument was the violin. The large number of short, lyrical piano pieces and songs that Sinding wrote has led to many seeing him as the heir to his fellow countryman, Edvard Grieg, not so much in musical style but as a Norwegian composer with an international reputation. Sinding is best remembered today for one of his piano works, Frühlingsrauschen (Rustle of Spring, 1896). Among his other works are four symphonies,[9] three violin concertos, a piano concerto,[10] chamber music, songs and choral works to Norwegian texts, and an opera, Der Heilige Berg (The Holy Mountain, 1914).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Sinding