At the age of 11 he made his first public appearance as an organist and improviser on the organ at a concert at the Frederikskirken (Marmorkirken) in Copenhagen.

Langgaard's first compositions, 2 piano pieces and 2 songs, were published when he was 13, and around that time he was taught counterpoint by the celebrated composer Carl Nielsen for about a month.

A year later, his choral work Musae triumphantes was performed at a concert in Copenhagen, marking his public debut as a composer.

Only at the age of 46 did he manage to obtain a permanent job, as the organist at the cathedral in Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark, situated in southwest Jutland.

Rued Langgaard composed in a late Romantic style, emphatically dramatic and endowed with colossal mood swings.

[3] It was composed during World War I, but only performed twice (in Germany in 1921–1922) during Langgaard's lifetime and lay dormant for almost 50 years before being rediscovered.

Examples of descriptive names for individual movements are Wireless Caruso and Compulsive Energy and Daddies rushing off to the Office (in symphony No.

Other works of Langgaard currently available on CD include Music of the Spheres,[7] Messis (Organ drama in three evenings), Antichrist (Church opera in six scenes), Duo Lys Pa Himlen, piano concertos, The End of Time, and various works for solo instruments.

[8] Some secular and religious choral works, performed by Ars Nova Copenhagen, can be found the CD Rose Garden Songs.