Carl Nielsen on Music Theory Print

Aladdin (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Nielsen composed much of the music in Skagen during the summer of 1918, completing it after returning to Copenhagen in January 1919. He experienced major difficulties with the work as the director, Johannes Poulsen, had used the orchestra pit for an extended stage, leaving the orchestra cramped below a majestic staircase on the set. When Poulsen cut out large parts of the music during final rehearsals and changed the sequence of dances, Nielsen demanded that his name be removed from the posters and the programme. In fact, the theatre production in February 1919 was not very successful and was withdrawn after only 15 performances.

An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In a letter to his wife dated 4 January 1927, Nielsen wrote: “Now over the next 8-10 days I have to write an overture to mark a big Faroese gala at the Royal Theatre supported by the State… I will use motifs from the Faroese ballads, and I can easily manage that, and it will give me some pleasure as it is good that we do something for them.” In fact the visit was postponed until November owing to an influenza epidemic. There were only two performances of the work during Nielsen’s lifetime, both of them in connection with the Faroese celebrations. The first was at the Royal Theatre on 27 November 1927, the second at a concert in Copenhagen City Hall with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra.

At the Bier of a Young Artist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Oluf Hartmann was the son of composer Emil Hartmann and the brother of Bodil Neergaard, the lady of Fuglsang Manor, a gathering place for musicians and artists on the Danish island of Lolland. Hartmann died on Sunday, 16 January 1910. By the following Wednesday, Nielsen had completed the draft of his “Andante lamentoso”. Perhaps originally written for string quartet, the piece was later adapted by the composer for string orchestra. The four-minute piece in E-flat minor was first performed by the Gade Quartet at Oluf Hartmann’s funeral on 21 January in the chapel at Holmen’s Cemetery in Copenhagen. By April 1912, Nielsen had adapted it for strings in connection with an Easter concert he conducted at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen. He conducted the piece on several other occasions during his lifetime and it was also played at his funeral on 9 October 1931 by his son-in-law Emil Telmányi’s chamber orchestra. The piece has been known under different names. It was first entitled “Andante doloroso” for the concerts in Copenhagen in 1912 and then it became known as “Andante dolorosa (Ved en ung Kunstners Baare)” or “Andante dolorosa (At the Bier of a Young Artist)”.

Chaconne (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In a letter to his daughter Irmelin dated 19 December 1916, Nielsen, who was spending Christmas alone because of difficulties in his marriage with Anne Marie, wrote that he was composing a large Chaconne for piano. “You probably know,” he explained, “that the passacaglia and chaconne forms are more or less the same: a fundamental theme or bass that is varied in numerous ways.” He hoped with his work for the piano would emulate Bach’s beautiful Chaconne for solo violin. On 18 January 1917, he informed Irmelin that the work was finished, telling her he thought it was “a really big piece, and I think effective.”

Clarinet Concerto (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

In 1921, Nielsen heard the Copenhagen Wind Quintet rehearsing some music by Mozart. He was struck by the tonal beauty and musicianship of this group, and he soon became intimately acquainted with its members. That same year, he wrote his Wind Quintet expressly for this ensemble. The last movement of this work is a theme and variations depicting in music the personalities of the five players and their respective instruments, much in the manner that Elgar portrayed his friends in the Enigma Variations. Nielsen planned to carry the idea further; he wanted to write a concerto for each of his five friends. Only two of these compositions ever came into being. For Gilbert Jespersen, who succeeded Paul Hagemann as flautist of the Copenhagen Quintet, he wrote his Flute Concerto in 1926; two years later, he composed his Clarinet Concerto for the group’s clarinettist, Aage Oxenvad. The latter work, completed August 15, 1928, was first heard in a private concert at the summer home of Carl Johan Michaelsen, in Humlebaek, on September 14, with Oxenvad as soloist and Emil Telmányi conducting. The same performers gave the premiere in Copenhagen on October 11 of that same year, when it met with a decidedly mixed reception. Since that time, it has gained much wider acceptance. The Clarinet Concerto was conceived during the most difficult period in Nielsen’s life. He was sixty-three, and had achieved considerable renown throughout Scandinavia; yet he was disappointed that his music had not reached a wider audience, he was deeply concerned with the unsettled state of the world, and he knew that his days were numbered. Perhaps this accounts for the bitter struggle which occurs throughout this concerto—a war between the tonalities of F major and E major. Every time hostilities seem to be at an end, a snare drum incites the combatants to renewed conflict. Another explanation for this is that the clarinetist for whom he was writing the concerto had a bi-polar disorder. Therefore, the concerto was poking fun at his constant mood swings. This is how things went according to sources close to Nielsen: Carl Nielsen’s friend Carl Johan Michaelsen had to urge him several times before he started composing a second concerto for a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. This time it revolved around clarinettist Aage Oxenvad. Nielsen started composing in the spring of 1928. On 15 August he completed the score at Damgaard. Emil Telmányi had already started on an arrangement for piano for the benefit of Oxenvad, who grumbled that Nielsen must be able to play the clarinet since he had systematically used the notes that are most difficult to play. The Concerto was performed for the first time on 14 September at a private concert in Carl Johan Michaelsen’s summer villa Højtofte, in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen. The soloist was Oxenvad, to whom the Concerto is dedicated. Twenty-two members of the Chapel Royal were conducted by Emil Telmányi. The first public performance took place in Copenhagen on 11 October with the same players, and received a generally positive reception. Politiken wrote: “… he has liberated the soul of the clarinet, not only the wild animal aspect but also its special brand of ruthless poetry…. This work could hardly have found a more homogeneous interpretation. Oxenvad’s sonority is in tune with the trolls and the giants, and he has soul, a rough and stocky primordial force mixed with naive Danish mildness. Certainly Carl Nielsen must have had his particular clarinet sound in mind while composing this Concerto.”

Commotio (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Commotio was considered by Nielsen to be a particularly important work. In a letter to his son-in-law Emil Telmányi on 24 February 1931 he wrote: “None of my other works has demanded such great concentration as this: an attempt to reconstitute what is truly the only valid organ style, the polyphonic music that is especially suited to this instrument, which for a long time has been regarded as a kind of orchestra, which it absolutely is not.” Nielsen also commented on the length of the piece: at 22 to 24 minutes, it was longer than any of Bach’s organ works. There was great interest in the piece by Danish organists, resulting in several private performances. In addition to that at the Christiansborg Palace Chapel, there were two performances by Peter Thomsen, two by Finn Viderø on 14 June on the Marcussen organ in St Nikolai’s Church, Copenhagen, one a week later by Emilius Bangert in Roskilde Cathedral and yet one more by Peter Thomsen in July.

Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In her list of Nielsen’s compositions, Emilie Demant Hatt notes that the first fantasy piece, “Andante” (later “Romance”) was completed on 30 November 1889, and that “Intermezzo”, was finished on 9 March 1890. From the same source, it appears that the Romance was originally intended to be for oboe and organ. In the summer of 1890, Nielsen had sent his manuscript to Orla Rosenhoff who had instructed him at the Conservatory. Rosenhoff responded: “Here and there a little adjustment has been made in the piano part; you will easily discover what I refer to, but could with the same ease restore the original if you do not agree with me about the changes.” Changes were indeed made to the piano part. Nielsen, who was in Dresden on a grant when he read the proofs in the autumn of 1890, commented in his diary entry for 18 September: “Have spent the day reading proofs of my oboe pieces. At one place in the second piece some A’s had to be deleted, so now it says a bort, a bort (A away, A away). The joke that I have aborted my own brainchild suggests itself rather strongly.” Just four days later, Nielsen explains that he and the pianist Victor Bendix played the fantasy pieces at a social gathering in Dresden: “First we played Bendix’s trio (I played the violin). Beautiful piece of music! Then B. and I played my two oboe pieces. This was in reality the greatest triumph I have had so far.” Nielsen no doubt played the oboe part on the violin.

Flute Concerto (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In 1921, Nielsen heard the Copenhagen Wind Quintet rehearsing music by Mozart and was struck by the group’s tonal beauty and musicianship. That same year, he wrote his Wind Quintet expressly for this ensemble. The last movement of the wind quintet is a theme and variations depicting in music the personalities of the five players and their respective instruments, much in the manner that Elgar portrayed his friends in the Enigma Variations. Promising he would write a concerto for each member of the quintet, he started with the flautist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen (1890-1975). As a result of poor health, he was only able to complete one more concerto before his death, the Clarinet Concerto, for the group’s clarinetist, Aage Oxenvad, which he completed in 1928. Nielsen began work on the flute concerto while travelling in Germany and Italy in August 1926, intending it to be performed in Paris at a concert devoted to four of his works on 21 October. Unfortunately, as a result of a prolonged stomach complaint, he did not complete the work in time and had to introduce a temporary ending for its Paris premiere.

Fynsk Foraar

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Aage Berntsen, a medical doctor and a writer, was the winner of a competition arranged around 1917 by the Dansk Korforening (Danish Choral Society) for a text on Danish history or landscape which would subsequently be set to music by Carl Nielsen. Several years went by before the composer could find the time or inclination to work on the piece, especially as he was in the middle of composing his Fifth Symphony. Indeed, on 19 August 1921, he wrote: “For some time I have not felt very comfortable because I could not get started on the choral work which I must have done by 1 September, and every day I considered throwing it away and informing the board of all these combined societies that I had to beg off… But then one day I found the tone and the style, which will be a light mixture of lyricism and humour, and now it is well in hand and will soon be finished. Only with the help of his pupil Nancy Dalberg, who had helped with fair-copying the large score for Aladdin, was he able to meet his deadline. On 3 September 1921, he wrote to his wife: “My new choral piece has turned out to be a really big piece of work (42 pages in the piano arrangement) and has now actually been delivered on time. But I have also worked a lot and with a certain lightness. The poet has called it Springtime on Funen but I also give it a subtitle, Lyrical Humoresque, which suggests that the style is light and lively… Now I will continue with my interrupted symphony.”

Helios Overture

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The Helios Overture is scored for the following instruments, organized by family (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings): * 2 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, and 2 bassoons * 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, 1 bass trombone, and tuba * Timpani * Violins (I and II), violas, cellos, and double basses

Discography#

The table below lists commercially available recordings of the Helios Overture:

External links#

- Helios Overture, CNW 34: Scores at the Catalogue of Carl Nielsen’s Works by the Royal Danish Library

Hymnus amoris

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Carl Nielsen was inspired to write Hymnus amoris in 1891 while on his honeymoon in Italy. He and his wife Anne Marie were both impressed by Titian’s painting The Miracle of a Jealous Husband in Padua. After he had completed the score, his wife provided a drawing for the title page. On one of the copies, Nielsen wrote: “To my own Marie! These tones in praise of love are nothing compared to the real thing; but if you continue to show your affection for me, I will strive to achieve a higher expression of the world’s strongest force, and then the two of us together will rise higher and higher towards the goal, as we constantly aspire for love in life and in art.” In February 1897, in a letter to the Swedish composer Bror Beckman, Nielsen explained: “I really worked with this idea for a year or two, but it was only in the summer that I managed to begin writing the music. On 27 December the piece was finished and on 23 and 25 March it will be performed at the Music Society (Musikforeningen), probably conducted by myself.” The text for Hymnus amoris, initially wrriten in Danish by literary historian Axel Olrik on the basis of Carl Nielsen’s own draft, was later translated into Latin by Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Nielsen justified his choice of Latin in a note on the score itself: “I think I can defend my choice of Latin by saying that this language is monumental and elevates one above over-lyrical or personal feelings which would be out of place where the object is to use a large polyphonic choir to describe such a universally human feeling as love. In addition, this language is more singable than Danish or German, and finally — as the most important reason — the textual repetitions are more tolerable in Latin.”

Maskarade

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and performance history#

Nielsen first considered writing an opera based on Holberg’s play Maskarade around the turn of the 20th century. He contacted Vilhelm Andersen (1864–1953) whom he knew from his student days, hoping to persuade him to write a libretto. Andersen initially refused but finally agreed, allowing Nielsen to start composing in May 1904. The Royal Theatre scheduled the opera even before it was finished. In fact, Nielsen completed the overture only on 3 November, a week before the opera’s premiere. The world premiere of Maskarade took place at Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen on 11 November 1906. It was a resounding success from the start with an exceptional run of 25 performances over its first four months. Reviews in the press were however mixed, the consensus being that the first act was the best, the second was rather weak and the third lacked theatrical clarity although the music was brilliant. The opera did not premiere in the United States until 1972 when it was performed by the St. Paul Opera in Minnesota with conductor Igor Buketoff, Mary Beth Peil as Leonora, and Clinton Ware as Leander. The first reported New York performance was by the Bronx Opera Company in 1983. It was performed in the US again in 2014, when it had its Chicago premiere on 18 January at the Vittum Theater performed by the Vox3 Collective. Maskarade received a major international revival in 2005 in a new production by David Pountney which was performed at the Bregenz Festival in August of that year and travelled to the Royal Opera House the following month for its first performance by the company. The opera had been previously performed in the UK at London’s Morley College in 1983 and in Leeds by Opera North in 1990. Despite its popularity in his home country, Nielsen was not entirely satisfied with the work, citing structural weakness in the final two acts; but he never got around to revising the work. The overture and the ballet from the third act (“Dance of the Cockerels”) are performed frequently, as noted by the Carl Nielsen Society, which states that the overture is one of Nielsen’s most widely performed works at concerts in Europe and North America.

Moderen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Nielsen began to compose the music for the various songs in April 1920. The work proceeded rather slowly, partly because he was not too keen to be working for the theatre once more and partly because he was travelling on assignments in Paris, London and Amsterdam. In addition, he was already starting to work on his Fifth Symphony. Nevertheless, as time passed, he grew increasingly interested in the project. By the beginning of October, he was able to tell Johannes Nielsen, the theatre director, “It is a beautiful play, and I am interested in being part of it,” and inform Rode, “Your gala play has given me pleasure, so I want to do what I can with my music.” The gala performance, originally scheduled for Boxing Day 1920, had to be postponed to January because the score was not completed in time for rehearsals. After considerable preparation, it finally took place on 30 January 1921. The accompanied songs assigned either to the Scald or to the Jester were sung by Svend Methling and Johannes Poulsen.

Pan and Syrinx

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

As late as 23 January 1918, in a letter to Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, Nielsen explained that although he had included Pan and Syrinx in his concert on 11 February, he had not yet written a single note. It appears, however, that he had been thinking about the piece for some time, ever since he and his wife Anne Marie had discussed Ovid’s Metamorphoses the previous year, inspiring him to compose the music. He did however manage to complete the score by 6 February. In addition to Pan and Syrinx, the concert which was devoted to works by Nielsen over almost 20 years, included the prelude to Act Two of Saul and David, Sleep and the Fourth Symphony, all conducted by Nielsen himself, as well as Chaconne for Piano played by Christian Christiansen.

Saga-Drøm

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

While working on the music for Ludvig Holstein’s drama Tove in the winter of 1907–08, Nielsen started to think about writing an orchestral piece based on Njal’s Saga. The first traces of the introductory theme for clarinet and viola are to be found in a draft of Tove where it is played by a French horn. On April 1, 1908, just after completing Tove, Nielsen signed off the fair copy of Saga Drøm, only a few days before its scheduled performance. Nielsen no doubt learned of Njal’s Saga and the piece’s motto “Now Gunnar dreams; let him enjoy his dream in peace” from the translation by N.M. Petersen. The saga tells how Gunnar, on his way out of the country with Kolskeg and Hjort after being sentenced to exile, is so tired that he calls for a stop and falls into a troubled sleep. Hjort asks whether they should rouse him but Kolskeg replies, “No, let him enjoy his dream.” In his dream, Gunnar imagines they are being attacked by wolves. He and Kolskeg manage to defend themselves but Hjort is killed. The others see Gunnar is having a nightmare but Kolskeg still insists that he should not be disturbed.

Saul og David

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

The music was composed rather slowly over a period of two years, partly in Copenhagen, partly when Nielsen was in Rome on an extended stay between December 1899 and June 1900. Completed in April 1901, the work was submitted to the Royal Theatre for adjudication. The conductor, Johan Svendsen, recommended the opera should be performed at an early date, alluding to a “highly interesting work, bearing throughout the stamp of an independent gifted artist” who demonstrated “clarity and assurance”.

Serenata in vano

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The year 1914 was not a pleasant one for Nielsen. Georg Høeberg had been engaged as conductor at the Royal Theatre although Nielsen had been deputy conductor for six years. This led him to hand in his resignation at the end of the 1913–14 season. He apparently composed the little quintet Serenata in vano in May, before he embarked on his fourth symphony. The probability that it was written for a tour is supported by a letter from Henrik Knudsen who reported: “Once when I went to see him a printed programme for a tour in the provinces lay there. On it was written: Carl Nielsen – Serenade. It was to be held in about a week. ‘What is that’, I said. ‘Serenade, I don’t know that one.’ ‘Nor do I,’ he said. But it was composed and fully rehearsed within a week.”

Søvnen

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The idea of writing Søvnen occurred to Nielsen in Athens shortly after he had composed the Helios Overture in early 1903. He asked Julius Lehmann whether he would like to write the text for the work but Lehmann declined. As a result, Nielsen began to write a text himself. Although he did not get very far with it, the idea behind the work comes across as calm sleep evolves into a nightmare: “The sons of Sleep, the Dreams, and their sisters, the Dream Sisters, rise up sleepily one by one. They are chained under the crown of the balm tree where first lazily, then attentively, they lift their heads and look in front of them… The whole world shakes and everything seems about to explode. Some voices shout for murder and blood.” However, Nielsen had difficulty in advancing with the work. On 26 November 1903, in a letter to his friend Henrik Knudsen, he explains: “Today I have begun work on ‘Sleep’. It is indeed high time I did begin, for tomorrow it is the 28th of November and thus just a year since Saul and David was played for the first time, and in all that time I have only managed to produce the Helios Overture.” In his memoirs, Svend Godske-Nielsen tells of how Nielsen appeared to escape from his difficulties when he “managed to write his beautiful melody for the poem Sænk kun dit Hoved, du Blomst (Lower thy head, o flower).” Johannes Jørgensen, who wrote the text of the song on 8 December 1903, also wrote the text for Søvnen although it is not clear how closely the two are related. :I would like to portray sleep in music, a sort of hymn to its glory. Sleep heals all wounds and alleviates all troubles, it is the greatest good for all living creatures and the blissful state where nothing is hard and palpable but everything swims along in a long, golden eternity. Sleep has its dreams, both good and bad, but they must each return to their own quarters: for sleep can probably be disturbed but it never can be killed. (Macbeth). :It might therefore be a kind of poem in three parts. But do not be alarmed: there need not be many words and lines in each part, because unlike the other arts, music has of course the faculty of slowing down and speeding up whenever necessary. Perhaps you find the idea is not poetic or suitable for poetic treatment. But do whatever you can, dear friend, for I assure you that it is musically poetic in the highest degree. :I wish I was talented enough myself. But now permit me to explain what I would have written if I had been in a position to write the poems and shape the piece myself, though I recognize I do not have the slightest ability to do so. Just the raw ingredients, which you obviously should not take too seriously, but they will convey the direction in which I wish to go. I suggest: :I. Quietly and dreamily, the cloud veers off to the west. ::Fluffily, it rolls down below the earth’s dark curve ::And the sun’s last dark-red glow ::kisses — between long, lingering shadows — ::The green moss on great trees and stones ::And everything opens up and breathes long ::and deep in a tired smiling fight ::For a wealth of balm and manna and joy. :II. But out on the distant horizon ::Come ::- Dreams of bliss ::- Of evil ::- Of terror :::Help! :III. Great inquiring human eyes ::lower two by two ::their soft dull heavy lids ::and close like sleeping calyces ::who have drunk in the sun’s bright crimson rays ::a day of dreams ::And sleep’s soft wide waters ::flow over the whole world: :And then there might even be a look at the last long slumber. :So, dear John Jorgensen: :I. some words that express the joy of sleep :II.something that disturbs it :III.the first mood with perhaps an allusion to death. :If you would do this for me, I just do not know what I could do for you. You certainly will not regret it, because in addition to your fees, my gratitude and my friendship will certainly make a contribution. Please accept sincere greetings from my wife. She asks me to write to you that she is looking forward to meeting you and your wife in the near future, as we have to tell you about Greece and talk about Rome and many other wonderful places. But a few days later, a second letter from Nielsen to Jørgensen shows that he was not happy with the poet’s first attempt. He had to explain that there was a big difference between composing for soloists and for choirs. He said that all he needed was just a few lines, similar to what those in old church compositions such as the Gloria or the Creed. Jørgensen apparently was not offended and on 21 November 1903 provided a new, more suitable text which formed the basis for Nielsen’s composition although Nielsen did make a few further changes. Carl Nielsen’s rough draft for the cantata is dated 10 November 1904 while his fair copy is dated 27 November 1904.

String Quartet No. 1 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Originally written in 1889, the piece was later slightly revised for its first public performance on 3 February 1898 in the smaller hall at the Odd Fellows Mansion in Copenhagen under the leadership of violinist Anton Svendsen. In particular, Nielsen added a “Résumé” section in the finale, bringing together themes from the first, third and fourth movements. Although arranged at short notice, the concert, which was devoted to works by Nielsen, was well attended. The other pieces in the programme were: the Humoresque-Bagatelles for piano, the Symphonic Suite, Opus 8, and the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A major, Opus 9. Published in 1900, it was dedicated to Johan Svendsen on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

String Quartet No. 2 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Nielsen reported in an interview that he was inspired to write the first movement of his second quartet when the theme suddenly occurred to him on a crowded tram in Copenhagen. In July 1890, in a letter written at his childhood home at Nørre Lyndelse, on the island of Funen, to his teacher Orla Rosenhoff, he indicated that the first movement had been completed and was ready for fair copying. A diary entry on 29 September states that he had just completed the third movement in Dresden. But the second movement caused him considerable trouble and it was not until 5 November, when he was in Berlin, that he reported: “Today got further at last in the Andante (later Poco adagio) for the quartet on which I have long stood still.” He told Rosenhoff in a letter dated 24 November: “I have rewritten the Andante three times.” However, it was only on 28 November that he wrote: “Have finished the Andante in the quartet today. At last! What that piece has cost me!” He had already completed the fourth movement before he left Dresden on 13 November. Despite five rehearsals, Nielsen was still nervous about performing the quartet for the famous Joseph Joachim during the afternoon of 18 December. Immediately after the performance he wrote; “We had held five rehearsals and yet it still sounded very mediocre; it is extremely difficult to play well, since there are so many modulations, often enharmonic affairs that have to be played so cleanly that half the difficulty would have been enough. If you add to this the fear of playing for Joachim, you can imagine that it did not go all that well.” Joachim did however offer encouragement, “praising (him) greatly for the parts he liked”. Later he explained how much he admired the “imagination and talent” with which the music had been written. Although Joachim suggested that the composer should rework the places he considered best in his work, Nielsen understandably refused to do so and Joachim finally conceded: “Well, my dear Mr. Nielsen, perhaps I am just an old Philistine. Write as you wish, as long as that is how you feel it.”

String Quartet No. 3 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

In 1897 and 1898, Nielsen was a busy man: not only was he preparing to write an opera (Saul og David) but he spent the summers looking after his parents-in-law’s farm near Kolding in Jutland. Nielsen had an unfortunate experience when he tried to deliver the quartet’s third and fourth movements for fair copying. When he arrived at the copyist’s, a horse was lying in distress in front of a cart. He gave his music roll to a boy to hold and helped the horse up, but in just a couple of minutes the boy had disappeared with the roll and Nielsen had to write it all out once more.

String Quartet No. 4 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The Fourth String Quartet was composed between two of Nielsen’s major dramatic works, the comic opera Maskarade and his music for Holger Drachmann’s melodrama Hr. Oluf, han rider -. The first two movements were written in February and March and the last two in June and July 1906. It was first performed privately at the home of Nielsen’s friends, Viggo and Bodil Neergaard, Fuglsang on the island of Lolland. In August 1906, Nielsen wrote to his friend Henrik Knudsen: “Today we played my new quartet and it sounds as I had expected. I am beginning to discover the true nature of string instruments.” The quartet was originally entitled Piacevolezza after the first movement which was marked Allegro piacevolo ed indolente (agreeably and lazily). In the revised 1919 edition, the movement was renamed Allegro non tanto e comodo and the title was dropped. The work remained in manuscript form until 1923 when it was published by Peters of Leipzig.

Suite for String Orchestra (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Nielsen composed the Suite for String Orchestra when he was only 22 and was still studying composition with Orla Rosenhoff, his former teacher at the Conservatory. It was first performed on 8 September 1888 at the Tivoli Hall in Copenhagen where the Tivoli Orchestra was conducted by Balduin Dahl, a recognised supporter of young talent. It was a great success. Nielsen, who played in the orchestra, was called back several times and the middle movement was played as an encore. Press reviews were mixed, but Avisen was very positive: “The young man obviously has a great deal on his musical mind that he wants to say, and what he told us on Saturday was presented in a beautiful, concise form, modestly and attractively, with excellent part-writing and an appealing fullness of sound that reveals an excellent eye for the string material.” The work marked an important milestone in Nielsen’s career as it was not only his first real success but it was also the first of his pieces he conducted himself when it was played in Odense a month later. In an interview with Pressens Magasin in 1918, Nielsen said that the movements had subtitles: “The Danaids”, “The Dance of the Charites” and “The Bacchus Procession”.

Symphony No. 1 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The symphony is in the standard four movements: A typical performance takes approximately 35 minutes. The symphony’s melodies have a distinctive Danish flavour and are imbued with Nielsen’s personal style. Nielsen scholar Robert Simpson describes the composer’s symphonic debut as “probably the most highly organized first symphony ever written by a young man of twenty-seven.” The work opens in G minor, and closes with a rousing peroration in C major. This tendency to move away from the original key to C major is the basis of the whole symphony’s tonal structure, and displays for the first time Nielsen’s hallmark compositional device, “progressive tonality.” (Nielsen at one stage even thought of calling the work “Symphony in C”. ) Simpson states “it is possibly the first symphony to end in a key other than that in which it started”.

Symphony No. 2 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Nielsen began on the Second Symphony while the work on his first opera, Saul and David was still in progress. The first movement was finished on 28 December 1901 but after this the composition made slow progress. The composer only finished his work at the last moment. The fourth movement is dated 22 November 1902, just a week before the first performance. Nielsen himself describes the background to the symphony in a programme note for a performance at the Konsertföreningen (Concert Society) in Stockholm shortly before he died in 1931. I had the idea for ‘The Four Temperaments’ many years ago at a country inn in Zealand. On the wall of the room where I was drinking a glass of beer with my wife and some friends hung an extremely comical coloured picture, divided into four sections in which ‘the Temperaments’ were represented and furnished with titles: ‘The Choleric’, ‘The Sanguine’, ‘The Melancholic’ and ‘The Phlegmatic’. The Choleric was on horseback. He had a long sword in his hand, which he was wielding fiercely in thin air; his eyes were bulging out of his head, his hair streamed wildly around his face, which was so distorted by rage and diabolical hate that I could not help bursting out laughing. The other three pictures were in the same style, and my friends and I were heartily amused by the naivety of the pictures, their exaggerated expression and their comic earnestness. But how strangely things can sometimes turn out! I, who had laughed aloud and mockingly at these pictures, returned constantly to them in my thoughts, and one fine day I realized that these shoddy pictures still contained a kind of core or idea and – just think! – even a musical undercurrent! Some time later, then, I began to work out the first movement of a symphony, but I had to be careful that it did not fence in the empty air, and I hoped of course that my listeners would not laugh so that the irony of fate would smite my soul.

Symphony No. 3 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

In an interview Nielsen gave to the Nationaltidende newspaper in 1918, he said that: It is not known what work Nielsen was alluding to with “one of my larger works”, but it is claimed to be his 3rd Symphony, Espansiva.

First movement, Allegro espansivo#

The character designation of the first movement (Allegro espansivo) serves as the symphony’s subtitle, but it is not clear what Nielsen meant by ’espansiva’. Composer Robert Simpson wrote that it suggests the “outward growth of the mind’s scope”. He worked on this first movement until 13 April 1910. \time 3/4 \key f \major \partial 4 \tempo 2. = 82 a4( \ff d’ f’ a’ b’ d b’) bes’( a'2~ \fz a'4 )

Symphony No. 4 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

Nielsen was thinking about a new symphony in 1914, and in May he wrote to his wife (who was in Celle): I have an idea for a new composition, which has no programme but will express what we understand by the spirit of life or manifestations of life, that is: everything that moves, that wants to live … just life and motion, though varied – very varied – yet connected, and as if constantly on the move, in one big movement or stream. I must have a word or a short title to express this; that will be enough. I cannot quite explain what I want, but what I want is good. Nielsen concentrated on this until 1916, and named his 4th symphony “The Inextinguishable” (). The name does not apply to the symphony itself, but rather to “that which is inextinguishable”. In his notes for the symphony, Nielsen refers to “the elemental will to live”.

Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

There is no documentation of what inspired Nielsen to write his Fifth Symphony or when he started to write it, but it is generally understood that the first movement was composed in Humlebæk during the winter and spring of 1921. He stayed at his summer house at Skagen in the early summer. At the end of July he moved to a friend’s home at Damgaard to compose the cantata Springtime on Funen, and was therefore only able to resume working on the second movement of the symphony in September, during his free time from his conducting work in Gothenburg. The whole symphony was finished on 15 January 1922, as dated on the score. He dedicated the new symphony to his friends Vera and Carl Johan Michaelsen. Having insufficient rehearsal time, the premiere took place only nine days later, conducted by the composer himself at the music society Musikforening in Copenhagen.

Symphony No. 6 (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

He began working on it in August 1924 and by the end of October wrote to Carl Johan Michaelsen: The first movement was finished at the end of November while he was in Copenhagen, and the second movement was composed during Christmas. At the end of January 1925 he traveled to the French Riviera with his wife. While he had been in Copenhagen, Nielsen had composed the third movement, but he now had to put the symphony aside to work on a commission for incidental music to , which was to be performed at the Open Air Theatre in the deer park. He completed the Ebbe Skammelsøn score immediately before his sixtieth birthday on June 9. While traveling to Damgaard in the middle of July 1925, Nielsen was able to continue work on his symphony. The last movement was finally completed on December 5, 1925. The first performance was given by the Chapel Royal Orchestra on December 11. The Copenhagen reviewers were confused by the style of the new Symphony. Nielsen had called it “Sinfonia semplice” (Simple Symphony). It has remained the least performed of all six symphonies.

Tre Klaverstykker

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Nielsen composed the first two movements in January and February 1928, dating the second 1 March 1928. He turned then to the composition of the Clarinet Concerto, and finished the third piano movement on 6 November 1928. The first two pieces were initially performed in April 1928. The three pieces were published after his death in 1937 by Edition Dania in Copenhagen.

Structure and music#

The three pieces are marked: # Impromptu: Allegro fluento # Adagio # Allegro non troppo The beginning is reminiscent of Impressionism, but moves to “more abrupt and dissonant material”, according to the musicologist Chris Morrison. Nielsen commented on the last pages: “Think of a tipsy fellow trying to keep his dignity and upright position by holding on to a lamp-post!” Morrison writes that the Adagio shows “sudden outbursts” in mostly “tender and haunting music”. In the last movement, which he describes as “tough-minded, forceful”, Nielsen at times approaches atonality. The pieces are related to the music of Bartók and Schönberg’s early twelve-tone music. The musicologist Daniel Grimley notes that the pieces convey a “dual sense of childlike innocence and devilish improvisation”.

Tre Motetter

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History and words#

Nielsen listened in 1928 to a concert of a cappella Renaissance polyphony conducted by Mogens Wöldike. The conductor asked Nielsen, his former teacher, to compose something for the group, and made suggestions for texts. Instead, Nielsen and his wife Anne-Marie selected sections from different psalms. Nielsen composed the works from April to August 1929 while studying vocal polyphonic music by Renaissance composers. "" is the ninth verse of Psalm 38 (Psalm 37 in the Vulgate), translated in the King James Version: “Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.” (). "" (The lord leads me), known as: The Lord is my shepherd) are the first two verses of Psalm 23 (Psalm 22 in the Vulgate), reading in the KJ translation: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.” (). "" is the 21st verse of Psalm 31 (the 22nd verse of Psalm 30 in the Vulgate), in the KJ version: “Blessed be the Lord: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.” (). The three motets were first performed on 11 April 1930 at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by Mogens Wöldike and the Palestrina choir. They were published in 1931 by the in Copenhagen.

Violin Concerto (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Opus 33, was not an easy assignment for Nielsen. He began writing it in the summer of 1911 in Bergen, Norway, where he was spending some time at the invitation of Nina Grieg. It progressed with some difficulty as Nielsen, now back in his native Denmark, commented that the concerto “has to be good music, and yet always make allowances for the activity of the solo instrument in the best light, that is rich in content, popular and dazzling without becoming superficial.” He did not complete it until mid-December.

Wind Quintet (Nielsen)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

According to his biographer Torben Meyer, Carl Nielsen started composing the wind quintet in the autumn of 1921 after hearing four members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet (flautist: Paul Hagemann, oboist: Svend C. Felumb, clarinettist: Aage Oxenvad, hornist: Hans Sørensen, bassoonist: Knud Lassen) rehearsing the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart with the pianist Christian Christiansen, whom Nielsen was having a telephone conversation with while the winds rehearsed. It was these musicians he specifically had in mind when he wrote the piece. British composer and biographer Robert Simpson writes, “Nielsen’s fondness of wind instruments is closely related to his love of nature, his fascination for living, breathing things. He was also intensely interested in human character, and in the Wind Quintet composed deliberately for five friends, each part is cunningly made to suit the individuality of each player.”