Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen (Danish: [kʰɑːl ˈnelsn̩]; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) is widely recognized as Denmark's greatest composer; he was also a skilled conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. Throughout his career he maintained something of the reputation of an "outsider" – in his own country, a provincial, to the world, a Dane – but in the years after his death his works firmly entered the international repertoire.

Nielsen's career and personal life were marked by many difficulties and this is reflected in some of his music. He is especially admired for his six symphonies, his Wind Quintet and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet. In Denmark, his opera Maskarade and many of his songs have become an integral part of the national heritage. While his early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, he soon started to develop his own style, first experimenting with progressive tonality and later diverging even more radically from the standards of composition still common at the time. International interest in his music accelerated after he was advocated by leading conductors including Leonard Bernstein from the 1960s onwards, and recordings and concerts of his works are now frequent.

In his own country Nielsen's reputation was sealed in 2006 when three of his compositions were listed by the Ministry of Culture amongst the twelve greatest pieces of Danish music. The Danish Government sponsored a complete on-line edition of Nielsen's works, which was compiled carried between 1994–2009. For many years, he appeared on the Danish hundred-kroner banknote. In 2015, the 150th anniversary of Nielsen's birth, numerous celebratory performances of his works are scheduled.

Life

Early years

Nielsen was the seventh of 12 children in a poor peasant family in Nørre Lyndelse near Sortelung south of Odense on the Danish island of Funen. His father, Niels Jørgensen, was a house painter and amateur musician who, with his abilities as a fiddler and cornet player, was in strong demand for local celebrations. All the children bore the surname Nielsen despite regulations forbidding the use of patronyms. Nielsen described his childhood in his autobiography Min Fynske Barndom (My Childhood on Funen). His mother, whom he recalls singing folk songs during his childhood, was the daughter of a well-to-do family of sea captains and his uncle was a composer and performer of popular music.^[1]

Nielsen gave an account of his introduction to music: "I had heard music before, heard father play the violin and cornet, heard mother singing, and, when in bed with the measles, I had tried myself out on the little violin".^[2] He learned the violin and piano as a child and wrote his earliest compositions at the age of eight or nine: a lullaby, now lost, and a polka which the composer mentioned in his autobiography. However, his parents apparently did not believe he had any future as a musician as they apprenticed him to a shopkeeper from a nearby village when he was 14. By midsummer the shopkeeper was bankrupt and Carl had to return to his parents' home. He learned how to play brass instruments, which provided him with a job as a bugler and alto trombonist in the 16th Battalion of the Danish Army at nearby Odense; he took up his new positions in the battalion on 1 November 1879.^[3]

While Nielsen did not give up the violin during his time with the battalion, he usually only played it when he went home to perform at dances with his father.^[3] In 1881, he began to take his violin playing more seriously, taking private lessons from Carl Larsen, the sexton at Odense Cathedral. It is not known how much Nielsen composed during this period, but from his autobiography, it can be deduced that he wrote some trios and quartets for brass instruments, and that he had difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that brass instruments were tuned in different keys. Following an introduction to Niels Gade, the director of the Royal Conservatory at Copenhagen, by whom he was well-received, Nielsen sought to ensure that he could be released at a short notice from the military band. In January 1884, he went to Copenhagen for further studies at the Conservatory.^[3]

He studied at the Conservatory from the beginning of 1884 until December 1886. Though not an outstanding student and composing little, he progressed well in violin under Valdemar Tofte and received a solid grounding in music theory from Orla Rosenhoff, who would remain a valued adviser during his early years as a professional composer. He also studied composition under Gade, whom he liked as a friend but not for his music. Contacts with fellow students and cultured families in Copenhagen, some of whom would become lifelong friends, became equally important. The patchy education resulting from his country background left Nielsen insatiably curious about the arts, philosophy and aesthetics. But, in the opinion of David Fanning, it also left him "with a highly personal, common man's point of view on those subjects".^[4]

By September 1889 Nielsen had progressed well enough on the violin to gain a position with the second violins in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra which played at Copenhagen's Royal Theatre. Although the position sometimes caused Nielsen considerable frustration, he continued to play there until 1905. Between graduation and attaining this position, he gave violin lessons, made a modest income as a teacher and enjoyed continued support from patrons. Some of Nielsen's string chamber works were performed at this time, including a Quartet in F which he considered his official debut as a professional composer. However, a far greater impression was made by his Suite for Strings, which was performed at Tivoli Hall on 8 September 1888. Nielsen designated this work his Opus 1.^[4]

Marriage

After less than a year at the Royal Theatre, Nielsen won a scholarship of 1,800 kroner, giving him the means to spend several months traveling in Europe. During this time he discovered and then turned against Richard Wagner's music dramas, heard many of Europe's leading orchestras and soloists and sharpened his opinions on both music and the visual arts. While revering the music of Bach and Mozart, he remained ambivalent about much 19th-century music. In Paris, he met the Danish sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen, who was also travelling on a scholarship. They toured Italy together and married in St Mark's English Church, Florence on 10 May 1891 before returning to Denmark.^[5]

"As well as being a love match," Fanning writes, "it was also a meeting of minds. Anne Marie was a gifted artist...She was also a strong-willed and modern-minded woman, determined to forge her own career."^[6] This determination would strain the Nielsens' marriage, as Anne Marie would spend months away form home during the 1890s and 1900s, leaving Carl, who was susceptible to opportunities with other ladies, to raise their three young children in addition to composing and fulfilling his duties at the Royal Theatre. He had already had a child by an affair before he met Anne Marie, in 1888. Carl suggested divorce in March 1905, but the Nielsens remained married for the remainder of the composer's life. A further infatuation of Carl also led to another love-child in 1912, about which Anne Marie never learned.^[7] Carl sublimated his anger and frustration over his marriage in a number of musical works, most notably between 1897 and 1904, a period which he sometimes called his "psychological" period.^[6] Fanning writes, "At this time his interest in the driving forces behind human personality crystallized in the opera Saul and David and the Second Symphony (The Four Temperaments) and the cantatas Hymnus amoris and Søvnen".^[6]

Nielsen and his wife had two daughters and a son. Irmelin, his eldest daughter, studied music theory with her father. In December 1919, she married Eggert Møller (1893–1978), a medical doctor who became a professor at the University of Copenhagen and director of the polyclinic at Rigshospitalet, the national hospital. The younger daughter Anne Marie, who graduated from the Copenhagen Academy of Arts, married the Hungarian violinist Emil Telmányi (1892–1988) in 1918; he contributed to the promotion of Nielsen's music, both as a violinist and a conductor. Nielsen's son, Hans Børge, was handicapped as a result of meningitis and spent most of his life away from the family. He died near Kolding in 1956.^[8]

Mature composer

At first, Nielsen did not gain enough recognition for his works to be able to support himself. During the concert which saw the premiere of his First Symphony on 14 March 1894 conducted by Johan Svendsen, Nielsen played in the second violin section. The symphony was a great success when played in Berlin in 1896, contributing significantly to his reputation. Nielsen became increasingly in demand to write incidental music for the theatre as well as cantatas for special occasions, both of which provided a welcome source of additional income. "A reciprocal relationship grew up between his programmatic and symphonic works," Fanning writes; "sometimes he would find stageworthy ideas in his supposedly pure orchestral music; sometimes a text or scenario forced him to invent vivid musical imagery which he could later turn to more abstract use."^[6]

Beginning in 1901, Nielsen received a modest state pension – 800 kroner at first, growing to 7,500 kroner by 1927 – to augment his violinist's salary. This allowed him to stop taking private pupils and left him more time to compose. From 1903, he also had an annual retainer from his principal publisher, Wilhelm Hansen Edition. Between 1905 and 1914 he served as second conductor at the Royal Theatre. For his son-in-law, Emil Telmányi, Nielsen wrote his Violin Concerto, Op. 33 (1911). From 1914 to 1926, he conducted the orchestra of Musikforeningen (The Music Society). In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and continued to work there until his death.^[9]

The strain of dual careers and constant separation from his wife led at this time to an extended breach in his marriage. The couple began separation proceedings in 1916, and separation by mutual consent was granted in 1919. In the period 1916–1922 Nielsen often lived at his retreats at Damgaard and Fuglsang, and worked as a conductor at Gothenburg.^[7] The period was one of creative crisis for Nielsen which, coinciding with World War I, would strongly influence his Fourth (1914–16) and Fifth Symphonies (1921–22), arguably his greatest works.^[10] The composer was also depressed in the 1920s when his long-standing Danish publisher Wilhelm Hansen was unable to undertake publication of many of his major works, including Aladdin and Pan and Syrinx.^[11]

Nielsen's sixth and final symphony, Sinfonia semplice, was written in 1924–25. After suffering a serious heart attack in 1925, Nielsen was forced to curtail much of his activity, although he continued to compose until his death. His sixtieth birthday in 1925 brought many congratulations, a decoration from the Swedish government, and a gala concert and reception in Copenhagen. The composer however was in a dour mood; in an newspaper article he wrote:

If I could live my life again, I would chase any thoughts of Art out of my head and be apprenticed to a merchant or pursue some other useful trade the results of which could be visible in the end.... What use is it to me that the whole world acknowledges me, but hurries away and leaves me alone with my wares until everything breaks down and I discover to my disgrace that I have lived as a foolish dreamer and believed that the more I worked and exerted myself in my art, the better position I would achieve. No, it is no enviable fate to be an artist.^[12]

During his final years, Nielsen produced a short book of essays entitled Living Music (1925), and in 1927 My Childhood on Funen (Min Fynske Barndom), a memoir of his childhood. His last musical composition, the organ work Commotio, was premiered posthumously in 1931.^[13] Nielsen was buried in Vestre Cemetery, his death occurring after a series of heart attacks; all the music at his funeral, including the hymns, was the work of the composer.^[14]

Music

Musical style

The Danish sociologist Benedikte Brincker makes the point that the perception of Nielsen and his music by Danes is rather different from that of the world outside Denmark. Nielsen's interest in folk-music had special meaning for Danes, and this was intensified during the nationalistic movements of the 1930s and during World War II, in which singing was an important element of Danes distinguishing themselves from their German enemies. Nielsen's songs retain an important place in Danish culture and education. Krabbe describes the popular image of Nielsen in Denmark as being like "the ugly duckling syndrome" – a reference to the tale of the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen – whereby "a poor boy...passing through adversity and frugality...marches into Copenhagen and...comes to conquer the position as the uncrowned King". Thus while outside Denmark Nielsen is largely thought of as the composer of orchestral music and the opera Maskarade, in his own country he has a strong nationalist image. These two sides were "officially" brought together in Denmark in 2006 when the government issued a list of the twelve greatest Danish musical works, which included three by Nielsen – Maskarade, the Fourth Symphony, and a couple of Danish songs.^[15] Niels Krabbe asks the rhetorical question: "Can "the national" in Nielsen be demonstrated in the music in the form of particular themes, harmonies, sounds, forms, etc., or is it a pure construct of reception history?"^[16]

Nielsen himself was ambiguous about his attitudes to late Romantic German music and to nationalism in music. He wrote to the Dutch composer Julius Röntgen in 1909 "I am surprised by the technical skills of the Germans nowadays, and I cannot help thinking that all this delight in complication must exhaust itself. I foresee a completely new art of pure archaic virtue. What do you think about songs sung in unison? We must go back...to the pure and the clear."^[17] On the other hand he wrote in 1925 "Nothing destroys music more than nationalism does..and it is impossible to deliver national music on request."^[18]

Nielsen studied Renaissance polyphony closely, which accounts for some of the melodic and harmonic content of his music. This interest is exemplified in his "Three Motets" (Op. 55).^[19] To non-Danish critics, Nielsen's music initially had a neo-classical sound but became increasingly modern as Nielsen developed his own approach to what Robert Simpson called progressive tonality, moving from one key to another. Typically, Nielsen's music might end in a different key from that of its commencement, sometimes as the outcome of a struggle as in his symphonies.^[20] There is debate as to how much of such elements owe to his folk-music activities. Some critics have referred to his rhythms, his use of acciacaturas or appoggiaturas, or his frequent use of a flattened seventh and minor third in his works, as being typically 'Danish'.^[21] The composer himself wrote "The intervals, as I see it, are the elements which first arouse a deeper interest in music...[I]t is intervals which surprise and delight us anew every time we hear the cuckoo in spring. Its appeal would be less if its call were all on one note."^[22]

Symphonies

Nielsen is perhaps most closely associated outside Denmark with his six symphonies, written between 1892 and 1925. The works have much in common: they are all just over 30 minutes long, brass instruments are a key component of the orchestration, and they all exhibit unusual changes in tonality, which heighten the dramatic tension.^[23]

From its opening bars, Symphony No. 1 in G minor (1890–92), while reflecting the influence of Grieg and Brahms, shows Nielsen's individuality. In the Second Nielsen embarks on the development of human character. Inspiration came from a painting in an inn depicting the four temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine).^[24]

The title of Sinfonia Espansiva is understood by Robert Simpson to refer to the "outward growth of the mind's scope". It fully exploits Nielsen's technique of confronting two keys at the same time and includes a peaceful section with soprano and baritone voices, singing a tune without words.^[23] Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable, written during the First World War is among the most performed of the symphonies. In the last movement two sets of timpani are placed on opposite sides of the stage undertaking a sort of musical duel. Nielsen described the symphony as "the life force, the unquenchable will to live".^[25]

Also frequently performed is the Fifth Symphony, presenting another battle between the forces of order and chaos. A snare drummer is given the task of interrupting the orchestra, playing ad libitum and out of time, as if to destroy the music. Performed by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erik Tuxen at the 1950 Edinburgh International Festival, it caused a sensation, sparking interest in Nielsen's music outside Scandinavia.^[23][26] In the Sixth Symphony, written 1924–25, and subtitled Sinfonia Semplice (Simple Symphony), the tonal language seems similar to Nielsen's other symphonies, but the symphony becomes a sequence of cameos, some sad, some grotesque, some humorous.^[27][23]

Operas and cantatas

Nielsen's two operas are in very different styles. The four-act Saul og David (Saul and David), written in 1902 to a libretto by Einar Christiansen tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David while Maskarade (Masquerade) is a comic opera in three acts written in 1906 to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen, based on the comedy by Ludvig Holberg.^[28][29] It is considered to be Denmark's national opera, and in its home country has a lasting success and popularity, attributable to its many strophic songs, its dances and its underlying "old Copenhagen" atmosphere.^[30]

Nielsen wrote a considerable number of choral works but most of them were composed for special occasions and were seldom reprised. Three fully-fledged cantatas for soloists, orchestra and choir have, however, entered the repertoire. Nielsen composed Hymnus amoris (Hymn of Love) (1897) after studying early polyphonic choral style. It was inspired by Titian's painting Miracle of the Jealous Husband which Nielsen saw on his honeymoon in Italy in 1891. On one of the copies, Nielsen wrote: "To my own Marie! These tones in praise of love are nothing compared to the real thing.".^[31][9] Søvnen (The Sleep), Nielsen's second major choral work, sets to music the various phases of sleep including the terror of a nightmare in its central movement which, with is unusual discords, came as a shock to the reviewers at its premiere in March 1905.^[32] Fynsk Foraar (Springtime on Funen), completed in 1922, has been cited as the most Danish of all Nielsen's compositions as it extols the beauty of Funen's countryside.^[33]

Concertos

Nielsen wrote three concertos: the Violin Concerto is a middle-period work, from 1911, which lies within the tradition of European classicism, whereas the Flute Concerto of 1926 and the Clarinet Concerto which followed in 1928 are late works, influenced by the modernism of the 1920s and the product of "an extremely experienced composer who knows how to avoid inessentials."^[34] Unlike Nielsen's later works, the Violin Concerto has a distinct, melody-oriented neo-classical structure. The Flute Concerto, in two movements, was written for the flautist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen, a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet which had premiered Nielsen's Wind Quintet (1922).^[35] In contrast to the rather traditional style of the Violin Concerto, it reflects the modernistic trends of the 1920s. The first movement, for example, switches between D minor, E flat minor and F major before the flute comes to the fore with a cantabile theme in E major.^[36] The Clarinet Concerto was also written for a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, Aage Oxenvad. Nielsen stretches the capacities of instrument and player to the utmost; the Concerto has just one continuous movement and contains a struggle between the soloist and the orchestra and between the two principal competing keys, F major and E major.^[37]

The wind concerti present many examples of what Nielsen called "objektivering" ("objectification"). By this term he meant giving instrumentalists freedom of interpretation and performance within the bounds set out by the score.^[38]

Orchestral music

One of Nielsen's earliest works for orchestra is the immediately successful Suite for Strings (1888), which evokes Scandinavian Romanticism as expressed by Grieg and Svendsen.^[39] 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.^[40]

The Helios Overture (1903) stems from Nielsen's stay in Athens which gave him the inspiration of a work depicting the sun rising and setting over the Aegean Sea.^[41] The score is a showpiece for orchestra, and has been amongst Nielsen's most popular works.^[42] Saga-Drøm (Saga Dream), is a tone poem for orchestra based on the Icelandic Njal's Saga. In Nielsen's words: "There are among other things four cadenzas for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and flute which run quite freely alongside one another, with no harmonic connection, and without my marking time. They are just like four streams of thought, each going its own way – differently and randomly for each performance – until they meet in a point of rest, as if flowing into a lock where they are united."^[43]

At the Bier of a Young Artist (Ved en ung Kunstners Baare) for string orchestra was written for the funeral of the Danish painter Oluf Hartmann in January 1910 and was also played at Nielsen's own funeral.^[44] Pan and Syrinx (Pan og Syrinx), a vigorous nine-minute symphonic poem inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, was premiered in 1911.^[45] The Rhapsodic Overture, An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands (En Fantasirejse til Færøerne), draws on Faroese folk tunes but also contains freely composed sections.^[46]

Among Nielsen's orchestral works for the stage are Aladdin (1919) and Moderen, Opus 41 (1920). Aladdin was written to accompany a production of Adam Oehlenschläger’s fairy tale at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. The complete score, lasting over 80 minutes, is Nielsen's longest work apart from his operas, but a shorter orchestral suite consisting of the Oriental March, Hindu Dance and Negro Dance is often performed.^[47] Moderen, written to celebrate the reunification of Southern Jutland with Denmark, was first performed in 1921; it is a setting of patriotic verses written for the occasion.^[48]

Chamber music

	Wind Quintet, Op. 43 1. Allegro ben moderato 2. Menuetto 3. Praeludium: Adagio. Tema con variazioni: Un poco andantino Performed by James Galway (flute) with the Carion quintet
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Nielsen composed a number of chamber music works, some of them still high on the international repertoire. The Wind Quintet, one of his most popular pieces, was composed in 1922 specifically for the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. 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."^[49]

Nielsen wrote four string quartets. The First String Quartet No. 1 in G minor (1889) contains a "Résumé" section in the finale, bringing together themes from the first, third and fourth movements.^[50] The Second String Quartet No. 2 in F minor appeared in 1890 and the Third String Quartet in E flat major in 1898. The Fourth String Quartet in F major (1904) initially received a mixed reception, with critics uncertain about its reserved style. Nielsen revised it several times.^[51]

Keyboard works

Although Nielsen came to compose mainly at the piano, he only composed directly for it occasionally over a period of 40 years, creating works often with a distinctive style which slowed their international acceptance.^[52] The Chaconne, Opus 32, (1917) Nielsen considered "a really big piece, and I think effective".^[53]

All Nielsen's organ works were late compositions. Danish organist Finn Viderø suggests that his interest was prompted by the Orgelbewegung (Organ Reform Movement), and the renewal of the front pipes of the Schnitger organ in the St. Jacobi Church, Hamburg from 1928–1930.^[54] Nielsen's last major work, Commotio, Opus 58, a 22-minute piece for organ, was composed between June 1930 and February 1931.^[55]

Songs and hymns

Over the years, Nielsen wrote the music for over 290 songs and hymns, most of them for poems written by well-known Danish authors such as N. F. S. Grundtvig, B. S. Ingemann, Poul Martin Møller, Adam Oehlenschläger and Jeppe Aakjær. In Denmark, many of them are still popular today both with adults and children,.^[56] They are regarded as "the most representative part of the country's most representative composer's output".^[57]

Editions

Between 1994 and 2009 a complete new edition of Nielsen's works, the Carl Nielsen Edition, was commissioned by the Danish Government (at a cost of over 40 million kroners).^[58] For many of the works, including the operas Maskarade and Saul and David, and the complete Aladdin music, this was their first printed publication, copies of manuscripts having previously been used in performances.^[59] The scores are now all available for download free of charge at the website of the Danish Royal Library (which also owns most of Nielsen's music manuscripts).^[60] Nielsen's works are sometimes referred to by FS numbers, from the 1965 catalogue compiled by Dan Fog and Torben Schousboe.^[61]

Reception

Unlike his contemporary, the Finn Jean Sibelius, Nielsen's reputation abroad did not start to evolve until after World War II. For some time, international interest was largely directed towards his symphonies while his other works, many of them highly popular in Denmark, have only recently started to become part of the world repertoire.^[62]

Within two months of its successful premiere at the Odd Fellows Concert Hall in Copenhagen on 28 February 1912, the Third Symphony was in the repertoire of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and by 1913 it had seen performances in Stuttgart, Stockholm and Helsinki. The symphony was the most popular of all Nielsen's works during his lifetime and was also played in Berlin, Hamburg, London and Gothenburg.^[63][64] Other works caused some uncertainty, even in Denmark. After the premiere of the Fifth Symphony (1922) one critic wrote "The treasure of Danish symphonies and Carl Nielsen’s own output have been enriched by a strange and highly original work". Another, however, wrote that it was a "bloody, clenched fist in the face of an unsuspecting snob audience...filthy music from trenches". ^[11]

At the end of the 1940s two large scale biographies of Nielsen appeared in Danish^[65] and these dominated opinion of the composer's life and work for several decades.^[66] Robert Simpson's book Carl Nielsen, Symphonist (first edition 1952) was the earliest large-scale study in English.^[67]

An international breakthrough came in 1962 when Leonard Bernstein recorded the Fifth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra for CBS. This recording helped Nielsen's music to achieve appreciation beyond his home country, and is considered one of the finest recorded accounts of the symphony.^[68][69] Nielsen's centenary in 1965 was widely celebrated, both in terms of performances and publications, and Bernstein was awarded the Sonning Prize for his recoding of the Third Symphony.^[70] In 1988 Nielsen's diaries and his letters to Anne Marie were published for the first time, and these, together with a 1991 biography by Jørgen Jensen using this new material, enabled for the first time an objective assessment of the composer's personality, warts and all.^[71] Writing in the New York Times on the occasion of Nielsen's 125th anniversary in 1990, Andrew Pincus recalled that 25 years earlier Bernstein had believed the world was ready to accept the Dane as the equal of Jean Sibelius, speaking of "his rough charm, his swing, his drive, his rhythmic surprises, his strange power of harmonic and tonal relationships – and especially his constant unpredictability" (which Pincus believed was still a challenge for audiences).^[72] Biographies and studies in English in the 1990s^[73][74][75] helped to establish Nielsen's status world-wide,^[76] to the point where his music is now a regular feature of concert programming in Western countries.^[77]

Nielsen did not record any of his works.^[78] However, three younger contemporary conductors who had worked with him, Thomas Jensen, Launy Grøndahl, and Erik Tuxen, did record his symphonies and other orchestral works with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra between 1946 and 1952. Jensen also made the first LP recording of Symphony no. 5 in 1954.^[79] Work carried out by the recent complete Carl Nielsen Edition has revealed that the scores used in these recordings often differ from the composer's original intentions – "friends and colleagues had made changes in the music [which] did not always reflect, in every detail, the intended meaning of the preceding manuscript sources"^[80] – and thus the supposed "authenticity" of these recordings is now debatable.

There are now numerous recordings of all Nielsen's major works, including complete cycles of the symphonies conducted by, amongst others, Sir Colin Davis, Alan Gilbert, Herbert Blomstedt, and Sakari Oramo. Over 50 recordings have been made of Nielsen's Wind Quintet.^[81]

Legacy

Students

From 1915, Nielsen taught at the Royal Conservatory where he became director in 1931, shortly before his death. He also had a number of private students in his earlier days in order to supplement his income. As a result of his teaching, Nielsen has exerted considerable influence on classical music in Denmark.^[82] Among his most successful pupils were the composers Thorvald Aagaard, remembered in particular for his songs, Harald Agersnap, both a conductor and orchestral composer, and Jørgen Bentzon who composed choral and chamber music mainly for his folk music school (Københavns Folkemusikskole). Among his other students were the musicologist Knud Jeppesen, the pianist Herman Koppel, the conservatory professor and symphony composer Poul Schierbeck, the outstanding organist Emilius Bangert who played at Roskilde Cathedral, and Nancy Dalberg, one of Nielsen's private students who helped with the orchestration of Aladdin. Nielsen also instructed the conductor and choirmaster Mogens Wöldike, remembered for his interpretations of Baroque music, and Rudolph Simonsen, the pianist and composer who became director of the Conservatory after Nielsen's death.^[83]

Performances

The Carl Nielsen Society maintains a listing of performances of Nielsen's works, classified by region (Denmark, Scandinavia, Europe apart from Scandinavia and outside Europe) which demonstrates that his music is regularly performed throughout the world. The concerti and symphonies feature frequently in these listings.^[84]

Carl Nielsen International Competitions

The Carl Nielsen International Competition commenced in the 1970s under the auspices of the Odense Symphony Orchestra. A four-yearly violin competition has been held there since 1980. Flute and clarinet competitions were later added, but these have now been discontinued. An international Organ Competition, originally founded by the city of Odense, became associated with the Nielsen competition in 2009, but from 2015 will be organized separately, based in Odense Cathedral.^[85]

Heritage

The Carl Nielsen Museum, in Odense, is "dedicated to the composer Carl Nielsen and to his wife, the sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen".^[86] The composer featured on the 100 kroner note issued by the Danish National Bank from 1997 to 2010.^[87]

150th anniversary celebrations

A number of special events have been scheduled on or around 9 June 2015 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Carl Nielsen. In addition to many performances in Denmark, concerts are scheduled in cities across Europe, including London, Leipzig, Kraków, Gothenburg, Helsinki and Vienna, and even further afield in Japan, Egypt and New York.^[88] On 9 June, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra will present a programme in Copenhagen's DR Concert Hall featuring Hymnus amoris, the Clarinet Concerto and Symphony No. 4.^[89] The Danish Royal Opera will be performing Maskarade^[90] and a new production (directed by David Pountney), of Saul og David.^[91] During 2015 The Danish Quartet will be performing Nielsen's string quartets in Denmark, Israel, Germany, Norway and the UK (at the Cheltenham Music Festival).^[92] In the UK, the BBC Philharmonic will be presenting a concert series on Nielsen beginning on 9 June in Manchester.^[93] Nielsen's Maskarade overture will also be the first item at the opening night of the 2015 BBC Promenade Concerts in London, and works by him will feature in five other concerts of the Prom season.^[94]

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Carl Nielsen.

• The Carl Nielsen Edition – index page to introductory information on many of Nielsen's works from the Royal Danish Library
• Carl Nielsen at AllMusic
• Carl Nielsen bibliography 1985–2005 at the Royal Danish Library
• The Danish Carl Nielsen Society – provides lots of detailed information on the composer and his works, including an overview of upcoming concerts
• The Carl Nielsen Museum, Odense – "is a museum dedicated to the composer Carl Nielsen and to his wife, the sculptor Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen".
• Nielsen's Late Music, article by Svend Ravnkilde
• Carl Nielsen International Music Competition & Festival – an annual music event in Odense, celebrating the composer. Organised by the Odense Symphony Orchestra
• List of works from the Carl Nielsen Society
• Free scores by Carl Nielsen at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Carl Nielsen in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Carl Nielsen material in the BBC Radio 3 archives
• Carl Nielsen discography at MusicBrainz
• Listen to a free MP3 recording of Förunderligt och märkligt with Umeå Akademiska Kör

Works by Carl Nielsen Symphonies No. 1 No. 2 (The Four Temperaments) No. 3 (Sinfonia Espansiva) No. 4 (The Inextinguishable) No. 5 No. 6 (Simple Symphony) Concertos Violin Concerto Flute Concerto Clarinet Concerto Operas and cantatas Saul og David (opera) Maskarade (opera) Hymnus amoris Søvnen Fynsk Foraar Chamber music Wind Quintet Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano Serenata in vano (quintet) String Quartets D minor F major No. 1 No. 2 No. 3 No. 4 Other works Aladdin (stage music) At the Bier of a Young Artist (orchestral) Chaconne (piano) Commotio (organ) Helios Overture An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands (orchestral) Moderen (stage music) Pan and Syrinx (tone poem) Saga-Drøm (tone poem) Songs (list) Suite for String Orchestra Music of Denmark

Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 197250 LCCN: n83017365 ISNI: 0000 0001 0861 7388 GND: 118786180 SELIBR: 210646 SUDOC: 027835758 BNF: cb13897965k (data) BIBSYS: x90529263 MusicBrainz: 1be1367d-119f-4b08-bdfe-50b95043e544 NDL: 00621213