Carl August Nielsen (June 9, 1865 – October 3, 1931) was a conductor,
violinist, and composer from Denmark. His works are primarily known in Denmark, where cultural institutions, particularly since in the first
years of the 21st century, have sought to promote the legacy of Danish-born artists. Carl Nielsen is especially admired for his six symphonies
and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet.
Life
Nielsen was the fifth of twelve children in a poor peasant family in Sortelung (Nørre
Lyndelse), south of the city of Odense, Denmark. His father was
a house painter and amateur musician. Carl first discovered music by experimenting with the sounds and pitches he heard when
striking logs in a pile of firewood behind his home. He managed to learn the violin and
piano as a child.
He also learned how to play brass instruments, which led to a job as a
bugler in the 16th Battalion at nearby Odense. He
later studied violin and music theory at the Copenhagen
Music Conservatory, but never took formal lessons in composition. Nonetheless, he began to compose. At first, he did not gain
enough recognition for his works to support him. During the concert which saw the premiere of his first symphony on March 14, 1894 conducted by
Johan Svendsen, Nielsen played in the second violin
section. However, the same symphony was a great success when played in Berlin in 1896, and from
then his fame grew.
Carl Nielsen's childhood home
Nielsen continued to play the violin at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen until 1905, when he became 2nd conductor at the
Theatre (till 1914). From 1914-26 he was conductor the orchestra of "Musikforeningen" In 1916 he took a post teaching at the
Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, and continued to work there until his death, in his last year as director of the
institute.
On April 10, 1891 Nielsen married the Danish sculptor Anne
Marie Brodersen, after having met just a month before in Paris, and the couple honeymooned in Italy. Despite a long period of
marital strife including a lengthy separation and mutual accusations of infidelity, they remained married until Nielsen's death.
They had three children: Irmelin, Anne Marie, and Børge
He suffered a serious heart attack in 1925 and from that time on he was forced to curtail much of his activity, although he
continued to compose until his death. Also during this period he wrote a delightful memoir of his childhood called My
Childhood on Funen (1927). He also produced a short book of essays entitled Living Music (1925). Both are translated
into English. He died in Copenhagen in 1931.
Music
- Further information: List of compositions by Carl
Nielsen
Nielsen is best known for his six symphonies. Other well-known pieces of his are the
incidental music for Adam
Oehlenschläger's drama Aladdin, the operas
Saul og David and Maskarade,
the concerti for flute, violin,
and clarinet, the wind quintet, and the Helios
Overture, which depicts the passage of the sun in the sky from dawn to nightfall. The vast majority of Danes knows and sings the numerous songs by various poets, set to music by Carl Nielsen.
Like his contemporary, the Finn Jean Sibelius, he studied Renaissance polyphony closely, which accounts for much of the melodic and harmonic "feel" of his music.
Nielsen's works are sometimes referred to by FS numbers, from the 1965 catalog compiled by Dan
Fog and Torben Schousboe.
Symphonies
Nielsen's approach to sonata form, as seen in his six symphonies, is one of gradual
abandonment. In considering the first movements of each symphony in turn, the first two reveal Nielsen working fairly comfortably
within the confines of sonata form as later 19th century composers saw it; the middle two include certain high-level references
to sonata form but little of the detail, and the last two inhabit a completely new world of Nielsen's own devising, wherein the
structure of the movement can only be understood within the context of the material he is working with. By that point in his
output there are no more parallels with any other forms or past traditions of musical construction.
- Symphony No. 1
- Nielsen's early Symphony No. 1 in G minor already shows his
individuality and hints at what Robert Simpson calls "progressive tonality",
by which he refers to Nielsen's habit of beginning a work in one key and ending in another. It was written at the same time as,
and shares some qualities with, the Holstein songs of Op. 10.
- Symphony No. 2
- A painting Nielsen saw at an inn, depicting the four temperaments (choleric, melancholic,
phlegmatic and sanguine), inspired him to write Symphony No. 2, "The Four
Temperaments". It is in four movements, each illuminating one of the temperaments, but despite this apparent tendency
toward being a suite of tone poems, it is a fully integrated symphony. It is not true "program music" but rather a group of
general character sketches, and one need not know which temperament Nielsen is considering in order to appreciate the work as a
whole.
- Symphony No. 3
- Symphony No. 3, "Espansiva" was premiered in the same concert as the
Violin Concerto. The second movement contains wordless solos for soprano and
baritone voices (which can be played by clarinet and
trombone if voices are not available).
- Symphony No. 4
- Perhaps the best known of Nielsen's Symphonies is Symphony No. 4, "The
Inextinguishable". It is in four connected movements and is the most dramatic Nielsen had written to date. In the last
movement two sets of timpani are placed on opposite sides of the stage as a sort of musical
duel.
- Symphony No. 5
- Symphony No. 5 is the second of two of Nielsen's symphonies that
lack a subtitle (which for Nielsen in any case are only very general signposts of intent, not indicating specific story-telling
qualities). Like symphony no. 4, it has very dramatic use of percussion: at one
point in the first movement – which itself consists of two large structures joined to one another – the snare drummer is
instructed to improvise "as if at all costs to stop the progress of the orchestra." This symphony is the one by which Nielsen's
music made its first significant post-war impact outside Scandinavia, when the Danish Radio Symphony, conducted by Erik Tuxen,
performed it at the 1950 Edinburgh International Festival where it
caused a sensation.
- Symphony No. 6
- Even Robert Simpson was at first confused by Nielsen's Symphony No. 6,
"Semplice". It is not as obviously dramatic as the previous two and in some ways it strikes listeners as strange. For
instance, the second movement is only scored for nine instruments of the orchestra (piccolo, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, trombone,
and percussion) and represents Nielsen's commentary on trends in modern musical composition at the time (the mid-1920s). It is by
far the most elusive of his symphonies to grasp, yet its very subtle architectural structure coupled with its enigmatic emotional
tone make it a challenging, fascinating, and ultimately rewarding listening experience.
Historical Recordings
Nielsen did not record any of his symphonies, or for that sake any of his works. (He simply didn't believe in the
medium). However, three younger contemporary conductors, Thomas Jensen,
Launy Grøndahl, and Erik Tuxen, who had worked with
him, did record his symphonies and other orchestral works, and their recordings are therefore considered to be the most
'authentic' Nielsen available.
- Symphony No. 1: Thomas Jensen - 1952 (Decca)
- Symphony No. 2: Thomas Jensen - 1947 (EMI)
- Symphony No. 3: Erik Tuxen - 1946 (Decca)
- Symphony No. 4: Launy Grøndahl - 1951 (EMI)
- Symphony No. 5: Erik Tuxen - 1950 (EMI); Thomas Jensen - 1954 (Decca - first LP recording)
- Symphony No. 6: Thomas Jensen - 1952 (Tono, a Danish label)
The above recordings are with the Danish State Radio Symphony Orchestra, and all have been re-released on CD by Dutton Records
(GB), except No. 6 which has been transferred to cd by the Danish DANACORD Records.
Media
References
- Sadie, Stanley; Latham, Alison (1994). Carl Nielsen
entry in The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393037533.
- Kennedy, Michael; Bourne, Joyce (1996). Carl
Nielsen entry in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 4th edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN
019280037X.
- Nielsen, Carl by David Fanning, in 'The New Grove Dictionary of
Opera', ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
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