Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

7. Performance.

No recordings survive of Nielsen conducting or performing his own music, but a number of Danish conductors and performers who worked or studied with him left recorded interpretations, notably the conductors Mogens Wöldike, Launy Grøndahl and Thomas Jensen, members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, and the violinist Emil Telmányi. Many of their interpretations are to be found on the series of 17 CDs issued in the 1990s by the Danish company Danacord. This series contains valuable transfers from 78s of early performances of the songs; undoubtedly the doyen of Nielsen singers was the tenor Aksel Schiøtz. In the 1960s a number of internationally renowned conductors took up Nielsen's cause, by far the most successful, albeit inconsistently so, being Bernstein. Composer-conductor Ole Schmidt made the first complete recorded cycle of the symphonies in 1973, and alongside Herbert Blomstedt and Simon Rattle he continued to give the most authoritative performances of the orchestral works up to the mid-1990s.

Nielsen, Carl

8. Chamber and solo instrumental music.

Nielsen's early compositions were principally in the field of chamber music, notably string quartets, which he could try out with his own friends. Composed just before and just after his conservatory years, these works are mainly in straightforward imitation-Viennese-Classical style and include an exercise modelled bar-for-bar on the first movement of Beethoven's op.18 no.1. Remarkably, in the light of Nielsen's later mastery of evolving key schemes, they tend to be very timid in their modulatory scope. Even his first two officially numbered quartets, which won him some acclaim, remained exceptionally conservative in terms of tonal layout; the F minor in particular is almost cantankerously rooted to its tonic, as he later admitted. At the same time as his first two quartets, Nielsen made his official début as a composer with his Suite for Strings, a charming, serenade-like piece with its roots in Grieg and Mozart, and featuring in its middle movement an irresistible waltz which epitomizes his gift for inventing fresh-sounding, memorable, diatonic tunes.

It was with the Third String Quartet (1897–8) that he achieved maturity in the medium, outgrowing the somewhat congested textures he had inherited from Franck and Reger and allowing the music to flow in its own idiosyncratic channels, albeit still within the confines of tonally-centred structures. The more relaxed Fourth Quartet (1906, rev. 1919), originally entitled Piacevolezza, is even more free-flowing. After that he composed no more string quartets, although he never ruled out the possibility of returning to the medium. His next significant chamber work was the Second Violin Sonata of 1912, a watershed piece which deliberately turns away from the solid stability achieved in the Third Symphony and Violin Concerto and prepares the way for his tougher late style. Nielsen returned to the violin for two of his most experimental pieces in the 1920s – the Preludio e presto and the Praeludium og Tema med Variationer, both written with his son-in-law Emil Telmányi in mind. Otherwise he turned his attention to wind instruments, producing the Wind Quintet in 1922 as a relaxation from the Fifth Symphony. This genial, melodious work has become one of the most widely played 20th-century pieces for its medium, and it inaugurated a way of composing based on the character of the individual instruments.

Nielsen composed at the piano throughout his life, but never felt comfortable as a performer on the instrument. His piano works, though high in quality, are to some extent laboratories for ideas which would flourish more freely in other media. His great work for organ, Commotio, is another matter. Modelled on Bach's toccata style in its alternation of fantasy and fugue sections, and building on Nielsen's study of Renaissance polyphony and organ style, Commotio is the inspired realization of his often expressed interest in a return to ‘pure sources’. It also shows him on the threshold of new stylistic worlds which death prevented him from exploring.

Nielsen, Carl

9. Orchestral music.

In 1888 Nielsen composed the first movement of a symphony. Now known, misleadingly, as Symfonisk Rhapsodi, this easy-going sonata form movement, excessively dependent, as he recognized, on the example of Svendsen's Second Symphony, prefigures a series of swinging, athletic triple-time symphonic movements which were to become one of his specialities. Two years later his diaries and letters reveal plans for an ambitious symphony with the programme ‘From earth you have come; to earth you shall return’. Shortly afterwards, during his European trip of 1890–91, he conceived what would be his first completed symphony, though he did not complete it until a year after his return. The work was given its première by the orchestra of the Royal Chapel under Svendsen on 14 March 1894, and the young composer stepped out of the second violins to take the applause. The First Symphony is an impressive declaration of intent. For all its stylistic echoes of Brahms, Dvořák and Svendsen, its fundamental attitude is Beethovenian. The first movement in particular reflects Nielsen's admiration for the rhythmic drive and motivic economy of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, a piece he had set himself the task of memorizing and writing out in full score. The overall structure derives its large-scale tonal design from the harmonic and melodic idiosyncrasies of the material, namely the interplay of G minor and C major, with E as mediator. The work is notionally in G minor, but the coda to the finale drives into C major with a compelling sense of discovery and psychological achievement, made possible by a deep underlying logic. Such ‘non-centric’ (Reid), ‘progressive’ (Newlin) or ‘emergent’ (Simpson) tonality has its roots in operatic structures and in certain instrumental works of Beethoven. Its possibilities were then notably explored by Chopin (Second Ballade, Second Scherzo, Fantasy) and it would be taken up, though more loosely, by symphonists as diverse as Mahler, Kabalevsky and Martinů. But it had never before been so boldly applied across the four movements of a symphony as by Nielsen. Just as important, though hardly acknowledged in musicological studies, is the interpenetration of modal and tonal elements, which accounts for much of the characteristic flavour of Nielsen's harmony and which reaches a peak of subtlety in the Fifth Symphony.

Nielsen's later symphonies show a steady broadening of philosophical horizons and a corresponding deepening of stylistic and structural innovation, all stimulated by life experiences and fertilized by other genres, notably tone poems and music for the theatre. Their progression through empathy to a concern with the life-force is a token of Nielsen's distance from contemporary issues of subjective versus objective and late Romantic versus modern. The Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies (1901–2, 1910–11, 1914–16) retain the traditional four-movement structure, but progressively subordinate it to psychological/dramatic concepts, summed up in their subtitles.

The Second Symphony (‘De fire temperamenter’) seeks to capture the essence of human character-types, one movement corresponding to each of the medieval ‘humours’. In the outer movements dualistic oppositions are set out – the choleric personality regrets but cannot control his own anger, and the sanguine is afflicted by but ultimately learns from his moments of anxious reflection. By contrast the middle movements – the phlegmatic and the melancholic – are weighed down by the absence of such contrasts. This concept prompted explorations of stylistic excess, straining at the limits of Nielsen's Brahms–Dvořák inheritance. At the same time the dualistic movements paved the way towards more abstract principles of conflict, while the monistic ones led to a fascination with non-movement, the ‘vegetative’ principle as Nielsen later liked to call it, providing the counterpole to his overriding interest in movement and growth. This ‘vegetative’ state could be an expression of blissful oneness with nature, and as such it was poetically explored in the overture Helios (1903) and the tone poem Saga-drøm (‘Saga-Dream’, 1907–8); or it could be an expression of unhealthy emotional paralysis (Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Symphonies).

The Third Symphony, Sinfonia espansiva, embodies Nielsen's fascination with the life-force in general. This is reflected at various levels. The first movement's proliferation of tonalities conveys something of the untrammelled energy of the human spirit; Nielsen suggested that the finale could be taken as a hymn to work and the ordinary man; both outer movements are built on an overall perfect 5th ascent in tonality, a progression already associated with psychological growth in the finale of the Second Symphony. Even the pastoral slow movement confronts its initial vegetative inaction with the dynamic growth principle before concluding in an ecstatic nature-worship, embodied in vocalises for soprano and baritone soloists. This symphony of well-being has a close spiritual cousin in the first of Nielsen's three concertos, for violin.

The steady expansion of philosophical concerns in his symphonies was abruptly challenged by the crisis-period of war, career changes and marital disharmony. Stylistically the Third Symphony had already taken him to a threshold of a new language: ‘We should once and for all see about getting away from keys’, he wrote to Knudsen, ‘but still remain diatonically convincing’. With his Fourth Symphony he strove to put this into practice with a more modern-sounding style, more fractured continuity and more provocative images of negativity, encapsulated in a battle between two sets of timpani placed diagonally opposite one another. The symphony's ethical concerns are summed up in the subtitle ‘Det uudslukkelige’ (‘The Inextinguishable’), and the foreword to the published score coins the famous motto ‘Music is Life, and, like it, Inextinguishable’.

Even more daringly, the Fifth Symphony of 1921–2, now widely held to be Nielsen's greatest masterpiece, pits a side drum against the full orchestra in its first movement, following this with a double-function finale in which the sonata development section is a controlled collapse, the interposed scherzo and slow movement convey panic-ridden stasis and thoughtful reconstruction, and the recapitulation channels energies away from formerly dangerous paths into positive life-assertion. The tone poem Pan og Syrinx of 1917–18 and the incidental music for Aladdin (1918) supplied him with some of the exotic harmonies and timbres which this symphony turns to more abstract, large-scale use.

Nielsen frequently stated his intention that his Sixth Symphony (1924–5) should be ‘simpler’ than its precursor. However, illness, disillusionment with his own lack of international success, and bewilderment at the state of modern music, clouded his mood. At the same time his ceaseless spirit of adventure was not to be denied. This Sinfonia semplice turned out to be the most complex and puzzling of his large-scale works. It may still be said to be about the aspiration towards simplicity, but it is held together by a recurring pattern of violated innocence. Such positive resolution as it enjoys has to do with acceptance, resignation and defiance. In a more relaxed, yet still exploratory vein, the Flute Concerto (1926) and Clarinet Concerto (1928) are studies in empathy, recalling the temperaments of the Second Symphony, but in more modernistic terms. They deal respectively in well-mannered elegance in the face of brute opposition, and in irascibility alternating with regret.

Nielsen, Carl

10. Songs.

If Nielsen's chamber and orchestral music epitomizes the exploratory, growth-orientated side of his nature, his songs contain the essence of his search for the ‘simple original’. Before 1895 his favourite poets for song-setting were Jens Peter Jacobsen and Ludvig Holstein, and his settings were generally in a through-composed manner, reminiscent of Schumann, Grieg and the Danes, Heise and Lange-Müller. From 1905 onwards he turned towards simple strophic settings, very much influenced by the example of the organist Thomas Laub. With Laub from 1914 he set about renewing the national song tradition, aiming to produce songs which the man in the street could sing, and which had the ‘semblance of the known’. The climax of their endeavours was in their extensive contributions to the Folkehøjskolens melodibog, published in 1922 and whose success confirmed a decisive reorientation of the Danish art song away from lied and romance styles towards folksong. From 1914 to 1916 Nielsen undertook a similar reform project with church music, producing a collection of 49 Psalms and Spiritual Songs.

The subject matter of Nielsen's earlier songs crystallized around the amorous, the pastoral and the saga-like. To these he later added songs of national pride, much influenced by the incidental music he composed for more or less patriotic plays. But the type of song with which he became most identified embodied a celebration of the ordinary Danish man – adumbrated in 1894 in the fourth song of op.10, Song behind the Plough, and producing the enormously popular third of the op.21 Strofiske sange, Jens the Roadmender. Although the song caught on only in 1910, three years after its publication, it has since become known to all Danes and has been arranged for almost every instrument and combination of instruments.

Nielsen, Carl

11. Theatre and choral works.

The success of the First Symphony in 1894 brought with it a commission for music to accompany Holger Drachmann's melodrama Snefrid, the first significant example of Nielsen's commissioned music for the theatre and occasional cantatas. These would serve three important functions in his career – as a source of income, as a means of making a tangible contribution to society, and as a stimulus to creating vivid musical images which could pass over into operas, choral works and even ‘abstract’ symphonic works. Of the many theatrical projects Nielsen undertook, some were mere pièces d'occasion, tossed off at high speed and sometimes orchestrated by one or other of his pupils. Other undertakings were both more original in their own right and more potentially useful as a quarry for symphonic projects, the most striking being the 90 minutes of music for a new production of Adam Oehlenschläeger's Aladdin in 1919. The production itself was an expensive failure, and Nielsen disowned the Royal Theatre's cavalier treatment of his music. But the imagery he had been forced to invent – of exoticism, imprisonment and violence – served him well in the more abstract contexts of his last two symphonies and the two great wind concertos.

Nielsen wrote numerous cantatas for special occasions. One of these, Fynsk foraar (‘Springtime on Funen’, 1921), has won popularity both inside and outside Denmark for its fund of memorable melody and its unaffected human sympathy. The two best-known earlier cantatas, Hymnus amoris (1896–7) and Søvnen (1903–4), neither of which was commissioned, are expressions of fundamental aspects of the human condition, paving the way towards the philosophical heights of the middle symphonies.

Nielsen's two operas are highly contrasted. His interest in the biblical story of Saul og David (1898–1901) centred on the conflict between divine will and human freedom, his sympathies lying as much with the God-cursing and God-forsaken king as with the God-fearing and God-favoured harpist-hero. Musically the opera is first-rate, but the score is almost too symphonically self-sufficient to allow for character interaction, and the oratorio-like deployment of the chorus also militates against stage productions. The comic opera Maskarade (1904–6) soon became, and remains, the Danish national opera. During the process of composition Nielsen felt he had become a mere vehicle for the piece, and this is reflected both in its apparently inexhaustible fund of melody and, less happily, in the comparatively loose structure of the second and third acts. The first act, however, contains arguably the finest comic opera music of the 20th century.

Nielsen, Carl

WORKS

Edition: Carl Nielsen: Works/Voerker, ed. Carl-Nielsen-Edn, Royal Danish Library (Copenhagen, 1998–)

marginal numbers refer to Fog and Schousboe catalogue

for all bracketed dates the place of publication is Copenhagen

stage

operas

25	Saul og David (4, E. Christiansen), 1898–1901; Copenhagen, 28 Nov 1902
39	Maskarade (V. Andersen, after L. Holberg), 1904–6; Copenhagen, 11 Nov 1906

melodrama

17	Snefrid (H. Drachmann), 1893–4; Copenhagen, 10 April 1894; rev. 1899, unpubd

incidental music

9	En aften paa Giske [An Evening at Giske] (A. Munch), 1889; Copenhagen, 15 Jan 1890, unpubd
30	Atalanta (G. Wied and J. Petersen), 1901; Copenhagen, 19 Dec 1901, unpubd
37	Herr Oluf han rider [Master Oluf Rides] (Drachmann), 1906; Copenhagen, 9 Oct 1906; 3 songs and Elverdans, pf (1906)
43	Tove (L. Holstein), 1906–8; Copenhagen, 20 March 1908; 4 songs (1908)
44	Willemoes (L.C. Nielsen), 1907–8; Copenhagen, 7 Feb 1908; 5 songs (1908)
45	Foraeldre [Parents] (O. Benzon), 1908; Copenhagen, 9 Feb 1908, unpubd
50	Ulvens søn [The Wolf’s Son] (J. Aakjaer), 1909; Århus, 14 Nov 1909
57	Hagbarth og Signe (A. Oehlenschläeger), 1910; Copenhagen, 4 June 1910; 1 song and dance, pf (1910)
65	Sankt Hansaftenspil [Midsummer Eve play] (Oehlenschläeger), 1913; Copenhagen, 3 June 1913, unpubd
71	Faedreland (Christiansen), 1915; Copenhagen, 5 Feb 1916, unpubd
80	Prologen ved Mindefesten for Shakespeare [Prologue to the Shakespeare Memorial Celebrations] (H. Rode), 1916; Elsinore, 24 June 1916; Ariel's Song (1916)
88	Løgneren [The Liar] (J. Sigurjónsson), 1918; Copenhagen, 15 Feb 1918, unpubd
89	Aladdin (Oehlenschläeger), op.34, 1918–19; Copenhagen, 15 and 22 Feb 1919; 3 songs (1919), 7 orchestral pieces (1940)
94	Moderen [The Mother] (Rode), op.41, 1920; Copenhagen, 30 Jan 1921; excerpts (1921, 1959)
98	Cosmus (Christiansen), 1921; Copenhagen, 25 Feb 1922, unpubd
117	Ebbe Skammelsen (H. Bergstedt), 1925; Copenhagen, 25 June 1925, unpubd
150	Amor og Digteren [Cupid and the Poet] (S. Michaëlis), op.54, 1930; Odense, 12 July 1930; 2 songs (1930), ov. (1967)
156	Paaske-aften [Easter Eve] (N.F.S. Grundtvig), 1931; Copenhagen, 4 April 1931, unpubd

orchestral

310	Andante tranquillo e Scherzo, str, c1887 [orch of str qt movts from 3(a–i, k–t, v)]
6	Suite for Strings, a, op.1, str, 1888, rev. 1889
7	Symfonisk Rhapsodi, F, 1888, unpubd
16	Symphony no.1, g, op.7, 1891–2
29	Symphony no.2 ‘De fire temperamenter’ [The 4 Temperaments], op.16, 1901–2
32	Helios, ov, op.17, 1903
46	Saga-drøm [Saga-Dream], op.39, 1907–8
403	Marseillaise (Rouget de Lisle), orch, c1909
60	Symphony no.3 ‘Sinfonia espansiva’, op.27, 1910–11
61	Violin Concerto, op.33, 1911
63	Paraphrase over ‘Naermere Gud til dig’ [Paraphrase on ‘Nearer my God to Thee’], wind, 1912, unpubd
76	Symphony no.4 ‘Det uudslukkelige’ [The Inextinguishable], op.29, 1914–16
87	Pan og Syrinx, op.49, 1917–18
97	Symphony no.5, op.50, 1921–2
116	Symphony no.6 (Sinfonia semplice), 1924–5
119	Flute Concerto, 1926
123	En fantasirejse til Faerøene [A Fantasy Journey to the Faroes], rhapsodic ov., 1927
129	Clarinet Concerto, op.57, 1928
130	Bøhmisk-dansk folketone [Bohemian-Danish Folk tune], paraphrase, str, 1928

choral

with orchestra

21	Hymnus amoris (A. Olrik, Lat. trans. J.L. Heiberg), op.12, S, T, Bar, B, chorus, orch, 1896–7
26	Kantate til Lorens Frølich Festen [Cantata for the Lorens Frølich Festival] (Olrik), 1900, unpubd
31	Kantate til Studentersamfundet [Cantata for the Students' Association] (Drachmann), 1901, unpubd
33	Søvnen [Sleep] (J. Jørgensen), op.18, chorus, orch, 1903–4
47	Kantate ved Universitetets Aarsfest [Cantata for the Anniversary of Copenhagen University] (N. Møller), op.24, 1908
49	11te Februar 1909 (cant., L.C. Nielsen), 1909, unpubd
54	Kantate ved Landsudstillingen i Århus [Cantata for the National Exhibition in Århus] (L.C. Nielsen), 1909, collab. E. Bangert, unpubd
56	Kantate til Mindfesten for Krøyer [Cantata for the Commemoration of Krøyer] (L.C. Nielsen), 1909, unpubd
86	Kantate til Grosserersocietetet [Cantata for the Centenary of the Chamber of Commerce] (V. Rørdam), 1917; 2 songs (1917)
96	Fynsk foraar [Springtime on Funen] (A. Bernsten), op.42, S, T, B, chorus, orch, 1921
102	Hyldest til Holberg [Homage to Holberg] (H.H. Seedorff Pedersen), solo vv, chorus, orch, 1922, unpubd
140	Kantate til Polyteknisk Laereanstalt [Cantata for the Centenary of the Polytechnic College] (Seedorff Pedersen), 1929, unpubd
141	Hymne til kunsten [Hymn to Art] (Michaëlis), S, T, chorus, wind, 1929, unpubd
153	Kantate, Foreningen til unge Handelsmaends Uddannelse [Cantata for the 50th Anniversary of the Young Merchants’ Education Association] (Seedorff Pedersen), 1930, unpubd
302	Digtning i sang og toner [Poetry in Song and Tones] (cantata for the opening of the swimming baths, Seedorff Pedersen), 1930, unpubd
149	Ligbraendings–Kantate [Cremation Cantata] (Michaëlis), 1931, unpubd

unaccompanied

3l, m, t, u	Various choruses, TTBB, 1887, unpubd
161	Graeshoppen (B. Ingemann), SS, 1899
27	Edderkoppens sang [The Spider's Song] (Oehlenschläeger), SSA, 1899
28	Kom blankeste sol [Come Brightest Sun] (L. Thura), SSA, 1901
305	Morten Børups Majvise [Morten Børup’s May Song] (M. Børup), SSA, 1906
40	Sidskensang [Song of the Siskin] (E. Aarestrup), SSAT, 1906
41	Kom Guds engel [Come, Angel of God] (Aarestrup), ATB, 1907, unpubd
300	Serenade (H. Ploug), SATB, 1907
491	Ivar og Matilda, folksong, 1v, c1893
48	Aftenstemning [Evening Mood] (C. Hauch, after M. Claudius), TTBB, 1908
53	Til snapsen: ‘Bel Canto’ [With the Schnapps: ‘Bel Canto’] (A. Berntsen), TTBB, 1909, unpubd
59	Paaske-liljen [The Easter Lily] (Grundtvig), TTBB, 1910
67	Ak, Julesne fra Bethlehem [Ah, the Christmas snow from Bethlehem] (Jørgensen), S, TTBB, 1914, unpubd
69	Fredlys din jord [Preserve your Earth] (A.W. Holm), TTBB, 1914
73	Hil dig, vor fane [Hail to Thee, Our Flag] (Grundtvig), TTBB, 1915, unpubd
85	Hymne (P. Richardt), 1917, unpubd
111	Sangbogen Danmark [Denmark’s Songbook] (various), c1923–4 [contains 22 new settings by Nielsen for 1–3vv]
113	Hymne til Livet [Hymn to Life] (S. Michaëlis), SSAA, 1923–4, unpubd
110	Der er etyndigt land [There is a Lovely Country] (Oehlenschläeger), SATTB, 1924
118	Foraarssang [Spring Song] (M. Børup), SATB, 1926
138	To Skolesange [Two School Songs] (V. Stuckenberg), SATB, 1929
139	Tre Motetter [3 Motets], op.55, 1929: Afflictus sum (Ps xxxvii, 9), ATTB; Dominus regit me (Ps xxii, 1–2), SATB; Benedictus Dominus (Ps xxx, 22), SSATB
144	Til min fødeø [To the Island of my Birth] (S.P. Raben-Korch), TTBB, 1929
152	Seks Kanons [Six Canons], equal vv, 1930
154	Sjølunds sangere [The Singers of Sjølund] (K. Elnegaard), SATTB, 1930
158	Kvadet om Nordens harpe [About the Nordic Harp] (A. Berntsen), TTBB, 1931

solo vocal

melodramas

74	Franz Neruda in memoriam (prol, J. Clausen), spkr, orch, 1915, unpubd
134	Island [Iceland] (O. Lagoni), spkr, pf, 1929, orchd E. Reesen, unpubd

arrangements

404	Jephta (Carissimi), solo vv, chorus, hpd, str, ? 1923–4
405	Prometheus (Schubert), A, orch, ? 1923–4

songs

3g	Vuggevise [Lullaby] (?C. Nielsen), c1883, unpubd
3n–s	Various songs, 1887, unpubd
12	Fem digte [5 Songs] (Jacobsen), op.4, 1891: Solnedgang [Sunset], I seraillets have [In the Seraglio Garden], Til Asali [To Asali], Irmelin Rose, Har dagen sanket al sin sorg [Has the Day Gathered all its Sorrow]
13	Three songs (Paludan-Müller and Jacobsen), 1891, unpubd
14	Viser og vers [Songs and Verses] (Jacobsen), op.6, 1891: Genrebillede [Genre Piece], Seraferne [The Seraphim], Silkesko over gylden laest! [Silk Shoe over Golden Last!], Det bødes der for [Atonement is made], Vise af ‘Mogens’ [Song of ‘Mogens’]
402	Min søn! Om du vil i verden frem [My son! If you want to go out into the world], folksong, pf, c1894
18	Sange af Ludvig Holstein (Holstein), op.10, 1894: Aebleblomst [Apple Blossom], Erindringens sø [The Lake of Memory], Sommersang [Summer Song], Sang bag ploven [Song behind the Plough], I aften [In the Evening], Hilsen [Greeting]
42	Strofiske sange, op.21, 1902–7; vol.i: Skal blomsterne da visne [Are the flowers then to wither] (Rode), Høgen [The Hawk] (Aakjaer), Jens Vejmand [Jens the Roadmender] (Aakjaer); vol.ii: Saenk kun dit hoved, du blomst [Just lower thy head, O flower] (Jørgensen), Den første laerke [The First Lark] (Aakjaer), Husvild [Homeless] (J.V. Jensen), Godnat [Good Night] (Jensen)
35	Du danske mand [You Danish Man] (Drachmann), 1906
38	Jeg synes om din Lette Gang [I Like Your Graceful Walk] (?C. Nielsen), 1906
55	Afholdssang [Temperance Song] (Moldberg-Kjeldren), 1909
52	De unges sang [The Song of the Young] (J.C. Hostrup), 1909
62	Børnehjaelpdagens sang [Children’s Relief Day Song] (Jørgensen), 1911
66	Johs. Jørgensens ungdomssang [Johannes Jørgensen’s Youth Song] (Jørgensen), 1913
83	Hymns and Sacred Songs, 49 tunes, 1913–14
70	En snes danske vise [A Score of Danish Songs], vol.i, 1913–4, collab. T. Laub
78	En snes danske vise, vol.ii, 1914–17, collab. Laub
72	Barnets sang [Child’s Song] (J. Dam), 1915
—	Four Psalm-tunes, 1915, unpubd
82	Studie efter naturen [Study after Nature] (H.C. Andersen), 1916
84	Blomstervise [Flower Song] (Holstein), 1917, unpubd
95	Tyve folkelige melodier [20 Folk Melodies], 1917–21
92	To aandelige sange [2 Spiritual Songs], 1917–19
90	Christianshavn (O. Bauditz), c1918
93	Gry [Dawn] (H. Lorenzen), 1919–20
101	Fire folkelige melodier [4 Folk Melodies], 1922
99	Sof sött [Sleep Sweetly], 1922, unpubd
109	Balladen om bjørnen [The Ballad of the Bear], op.47 (A. Berntsen), 1923
105	Dansk arbejde [Danish Work] (V. Rørdam), 1923
108	Hjemlige Jul [Secret Christmas] (E. Bønnelycke), 1923
106	Julesang ‘Himlen Mørkne’ [Christmas Carol ‘The Sky Darkens’] (M. Falck), 1923
107	Julesang ‘Kom Jul til jord’ [‘Come Christmas to Earth’] (J. Wiberg), 1923
112	Det vi ved at siden slangens gift (Hostrup), 1923–4, unpubd
114	Ti danske småsange [Ten Little Danish Songs], 1923–4
115	Fire Jydske sange [Four Jutland Songs], 1924–5
120	Nye melodier til Borups sangbog (various), 1926
121	Det är höst [It is Autumn] (A. Rogberg), 1926, unpubd
122	Dansk vejr [Danish Weather] (O. Rode), 1927
126	Den trænger ud til hvert et sted (Hostrup), 1927
127	Guldfloden [The Golden River] (Ingemann), 1927
125	Tillæg til Folkehøjskolens melodibog [Supplement to the Folk High School Melody Book] (various), c1927
124	Vocalise-étude, 1927
133	Velkommen, laerkelil [Welcome, Little Lark] (Richardt), 1928, unpubd
146	Danmark, nu blunder den lyse Nat [Denmark, Now the Pale Night is Half Awake] (T. Larsen), 1929
143	Der gaar et stille Tog [A Silent Procession Goes] (B. Bjørnson), 1929
145	Fremtidens land [The Land of the Future] (Bjørnson), 1929
142	Hjemstavn [Native Soil] (F. Poulsen), 1929
147	Vi Jyder [We Jutlanders] (V. Bartrumsen), 1929
151	Gensyn [Reunion] (F. Paludan-Müller), 1930
160	Det som lysner over vangen [Dawn Breaks over the Meadow] (F. Poulsen), 1931, unpubd

chamber and instrumental

for 3–5 instruments

3a	Various brass trios and quartets, c1879–83, lost
3d	String Quartet, d, 1882–3, unpubd
3i	Piano Trio, G, 1883, unpubd
3c	Various movements, str qt, c1883–7, unpubd
3k	String Quartet, F, 1887, unpubd
4	String Quartet, g, op.13, 1887–8, rev. 1897–8
5	String Quintet, G, 2 vn, 2 va, vc, 1888
11	String Quartet, f, op.5, 1890
23	String Quartet, E, op.14, 1897–8, new version 1899–1900
36	Piacevolezza, op.19, str qt, 1906; rev. as String Quartet, F, op.44, c1919
58	Ved en ung kunstners baare [At the Bier of a Young Artist], str qt, db, 1910
68	Serenata in vano, cl, bn, hn, vc, db, 1914
100	Wind Quintet, op.43, 1922

for 1–2 instruments

1	Polka, A, vn, c1874
3h	Fantasistykke, g, cl, pf, c1881
3b	Sonata no.1, G, vn, pf, 1881–2, unpubd
3e	Duet, A, 2 vn, 1882–3, unpubd
304	Romance, G, vn, pf, c1882–3
8	[2] Fantasistykker, op.2, ob, pf, 1889
20	Sonata [no.1], A, op.9, vn, pf, 1895
64	Sonata no.2, op.35, vn, pf, 1912
77	Tre Komponistioner, langleg, 1918
104	Praeludium og Tema med Variationer, op.48, vn, 1923
128	Preludio e presto, op.52, vn, 1927–8
132	Canto serioso, hn, pf, 1913
157	Allegretto, F, 2 rec, 1931

for piano

2	Skomagerens Brudevals [The Cobbler’s Wedding Waltz], D, c1878
3f	Two character pieces, c1882–3, unpubd
10	Fem Klaverstykker [Five Piano Pieces], op.3, 1890
19	Symfonisk Suite, op.8, 1894
22	Humoreske-bagateller, op.11, 1894–7
24	Fest-praeludium ‘Ved Aarhundredskiftet’ [Festive Prelude ‘At the Turn of the Century’], 1900
34	Drømmen om ‘Glade Jul’ [The Dream of ‘Silent Night’], 1905
79	Chaconne, op.32, 1916–17
81	Tema med variationer, op.40, 1917
91	Suite ‘Den Luciferiske’, op.45, 1919–20
131	Tre Klaverstykker, op.59, 1927–8
148	Klavermusik for små og store [Piano Music for Young and Old], op.53, 2 vols., 1929–30
159	Klaverstykke, c1931

for organ

136	29 små praeludier [29 Little Preludes], op.51, 1929
137	To praeludier [2 Preludes], 1930
155	Commotio, op.58, 1930–31
MSS in D-Kk
Principal publishers: Hansen, Samfundet til Udgivelse af Dansk Musik, Skandinavisk & Borups

Nielsen, Carl

WRITINGS

Levende musik (Copenhagen, 1925, new edn 1976; Eng. trans., 1953; new edn and Ger. trans., 1992)

Min fynske barndom (Copenhagen, 1927, 13/1970; Eng. trans., 1953; new edn and Ger. trans., 1992)

J.F. Larsen: Carl Nielsen til sim samtid, artikler, foredrag, interviews, presseindlaeg, vaerknoter og manuskripter (Copenhagen, 1999)

Nielsen, Carl

BIBLIOGRAPHY

DBL (K. Jeppesen)

Grove6 (T. Schousboe)

a catalogues

D. Fog and T. Schousboe: Carl Nielsen, kompositioner: en bibliografi (Copenhagen, 1965)

J. Lawson: A Carl Nielsen Discography (Glasgow, 1990)

B. Bjørnum and K. Møllerhøj: Carl Nielsens samling: katalog over komponistens musikhåndskrifter i Det kongelige Bibliotek/The Carl Nielsen Collection: a Catalogue of the Composer's Musical Manuscripts in the Royal Library (Copenhagen, 1992)

b correspondence

Breve fra Carl Nielsen til Emil B. Sachs (Copenhagen, 1953)

I.E. Møller and T. Meyer, eds.: Carl Nielsens breve i udvalg og med kommentarer (Copenhagen, 1954)

N.M. Jensen: ‘“Den sindets stridighed”: breve fra Carl Nielsen til Julius Lehmann’, Musik og forskning, vi (1980), 167–85

T. Schousboe and I.E. Møller, eds.: Carl Nielsen: dagbøger og brevveksling med Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1983)

H.H. Jahnn and C. Nielsen: ‘Ein Briefwechsel aus dem Jahre 1931’, ‘Orgelbauer bin ich auch’: Hans Henny Jahnn und die Musik, ed. U. Schweikert (Paderborn, 1994), 212–16

c biographical studies

H. Madsen: Carl Nielsens Fyn (Odense, 1950)

K.J. Nielsen: Carl Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1956)

J. Fabricius: Carl Nielsen, 1865–1931: en billedbiografi (Copenhagen, 1965)

T. Schousboe: ‘Samtale med Emil Telmányi’ [Conversation with Emil Telmányi], Dansk musiktidsskrift, xl (1965), 95–100

T. Schousboe: ‘Koncertforeningen i København’, DAM, vi (1968–72), 171–209

M. Wøldike: ‘Erindringer om Laub og Carl Nielsen’, Dansk kirkesangs arskrift, xx (1968–9), 11–27

A.M. Telmányi: Anne Marie Carl Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1969)

T. Schousboe: ‘Foreningen symfonia: sin tids DUT’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, xlvi (1970), 156–9, 161–8

E. Telmányi: Af en musikers billedbog (Copenhagen, 1978)

M.W. Andreasen: Kongens musikanter: det kongelige kapels koncerter 1883–1983 (Copenhagen, 1982)

J. Larsen: Carl Nielsens Barndomshjem [Carl Nielsen's childhood home] (Odense, 1990) [exhibition catalogue]

P. Rasmussen, ed.: Carl Nielsen 125 år: Odense 1990

L. Isaacson: ‘Carl Nielsen's “Min fynske barndom”: the Childhood as Literary Art’, Scandinavica, xxx (1991), 161–204

M.R. Mogensen: Carl Nielsen, der dänische Tondichter: biographischer Dokumentationsbericht (Arbon, 1992)

U. Schweikert: ‘“Ich habe ihn niemals persönlich kennengelernt”: Jahnn und Carl Nielsen’, ‘Orgelbauer bin ich auch’: Hans Henny Jahnn und die Musik (Paderborn, 1994), 169–78

K. Brøndum: Solen mellem tyrens horn [The sun between the bull's horns] (Copenhagen, 1997) [novel loosely based on Nielsen's wife's career and marriage]

N. Gangsted-Rasmussen: Carl Nielsen og Skagen (Copenhagen, 1997)

J. Lawson: Carl Nielsen (London, 1997)

d life and works

H. Knudsen: Sinfonia espansiva für Orchester von Carl Nielsen (Leipzig, 1913)

G. Lynge: Danske komponister i det 20. aarhundredes begyndelse (Århus, 1916, 2/1917), 91–144

Dansk musiktidsskrift, vii/1 (1932) [Nielsen issue]

T. Kristensen: ‘Carl Nielsen som prosaist’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, vii (1932), 15–19

G. Jeanson: ‘Carl Nielsen och Jean Sibelius: en jämförande studie’, Nordens kalender (1934), 44–54

R. Simonsen: Sub specie aeternitatis: Musikkulturelle perspektiver (Copenhagen, 1942)

D. Newlin: Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg (New York, 1947, 2/1978)

T. Meyer and F.S. Petersen: Carl Nielsen: kunstneren og mennesket (Copenhagen, 1947–8)

R. Simpson: Carl Nielsen: Symphonist (London, 1952, 2/1979)

J. Maegaard: ‘Den sene Carl Nielsen’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, xxviii (1953), 74–8

K. Clausen: Dansk folkesang gennem 150 år (Copenhagen, 1958)

J. Balzer, ed.: Carl Nielsen i hundredåret for hans fødsel (Copenhagen, 1965; Eng. trans., 1965)

S. Martinotti: ‘Sibelius e Nielsen nel sinfonismo nordico’, Chigiana, xxii (1965), 109–31

A.M. Telmányi: Mit barndomshjem (Copenhagen, 1965, 2/1966)

Oplevelser og studier omkring Carl Nielsen: syv bidrag (Copenhagen and Tønder, 1966)

H. Ottaway: ‘Carl Nielsen’, The Symphony, ed. R. Simpson, ii (Harmondsworth, 1967, 2/1972), 52

T. Schousboe: Udviklingstendenser inden for Carl Nielsens symfoniske orkestervaerker indtil ca.1910 (diss., U. of Copenhagen, 1968)

N.M. Jensen: ‘Den danske solosang i 1920rne og 1930rne’, DAM, vi (1968–72), 221–4

G. George: Tonality and Musical Structure (London and New York, 1970), 200ff

A. Whittall: Music since the First World War (London, 1977/R)

M. Miller: The Solo Piano Music of Carl Nielsen: an Analysis for Performance (diss., New York U., 1978)

S.J. Reid: Tonality's Changing Role: a Survey of Non-Concentric Instrumental Works of the Nineteenth Century (diss., U. of Texas, Austin, 1980)

T. Schousboe: ‘Tre program-noter af Carl Nielsen om Sinfonia espansiva’, Musik og forskning, vi (1980), 5–14

S. Høgel and T. Schousboe: ‘I kølende Skygger: en ukendt romance af Carl Nielsen’, Musik og forskning, vii (1981), 177–90

M. Miller: ‘Carl Nielsen's Tonal Language: an Examination of the Piano Music’, College Music Symposium, xxii (1982), 32–45

M. Miller: ‘Some Thoughts upon Editing the Music of Carl Nielsen’, CMc, no.34 (1982), 64–74

E. Telmányi: Vejledning til indstudering og fortolkning af Carl Nielsens violinvaerker og kvintet for strygere (Copenhagen, 1982)

C. Ballantine: Twentieth Century Symphony (London, 1983)

F. Mathiassen: ‘Carl Nielsens forord til Det uudslukkelige’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, lxii (1987–8), 17–19

R. Clegg: The Writing of Carl Nielsen's ‘Saul og David’ (diss., U. of Leeds, 1989)

H. Tougaard: ‘Enigheden og afstanden mellem Thomas Laub og Carl Nielsen i deres salmemelodier’, Dansk kirkesangs årsskrift 1989–93, 53–70

T. Schousboe: ‘Musidramatisk person-karakteristik i Carl Nielsens to operaer’, Den danske Tilskuer, i (1990), 173–204

T.G. White: ‘The Music's Proper Domain’: Form, Motive and Tonality in Carl Nielsen's Symphony no.4, op.29 ‘The Inextinguishable’ (diss., Cornell U., 1991)

D. Fanning: ‘Nielsen’, A Companion to the Symphony, ed. R. Layton (London, 1993), 351–62

M. Fjeldsøe: ‘Carl Nielsens 5 symfoni: dens tilblivelse og reception i 1920rne’, DAM, xxi (1996), 51–68

P. Hauge: ‘Carl Nielsens første Opus’, Fund og Forskning, xxxv (1996), 223–7

F. Krummacher: Musik im Norden (Kassel, 1996), 160–205

D. Fanning: Nielsen: Symphony no.5 (Cambridge, 1997)

e analytical studies

K. Harder: ‘Carl Nielsen’, Die Musik, v/4 [no.15] (1905–06), 155–63

R. Simonsen: Der dänische Tondichter Carl Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1924)

Musik: tidsskrift for tonekunst, ix/6 (1925) [Nielsen issue]

Dansk musiktidsskrift, ii/1 (1926) [Nielsen issue]

K. Hansen: ‘Formproblemet i vor tids musik’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, vi (1931), 89–95

H. Seligmann: Carl Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1931)

L. Dolleris: Carl Nielsen: en musikografi (Odense, 1949)

H. Riis-Vestergaard: Carl Nielsens symfoniske stil, dens forudsaetninger og saerpraeg (diss., U. of Copenhagen, 1952)

F.S. Petersen: Carl Nielsen: the Danish Composer (Copenhagen, 1953)

M. Brod: Streitbares Leben: Autobiographie (Munich, 1960), 404–10

K. Jeppesen: ‘Carl Nielsen paa hundredaarsdagen: nogle erindringer’, DAM, iv (1964–5), 137

R. Simpson: ‘Carl Nielsen and Tonality’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, xl (1965), 89–93

R. Simpson: Sibelius and Nielsen: a Centenary Essay (London, 1965)

J.C.G. Waterhouse: ‘Nielsen Reconsidered’, MT, cvi (1965), 425–7, 515–1, 593–5

T. Schousboe: ‘Carl Nielsens praeludier for orgel’, Organist-bladet, xxxii (1966), 20–7

K.A. Bruun: Dansk musiks historie: fra Holberg-tiden til Carl Nielsen, ii: Komponister og vaerker fra J.P.E. Hartmann til Carl Nielsen (Copenhagen, 1969), 326–95

T. Schousboe: ‘Barn af huset? –’, Dansk kirkesangs årsskrift 1969–70, 75–91

N. Schiørring: Musikkens historie i Danmark (Copenhagen, 1977–8), iii, 121–63

T. Schousboe: ‘“Det skulle vaere jaevne viser …”: notater om et skelsættende samarbejde mellem Carl Nielsen og Thomas Laub’, Festskrift Henrik Glahn, ed. M. Müller (Copenhagen, 1979), 151–82

P. Langevin and others: Musiciens d'Europe: figures du renouveau ethnoromantique (Paris, 1980)

S. Ravnkilde: ‘“… du skal blot gjøre store og blanke, selvstændige Arbejder …”’, Dansk musiktidsskrift, lviii (1983–4), 2–15

P. Langevin: ‘Danemark: Carl Nielsen, musicien de la vie’, ReM, nos.388–90 (1986), 129–48

F. Matthiassen: Livet, musiken og samfundet: en bog om Carl Nielsen (Aarhus, 1986)

S. Jacobson: Carl Nielsen (Borås, 1987)

M. Miller: Carl Nielsen: a Guide to Research (New York, 1987)

J.-L. Caron: Carl Nielsen: vie et oeuvre, 1865–1931 (Lausanne, 1990)

Profile (1990–) [Journal of the Carl Nielsen Society of Great Britain]

Musik og Forskning, xvi (1990–91) [Nielsen issue]

J.I. Jensen: Carl Nielsen, Danskeren: Musikbiografi (Copenhagen, 1991)

Espansiva: Journal of the Danish Carl Nielsen Society (1994–)

M. Miller, ed.: The Nielsen Companion (London, 1994)

ÖMZ, li (1996) [Nielsen issue]

D.M. Grimley: Nielsen, Nationalism and the Danish Musical Style (diss., U. of Cambridge, 1998)

K. Ketting, ed.: Carl Nielsen: the Man and the Music (Copenhagen, 1998) [CD-ROM in Dan. and Eng.]