Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen (9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer.

Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. He initially played in a military band before attending the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1884 until December 1886. He premiered his Op. 1, Suite for Strings, in 1888, at the age of 23. The following year, Nielsen began a 16-year stint as a second violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra under the conductor Johan Svendsen, during which he played in Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff and Otello at their Danish premieres. In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Danish Academy and continued to work there until his death.

Although his symphonies, concertos and choral music are now internationally acclaimed, Nielsen's career and personal life were marked by many difficulties, often reflected in his music. The works he composed between 1897 and 1904 are sometimes ascribed to his "psychological" period, resulting mainly from a turbulent marriage with the sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. Nielsen is especially noted 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. His early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, but he soon developed his own style, first experimenting with progressive tonality and later diverging even more radically from the standards of composition still common at the time. Nielsen's sixth and final symphony, Sinfonia semplice, was written in 1924–25. He died from a heart attack six years later, and is buried in Vestre Cemetery, Copenhagen.

Nielsen maintained the reputation of a musical outsider during his lifetime, both in his own country and internationally. It was only later that his works firmly entered the international repertoire, accelerating in popularity from the 1960s through Leonard Bernstein and others. In Denmark, Nielsen's reputation was sealed in 2006 when four of his works were listed by the Danish Ministry of Culture amongst the greatest pieces of Danish classical music. For many years, he appeared on the Danish hundred-kroner banknote. The Carl Nielsen Museum in Odense documents his life and that of his wife. Between 1994 and 2009 the Royal Danish Library, sponsored by the Danish government, completed the Carl Nielsen Edition, freely available online, containing background information and sheet music for all of Nielsen's works, many of which had not been previously published.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen, 9.6.1865-3.10.1931, dansk komponist, en af de største skikkelser i dansk musik.

Carl Nielsen har haft betydelig indflydelse på de følgende generationer af danske komponister, og især fra begyndelsen af 1960'erne har hans værker vundet stadig stigende international opmærksomhed og anerkendelse.

Biografi:

Carl Nielsen blev født på Sortelung uden for Nørre Lyndelse syd for Odense. Barndommen, som han selv beskrev i den smukke erindringsbog Min fynske Barndom (1927), var præget af dårlige økonomiske kår for den store søskendeflok. Faderen ernærede sig som daglejer, maler og spillemand, og Carl Nielsen blev tidligt sendt ud for at tjene. Som dreng fik han violinundervisning, i en lokal musikforening stiftede han for første gang bekendtskab med den klassiske orkestermusik, og i 1879 konkurrerede han sig ind i regimentsmusikkorpset i Odense, hvor han spillede signalhorn og altbasun.

I 1884 blev han optaget på Musikkonservatoriet i København med violin som hovedfag. Han aflagde eksamen i 1886 og konkurrerede sig tre år senere ind på en andenviolinplads i Det Kongelige Kapel.

Carl Nielsen havde da markeret sig som komponist, bl.a. med sit op. 1, Suite for Strygere. I 1890 tildeltes han Det Anckerske Legat, for hvis legatsum han rejste til Tyskland, Frankrig og Italien. I Paris mødte han billedhuggeren Anne Marie Brodersen, som han blev viet til under opholdet (se Anne Marie Carl Nielsen). I 1905 fratrådte Carl Nielsen stillingen i kapellet, og tre år senere udnævntes han til andenkapelmester ved Det Kongelige Teater, en stilling, han beholdt til 1914. Det følgende år overtog han dirigentposten i Musikforeningen i København. 1916-19 var han tilknyttet Konservatoriet som teorilærer, og fra 1916 til sin død havde han sæde i dets direktion.

I anledning af Carl Nielsens 60-årsdag i 1925 udkom en række af hans artikler under titlen Levende Musik. Hans sidste år var præget af en hjertelidelse, som forårsagede hans død i 1931, ni måneder efter at han var tiltrådt som direktør for Musikkonservatoriet.

Kilde: Gyldendals Store Danske Leksikon: http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Musik/Klassisk_musik/D...

https://da.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen

https://denstoredanske.lex.dk/Carl_Nielsen

https://www.gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=carlnielsen

https://www.danmarkpaafilm.dk/film/carl-nielsen-1865-1931

Jacob Christian Outzen (ven)