Nielsen, Carl

Nielsen was born in the village of Nerre Lindels on the island of Funen . His father was a house painter, but also knew how to play the violin and cornet and often accompanied village holidays. At eight years old, Nielsen began to learn to play the violin, his first attempts to compose music dates back to the same time. At the age of fourteen, he was in the regimentary orchestra of Odense , where he mastered the horn and trombone , without stopping his violin lessons. Nielsen served in the orchestra for four years. In May 1883, he managed to visit Copenhagen , where he met with leading Danish musicians of that time, in particular with composer Niels Gade , who praised his compositions (g-moll piano trio, d-moll string quartet and G- violin sonata dur) and recommended to enter the Royal Academy of Music. Nielsen studied at the academy in the class of violin with Waldemar Tofte and in the theory of music with Gade. After graduating from it in 1886, Nielsen began an independent career.

In 1891, Nielsen received the position of violinist in the Danish Royal Opera Orchestra, which gives him a stable income. In the 1890s, Nielsen visited Germany , France , Austria , where he became acquainted with the music of Wagner and Richard Strauss , met with Brahms , Busoni , the artist Edward Munch and other major cultural figures. The first major works of Nielsen date back to this time: the first g-moll symphony, the cantata "Hymnus Amoris", three string quartets, a number of piano compositions, which at first were not very successful.

The next period of Nielsen's work begins in 1901. He composes his first opera Saul and David and the Second Symphony Four Temperaments. From the beginning of the 20th century, Nielsen began conducting activities that continued until the end of his life. In 1906, he conducted the first performance of his opera The Masquerade (based on the comedy of the 18th-century playwright Ludwig Holberg ).

Since the early 1910s, the name of the composer has become famous in Europe thanks to the Third Symphony ("Sinfonia Espansiva") and the violin concerto. Nielsen receives an invitation to the place of conductor of symphony concerts in Gothenburg , where he worked for several years. In the same period, he turns to folklore and sacred music, creates a number of arrangements for folk songs. The tops of Nielsen's work of this period are the Fourth (“The Expendable”; 1916) and Fifth (1922) symphonies, written under the impression of the First World War . The Fifth Symphony is one of the composer's most innovative works, a transition to the late period of his work. Since 1916, Nielsen taught at the Copenhagen Academy of Music.

The last period of Nielsen’s work covers the last decade of his life (1921-1931). Among the works of this period are the Quintet for Wind Instruments, concerts for flute and clarinet with orchestra, Sixth (“Simple”) symphony, a number of choral and organ works. After a heart attack in 1925, Nielsen was forced to reduce concert performances, however, without stopping composing. In 1925, the composer wrote a collection of critical essays, Live Music, in 1927, an autobiographical book, Childhood on Funen, filmed in 1994 by Eric Clausen .

Nielsen died on October 3, 1931. He was buried in the Western cemetery of Copenhagen .

In memory of Nielsen, the main concert hall in the Odense Concert Hall was named - the main concert venue of the Odense Symphony Orchestra . Since 1980, the Odense International Karl Nielsen Competition has been held with the participation of young violinists, flutists, clarinetists, organists from different countries.

Nielsen is the author of more than 160 works, among which six symphonies stand out (the Fourth and Fifth are the most famous). This is the main genre in the composer's work, most fully revealing the aesthetic position of Nielsen, his vision of the world. From symphony to symphony, a creative evolution of the style takes place, its characteristic features are revealed.

An important place in the work of the composer is the concert genre. A concert for the violin written in 1911 was created in the middle period of the composer's work, influenced by romantic traditions. Nielsen's concerts for flute (1926) and clarinet (1928) with an orchestra, which are included in the repertoire of musicians to this day, are also popular.

Chamber and vocal compositions by Nielsen are widely known in Denmark.

In 1998-2009 W. Hansen (Copenhagen) publishes a complete (critical) collection of Nielsen's musical works, in 32 volumes.

The full cycles of Karl Nielsen symphonies were recorded by the conductors Paavo Berglund , Herbert Bloomstedt , Osmo Vyansk , Theodor Kuchar , Gennady Rozhdestvensky , Youn Sturgords , Ole Schmidt , Michael Schonwandt , Neeme Järvi , Douglas Bostok.

If music could speak and explain its essence, perhaps it would say something like this: “I’m everywhere and nowhere, I’m gliding along the waves and treetops, I’m in the cry of a savage and in the dance of a black man, I sleep in stone and in the sounding metal. Nobody can catch me, but everyone can understand, my life is ten times richer, and death is thousands of times deeper. I love the vast expanses of silence, but most of all I like to break it. I know neither sadness, nor joy, nor fun, nor pain, but I can cry, laugh, have fun and grieve. Infinite and infinite " ^[1]

• Lawson John . Carl Nielsen - L. , 1997.
• Mamontova N.L. Karl Nielsen. Instrumental creativity. The dissertation for the degree of candidate of art history. - M .: 2007.

• Complete Academic Works (1998-2009)
• Danish Karl Nielsen Society (Danish )
• Nielsen's Catalog of Works (in English)
• Nielsen, Carl: sheet music at International Music Score Library Project