Carl Nielsen

Short biography Carl Nielsen was born on 9 June 1865 in Sortelung, near Nørre Lyndelse on the Danish island of Funen, the son of a village musician. He received his first musical training from his father and played from an early age in the regimental band in Odense. From 1884 to 1886 he studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, where his teachers included Niels W. Gade. He subsequently worked as a violinist in the Royal Orchestra Copenhagen and undertook study trips to Germany, France and Italy. He later pursued a career as a conductor, becoming director of the Copenhagen Music Society in 1915 and, shortly before his death, director of the Royal Danish Conservatory in 1931.

Historical placement Carl Nielsen is widely regarded as the most important Danish composer, and his style occupies a position between late Romanticism and musical modernism. A hallmark of his work is the use of 'progressive tonality', whereby a piece ends in a different key from the one in which it began. His symphonic output expanded the European orchestral tradition through highly individual formal and harmonic concepts, establishing him as a central figure in Nordic music of the early twentieth century.

Personal connections Niels W. Gade was Nielsen's composition teacher at the Conservatory in Copenhagen. Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen, née Brodersen, was his wife; she was a distinguished Danish sculptor (no musical connection, therefore omitted). Johan Svendsen was Nielsen's superior as chief conductor of the Royal Orchestra Copenhagen, where Nielsen served as a violinist.

Important works

Sinfonie Nr. 1 g-Moll – symphony (op. 7, 1892)
Sinfonie Nr. 2 „Die vier Temperamente" – symphony (op. 16, 1902)
Sinfonie Nr. 3 „Sinfonia espansiva" – symphony (op. 27, 1911)
Sinfonie Nr. 4 „Das Unauslöschliche" – symphony (op. 29, 1916)
Sinfonie Nr. 5 – symphony (op. 50, 1922)
Sinfonie Nr. 6 „Sinfonia semplice" – symphony (1925)
Violinkonzert – concerto (op. 33, 1911)
Klarinettenkonzert – concerto (op. 57, 1928)
Streichquartett Nr. 4 f-Moll – chamber music (op. 44, 1906)
Hymnus amoris – cantata (op. 12, 1897)