The compositions for violin of Carl Nielsen Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Thurman, Laurel Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 11/10/2021 14:58:32 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624868 THE COMPOSITIONS FOR VIOLIN OF CARL NIELSEN by Laurel Thurman A Document Submitted To the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 1 9 7 9 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SCHOOL OF MUSIC I hereby recommend that this document prepared under my direction by LAUREL THURMAN entitled THE COMPOSITIONS FOR VIOLIN OF CARL NIELSEN be accepted in partial fulfillment of the degree Doctor of Musical Arts. Signature of Major Professor te After reading this final copy of the document indicated above, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance: Date of Final Examination April 19, 1979 CONTENTS Introduction 1 General Stylistic Features of Nielsen's Music 5 The Compositions for Violin 10 The Concerto The Unaccompanied Pieces The Sonatas Conclusion 31 Appendix I 33 Appendix II 34 Bibliography 36 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Violin Concerto, Praeludium 11 2. Violin Concerto, Allegro cavalleresco 11 3. Violin Concerto, Poco adagio 11 4. Violin Concerto, Allegretto scherzando 12 5. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. VI 13 6. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. I 14 7. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. II 14 8. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Prelude 15 9. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Theme 15 10. Preludio e Presto, Preludio 16 11. Preludio e Presto, Presto 17 12. Sonata, opus 9, Allegro glorioso 19 13. Sonata, opus 9, Andante 20 14. Sonata, opus 9, Allegro piacevole e giovar.ille 21 15. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro con tiepidezza 22 16. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, transition theme 23 17. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, second theme 23 18. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, closing theme 23 19. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, Agitato 24 20. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, ending 25 21. Sonata, opus 35, Molto adagio 26 Figure Page 22. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 1 -6 . 26 23. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 103 -113 . 27 24. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 141 -152 . 28 25. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, last 31 measures . 29 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Though the Danish composer, Carl Nielsen, has become familiar to most of us only through his symphonic output, he was a gifted composer of other genres including chamber music, keyboard music, concertos, vocal music, and lesser orchestral works. His music is well -known throughout Scandinavia, but has not received widespread recognition elsewhere, though much of it could be a valuable addition to the repertory of Western musicians. In view of this fact, the author will outline Nielsen's output and style with special emphasis on his violin music and its appropriateness for performance. The musical career of Carl Nielsen began at an early age. As a child he played the violin for dancing in the neighborhood of his vil- lage in the Isle of Funen. From a large but poor family, young Carl occupied himself as a shepherd boy, but managed to get some music lessons from the village schoolmaster. He learned a brass instrument as well as the violin for he joined a military band at Odense, at the age of fourteen. In 1884, friends found ways and means to help him to enter the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen, where he became a pupil of Gade. After two years, Nielsen joined the Theater Royal Orchestra as a second violinist. In 1890, having been granted a state subsidy, he was enabled to travel in Germany, France, and Italy, where he came under influences such as the Impressionistic movement and Liszt. After his return from abroad, Nielsen continued as an 1 2 orchestral player and later as conductor of the Royal Opera, all the while continuing to develop as a composer. Nielsen's tendencies toward musical modernism often brought him into opposition with the prevailing Danish musical outlook embodied in the works of J.P.E. Hartman and Gade. But by the second decade of the century Nielsen was beginning to achieve a firm reputation in his native land, and the en- thusiastic celebration in Copenhagen of his sixtieth birthday in 1925 established that he had become the Danish musician par excellence.1 In the spring of 1926, while conducting a program of his music at Odense, he collapsed from a heart attack. Though he recovered, he re- mained in poor health until his death in 1931. Carl Nielsen's output included almost all musical genres from simple popular songs and five -note piano pieces to large -scale forms such as opera and symphonies, and in all fields he produced works of high artistic quality, carrying the stamp of his deeply original creative power. Still, he reached his highest attainments as a symphonist, and it was mainly in that capacity that he attracted attention abroad. The six symphonies that came into existence between 1892 and 1925 thus stand out as true milestones in his work, clearly marking the way his development led him - from a predominantly Scandá- navian late classicism to a rather advanced international modernism. As with most other composers it is possible to divide Nielsen's career roughly into periods. The first period extends from 1888 to 1. Kenneth Thompson, A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Com- posers, (London: Faber and Faber Company, 1973), p. 339. 3 around 1902. During this time Nielsen produced two string quartets, a string quintet, song cycles, piano works, the Sonata No. I for violin and piano, several cantatas, the opera, Saul and David, and the first two symphonies. Nielsen made his mark as leader of the orchestra in 1902 when he himself conducted Saul and David. His work as an opera conductor, however, did not afford the satisfaction to himself and to others that he had expected. Like most great creative artists he was one -sided in taste, and he could only make a success with music with which he was in sympathy. By nature he was introspective and dreamy, and lacked the light touch as well as the official skill and expedi- tion required to carry off a highly varied and at times a rather trite repertory. The second period of Nielsen's development, extending from 1903 to 1911, ending with the Symphony No. 3 and the Violin Concerto, can be regarded as the sunniest in Nielsen's life. This period offers two song cycles, four cantatas, the opera Masquerade, and the tone poem Dream of Gunnar, as well as the third Symphony and the Violin Concerto. The third period may be said to open with the Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano of 1912 and to culminate in the overwhelmingly powerful fifth Symphony, perhaps the highest of all his attainments. The main works of this period between 1912 and 1922 can be characterized by a new quality of steely determination. This period also contains the Symphony No. 4, The Inextinguishable. The fourth and last period, which includes the sixth Symphony, the concertos for flute and clarinet, the three a capella motets, and above all, the splendid Commotio for organ, finds Nielsen exploring new lands. Some 4 commentators have even suggested that the sometimes pungent sound of his music at this time is due to the influence of Schoenberg. But there does not seem to be any real connection evident. This fourth period has a transitional character, and its strangeness is the result of his isolating stylistic features that had previously appeared only intermittently. This period cannot be considered a philosophic sum- ming-up in the sense that Beethoven's last quartets present themselves. It appears more to have a transitional quality towards a fifth period which Nielsen did not live to enjoy. CHAPTER II GENERAL STYLISTIC FEATURES OF NIELSEN'S MUSIC When at the close of the 1880's Carl Nielsen began his work as a composer, Danish musical life was entirely dominated by N.W. Gade (1817 -1890) and J.P.E. Hartman (1805- 1900). These two grand old men still rested on their well- deserved laurels, and it was almost im- possible for the young composers to impress themselves on the public mind against this background. They had to resign themselves to walk in the shadow of the old composers and come to terms with the current late romantic style. It took the keen and fresh eye of a Carl Nielsen to see that it could be otherwise. This impartial view was in the first place due to his remarkable, independent personality, but was no doubt also favored by the circumstances of his upbringing. Carl Nielsen was the first Danish composer to come from peasant stock in modern times. He grew up in rural isolation, and such circum- stances as a rule induce a certain conservatism. In Carl Nielsen's part of the country, people had as yet only gotten to the Viennese classics in the higher music, and this became of signal importance for him. His sympathy with this style had been established for good before he came in contact with the musical romanticism of Copenhagen. Carl Nielsen's earliest works are entirely in the style of Haydn and Mozart, and it was not until he came in close contact with contem- porary music of which especially that of Brahms and Johan Svendsen 5 6 made a deep impression on him, that other influences became noticeable.