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The compositions for violin of

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Authors Thurman, Laurel

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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 The Unaccompanied Pieces The Sonatas

Conclusion 31

Appendix I 33

Appendix II 34

Bibliography 36 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Page

1. , 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 , Carl Nielsen, has become familiar to most of us only through his symphonic output, he was a gifted composer of other genres including , keyboard music, , 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

as well as the violin for he joined a military band at , at the

age of fourteen. In 1884, friends found ways and means to help him

to enter the Royal Conservatory in , 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 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 , 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 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 , song cycles, piano works, the Sonata No. I for violin and piano, several , the opera, Saul and , and the first two symphonies. Nielsen made his mark as leader of the 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 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 , the three a capella , 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 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

5 6

made a deep impression on him, that other influences became noticeable.

It must be said, however, that all of these influences were only of a superficial character. Behind it all there stirred a strong personality incessantly striving to find its own form, which did indeed partly find it, though it was not yet under complete control. Already the great

German conductor Hans von Bülow, who on a visit to Copenhagen had an opportunity of hearing Carl Nielsen's , had said that he here found that touch of Brahms which he missed in Svendsen's work.2

No doubt he meant that desire for absorption and concentration to which these early works bear witness and which was to carry Nielsen so much farther forward than his predecessors in Scandinavian music.

From the period of his first opera and early symphonies, Nielsen's music already showed his marked reaction against German romanticism.

In Saul and David he laid stress on purely musical qualities and re- jected equally the dramatic principles of Verdian opera and Wagnerian music drama. This work contains novel elements of a musical order and at the same time turns old devices, such as fugal writing for the chorus, to purposes that must be regarded as new so far as opera was concerned.3

An apparent contradiction to Nielsen's anti -romanticism was the

fact that he often gave his symphonies distinctive titles suggesting

2. , "Carl Nielsen ", Music Review, (1946), p. 173.

3. "Carl Nielsen ", Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., Vol. 6 (1954), p. 86. 7

extra -musical ideas. He did not, however turn them into program music in the Lisztian or Straussian sense. It is probable that, like

Schumann, he invented the music first without any conscious preoccupa- tion with an external subject and thought of titles to suit it after- wards. A possible exception is the Second Symphony - the Four

Temperaments.

The early works of Nielsen showed the first sign of his remarkable conception of the modes, which so deeply marked his later development.

In the main, this was probably part of the reaction against the leading - tone harmony then prevalent in late romanticism, especially as it had been expressed by and his successors. Thus Carl Nielsen happens to cross the way of the primitive pre -harmonic music, and in its modulation his art acquires a certain resemblance to the modes of the Middle Ages, without, however, being theoretically determined by them. Throughout his musical output, one can clearly see Nielsen's dominant melodic tendency, the desire for whole and hearty melody due to a primitive sense of the inexhaustible possibilities of expression of the basic intervals. He himself once said: "The thing is to be able to use a pure fifth in such a way that no one thinks he has ever heard that interval before. "4 In an age where the sense of the in- terval had been leveled to a vanishing point, Carl Nielsen built up a melodic music which was based on the most delicate sense of the values of the individual intervals and the strictest economy in their use.

4. Knud Jeppesen, op. cit., p. 174. 8

Another melodic peculiarity which manifested itself in Nielsen's music was called the "periheletic tone centering principle ", which con- sists in the choice of a particular note as a kind of solar center around which the others form constellations.5 That note is not a tonic, properly speaking, and it may give place at any moment to another note.

One might say, perhaps, that Nielsen invented the use of a chain of temporary and interchangeable tonics, which, however, should not be regarded as keynotes. The tonality and chromatic contrasts of tonality were used for dramatic purpose. According to the Nielsen scholar

Robert Simpson: "Most of his mature works treat a chosen key as a goal to be achieved or an order to be evolved, and his final establishment of key has all the organic inevitability, with which the flower appears at a plant's point of full growth. "6

Nielsen did not set out to be a difficult composer, though he did not mind being a controversial one. Even when he presented his lis- teners with a tough polytonal problem, he did his best to help the ear by making the clash of opposed melodic strains clear by sharply dif- ferentiating their tone color. But he also wrote music which he took care to make immediately accessible to the receptive but untrained ear.

It was above all in his songs that Nielsen was able to follow his theory that the fundamental thing was the simplicity of the tune and a faithful interpretation of the text. He wrote many song cycles and edited several collections for the Danish Folk High School, as well as

5. Ibid., p. 174.

6. John Vinton, Dictionary of Contemporary Music, (New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1974), p. 511. 9

the elementary schools. Many of his songs became exceedingly popular in , and his comic opera Maskerade, based on a comedy by Holberg, became the kind of national opera for the Danes that Smetana's Bartered

Bride was for the Czechs.? Especially in his last years, as if towards the close of his life he inclined towards its beginning, he produced a mass of simple and popular melodies, that spread rapidly all over the country and became favorites, widely sung as few others. His power of mastering the most artistic, the most complicated, as well as the sim- plest musical forms is perhaps one of the most striking signs of his greatness.

7. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, op. cit, 86. CHAPTER III,

THE COMPOSITIONS FOR VIOLIN

The Concerto

In 1911, Carl Nielsen wrote his Violin Concerto, the first of three he was to write in all. The other two concertos for flute and clarinet were composed in the late 1920's and represent Nielsen's mature, individual style, while the earlier Violin Concerto remains a part of the older romantic tradition. Nielsen was never interested in the thought of writing a concerto on the heroic scale, nor did he make use of the large classical concerto scheme with ritornello, as did

Elgar in his Violin Concerto. The three concertos are fairly intimate in nature, each having its own individual form.8

The Violin Concerto was composed in the wake of the Sinfonia

Espansiva, and it is, like the symphony, a very genial work, but much more relaxed. Its shape is unusual: There are two immense slow intro- ductions, each leading to a full sized quick movement, in the first case a broad Allegro cavalleresco and in the second a peaceful final

Rondo. In both of the rapid sections are found brilliantly elaborated cadenzas for the violin. The tonal plan is, characteristically, a process from one region to another, and the opening Praeludium an- nounces the scheme of the whole work by modulating from G minor to

8. Robert Simpson, Carl Nielsen - Symphonist, (Londcn: J. M. Dent and Sons LTD., 1952), p. 124.

10 11

D major. The mood here is ruminative and the conception extremely spacious as the violin line fluctuates gently (figure 1).

Fig. 1. Violin Concerto, Praeludium.

This peaceful atmosphere is soon interrupted with the beginning of

the sturdy Allegro cavalleresco in G major (figure 2).

Fig. 2. Violin Concerto, Allegro cavalleresco.

The second part of the Concerto begins poco adagio, wandering

plaintively around with a theme that starts, probably by

accident, with BACH (figure 3).9

Poco adagio poco acci 1.

dun.

poco rail. PP/P

Fig. 3. Violin Concerto, Poco adagio.

9. Ibid., p. 126. 12

This section is perhaps the best in the work and it is a good eyample of how Nielsen can indulge in chromaticism without ever falling into sentimentality.

The last movement, Allegretto scherzando, is a gently whimsical rondo on a graceful and humorous tune (figure 4). The form is very simple, though not without subtleties.

Allegretto scherzando SOLOIST

Fig. 4. Violin Concerto, Allegretto scherzando.

The Violin Concerto is quite a fine composition, and one might wish to know why it has not had more widespread recognition. There seem to be several possible answers to this question. The level of difficulty is certainly a factor in this puzzle. The solo part re- quires a virtuoso mastery of the instrument; yet the demands are pro- bably no greater than those of the Tchaikovsky or the Sibelius Violin

Concertos, two works which seem to be in a similar class with Neilsen's

Concerto. The main problems are with the dimensions of the piece.

A large scale orchestra is required and playing time is over thirty - five minutes. This makes the work highly unfeasible for many concert programs. Still, the Concerto deserves attention, and perhaps it remains for a notable artist of the present to champion it. 13

The Unaccompanied Pieces for Violin

Near the end of his career, Carl Nielsen wrote two very original pieces for solo violin, the Prelude and Theme with Variations of 1923, and the Preludio e Presto of 1928. The former work was premiered in

London by Emil Telmanyi, a concert violinist and also Nielsen's son- in-law. It was a decided success and it is surprising that more violinists have not discovered the work. Based on an original tune that is the very essence of all that is Danish, the Variations are ex- traordinarily resourceful and imaginative, while the Prelude is a masterly example of the art of florid yet disciplined writing.10

Nielsen makes full use of the traditional violinistic idioms of the nineteenth century throughout. Fast scales, arpeggios, contrasts of detache and spiccato, passages of quadruple stops, and idiomatic string crossings permeate the free and unmeasured fantasy form of the

Prelude and find regular occurence among the variations to follow. In technical difficulty the work probably exceeds the unaccompanied pieces which preceded it except those by Paganini. However, Nielsen understood the violin, and the bristly passages seem to "lie well" on the instrument. Innovations occur such as the composer's indication in the score that he wants vibrato on certain notes; he even asks for it in combination with pizzicato (figure 5 ). Var. VI Tempo giusto (;1 , soo ) .( arCO z. arto v1 p4

p cántabiLa crest.

Fig. 5. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. VI, measures l -4.

10. Ibi d. , p. 148. 14

Variation I not only alternates pizzicato and arco chords in rapid succession, but marks certain notes to be played with the bow and left hand pizzicato simultaneoúsly (figure 6).

! Y_?.s AB* . f + t A+? W. 4123 fr 3 m eraziono 7nj.'""'"""_

Fig. 6. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. I, measures 9 -12.

Variation II, "a la Arlequino ", in a Sicilian rhythm, contrasts consecutive harmonics in pianissimo with simple vibrated tenuti in for- tissimo (figure 7).

Var. II Andantino quasi Allegretto (J. circa. 86) (à la drlequiuo)

P acce!. molto ía11. molto A D G- aihr. T<1 .; MTS.

I J cresc. dím. pp g^razioso facile e coas fanta$sa

accel. 2 .,.s.r1 Q r asar. . vsa : .,

Fig. 7. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Var. II, measures 1 -8. 15

Glissandi such as one finds in Bartók are coupled with double stops in the Prelude and there are unusual intervals and other dif- ficulties throughout (figure 8).

D- - G (o= ) - -(QSbt)- - () accel. poco a poco_ i'CnY=-i19ryy,) V s ¢--' (oibrrJ Cvibr) 4, 3, 4,112:2rV 31 11, Y,",cVI ! 7. 9 27 I-Icresc. A

Fig. 8. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Prelude, page 3.

The composition closes with the theme stated in broad three and four -part chords, utilizing the most difficult left -hand combinations possible to the instrument, a solemn yet festive ending to an ex- tremely imaginative work (figure 9).

Tempo di Tema a ysoLenns n V n Y -a- 31 2 i I NO-

Y^ i Y V ..s T3t , if i.M=111 amc.+i=1111=Ls -! ANNW -.i

V n y p6Sm7LtB Ft 7 4._4(-.)4 A. L. ab: s , " n n V- n _. .0. .7ifs .. _ i _ - ew ! i- 7 f J! t poco- a poco 1;L JJ

Fig. 9. Prelude and Theme with Variations, Theme, last 16 measures.

In 1928, Nielsen dedicated his other solo violin piece, Preludio e

Presto, to the Danish violin master on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday. This composition is as technically difficult as the earlier solo piece with many of the same devices. Yet it has a 16 fiery poetry that makes it well worth playing. One new device that oc- curs in this piece is the requirement that the violinist slip the mute on and off the bridge while continuing to move the bow. This device is quite common in later twentieth century works (figure 10).

rail. e dim. Adagio molto (: = 69f 4. 3 Can Jonc i. 4 i ,,:can sorti) 2 (i) ' O 2

Fig. 10. Preludio e Presto, eighth line, page 4.

By means of this and other methods, Nielsen was able to produce in this Prelude a wholly impressionistic coloration effect within the tonal area, and in the same manner elaborated many figurations, es- pecially in the Presto, which is totally composed of tone clusters, similar to the chords of Debussy. The Presto comprises the highest sort of thematic development, a modern form of Bach's Kunst der Fugue, and already points the way to Bartók's Sonata for Solo Violin

(figure 11). There is a typical use of fresh notes, those which are not a part of the established tonal constellation, and the continuous opposition of melodic and rhythmic motifs gives the work a steadily growing and developing tension. 17

Presto ,o ca 32 'egg.

w, A 2 2 f /egg. e 4'attt., 1 t12 o t' i

.P V V (egg. t a > > 2 > b4 -:.1__- _ .11 -

oétactié

b+ 2 A s s411111

cresc.

3 E 2 sui b -0- ±{'± :.ri r r ?J f .

o 2 Z n 1 t o 3 .t ai r f! _ ti 044,11 1) a-r- - I `

O 41111.1311F 3

_P tsAicc.) cresc. -

Fig. 11. Preludio e Presto, page 6. 18

Nielsen's knowledge of the violin allowed him to fully utilize com- its technical possibilities for new and fresh tonal and harmonic binations, and, using his virtuosity as a means rather than an end, of he exhibited a refined elegance and humorously "baroque" state mind, which are unique in his works. Typical of the solo pieces are the many diminished intervals, characteristic of the period; and tri-

tones, unique techniques for the playing of thirds, left -hand pizzicato,

and arpeggiated chords, all used to make up a rich polyphonic develop- ment. The mastering of these techniques by a violinist represents a

very high level of virtuosity and artistry.

The Violin Sonatas

The first Violin Sonata of Carl Nielsen was composed in 1895, the

period of his youth when he was still learning the techniques of his

romantic predecessors. Nielsen's countryman, Povl Hamburger, said of

the first Sonata that it counters "the myth of Nielsen as a pro-

nounced anti -romantic ... this youthful work which from first to last

seems conceived in an effortlessly happy inspiration ... yet, it did

not arouse unqualified enthusiasm with the critics, but was thought

to be too learned, too experimenting. "11 A live hearing of this work

reveals, on the contrary, that the composer, though young, though

giving some reflection of Brahms, of Grieg, and of Franck, is ob-

viously an individual and imaginative musical thinker. Far from

11. Povl Hamburger, "Orchestral Works and Chamber Music ", in Jurgen Balzer, ed., Carl Nielsen, Centenary Essays (London: Dobson, 1966), p. 26. 19 seeming "learned ", this Sonata often delights with surprising turns of harmony and droll or affecting maneuvers in the handling of theme.12

The first movement is a sonata allegro characteristically marked

Allegro glorioso, in which one can hear many of Brahms' figures of speech, but illuminated in a fresh, original way (figure 12).

Allegro glorioso. --- Í a _ a ` `- ....ma...i.ibts s W ^ N # /^ d I ' , . - ` / . - J 'iI MON. = l i aY! i I

Fig. 12. Sonata, opus 9, Allegro glorioso, measures 1 -3.

The Andante of the A Major Sonata is an example of this also, outwardly Brahmsian, it is inwardly and serenely very Danish (figure

13).

12. Abram Loft, Violin and Keyboard: The Duo Repertoire, (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973) p. 171. 20

Andante. /MD MIN ._ MI V ns .. ! dSprtSS. .% . .ere _ }y

p_...... --...... , (ere _ seen

! 1 i I I fÉ !1 _. >l S .-. tf_ -- w .5. .4. :J. i¡i 4 * crn sa r.-.r 111,-Jam* _ _ I 'ri/r._ -

if !i _ . V' I

.I

,...../""" MOW INI.71.1.. ... Z` . IMIMMBM INIMi. V y ,./71 71* Y Ii. ir 'e74 71 r pc u a pucv crrsr I ------! ` I 1 I :3 \ I \ ! s m _4 ... S. r _ a.!ea>ow. sr - r .ir.rr, r mw s7O7rfr- 1 I / I poro a poro esr. crew..

{ 1 , .Bit mow i=& W..I ii. _/ 11 s i w- - f,t ÿ f t/ a

:_/ 11. . MI. V t

'I -;,.--;- -- - - '' '"'" - i °-_ . R - /.. mar .fs.r- 1,1111111 ...S.i...ars :.. ..,...,.r ...r,. ..Ila .. 4,. .-±z + :41; 7i , ' ttr ; -- ` ,- I I ! y l -; - . -- MIwia nrza.r.ammr JIMIYIIIIIIIIIIr a111r.111r It .. , - -- 1 _ _i á 3 = -("5. r ha.r.ro ll`59

Fig. 13. Sonata, opus 9, Andante, measures 1-22. 21

The third movement is deceptive in its naivete, for its open and disarming waltzing is the vehicle for music of considerable strength and direction. Nielsen titles this movement Allegro piacevole e qiovanille: a "playful and youthful Allegro" (figure 14).

Allegro piacevole è giovanile.

v 7 T 1 -

V Y

Í

i I I I 2 _`r .a f = rI1YNi AP- Fig. 14. Sonata, opus 9, Allegro piacevole e giovanille,

measures 1 -11.

Nielsen's second and last Violin Sonata, opus 35, is quite a different work from the earlier sonata and brings a new and disturbing note into Nielsen's style. This composition is regarded by Nielsen scholars to be one of the most important of his chamber pieces. The formal lines are drawn with a clarity that recalls preclassic music, but the substance is deeply original and personal. There are three movements to the sonata, the first starting in a soft and weird mood, but soon rising to tremendous power. It is strange that Nielsen marks this movement Allegro con tiepidezza and also cautions that the opening theme be played without expression. But he must have 22 felt that the intensity in the melody would prevail against or be brought to even more vital effect, by understatement rather than flam- boyance. The line moves upward, colliding with the C flat and resting

briefly. Then it moves up again to confront the A flat, and rests again before leaping with a great stretch to the high G. From there it unwinds sinuously, until it flows away in the trill measures, only to end enigmatically, with the little upward tag in the last measure.

It is a well shaped tune, almost familiar enough to hum, but shot through with strange twists that save it from convention and trite-

ness (figure 15).13

Allegro con tiepidezza. ó -ss senza espressione

P

.11111. siamigsmoA..

Fig. 15. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro con tiepidezza, measures 1 -13.

The key signature and the flavor of the violin opening suggest G

minor, but the piano's initial measures do all they can to fight this

13. Ibid., p. 172. 23 impression, at the same time weaving added threads of motion against the violin line.

The movement is a sonata construction of medium duration, yet tightly knit. Its several areas are related to each other by thematic derivation, but are distinct enough in character to keep the movement alive. Observe the transition, secondary and closing subjects

(figures 16, 17, and 18).

.F- > ;itT T ,jt -i wT 7fT +-ar -0,7z t' h w f f

Fig. 16. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, transition theme, measures 21 -24.

poco meno mJSSO Sul D

Fig. 17. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, second theme, measures 43 -46.

o ..o.alL

I J g

Fig. 18. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, closing theme, measures 74 -78. 24

Angular sixteenth -note interruptions in and around these sections form the necessary contrast, on the background of which the cantabile is of still greater effect. The faster rhythms dominate the develop- ment, interweaving with the broader thematic elements from the exposi- tion and culminating in an agitato episode of truly bravura require- ment (figure 19).

Agitato. r

Agitato. A ,+ ; Al = a i rr 1 MN,Iwf.ll..Y 10 - asl

e I l Il JJ V' i 71 I ! I E hs a _ _ i+.1 s hv M I R ,ir Rw r a J T. « 1-.r.' I, 7 j 'ri.frLR i ^ /r.L Fw r r ? r tir F -_,ir t s .-r,- . J'L - ss.auji 1 F_ 1 .r ti MIS w11-07"r--I M . 1 ei Iqt6_+ ipa ..zi _..._--- _ . ._ s _ylr -___. . : -arolf - ± $A .11a cr ..Oc.01NI.rslmCarlP711MMMla/r- INNIMUr . .= urNNAIMMEINI rla./ /BNICrIF i

711-_,/ Q- MOMMM i or . . . -4a- a- - - mmlm-rmr -Er at _- 6.0*:s1/l .i a y s , } } } !Fa" ,A=

to Ì I î1fZ rT .i

Fig. 19. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, measures 116 -127. 25

In a succinct recapitulation, the inherited thematic material is altered in the retelling so that a fresh view of familiar ideas is won.

At the very end of the movement comes a last quirk. The sound is dying, draining away; then, suddenly, in the middle of the very last note comes an intense stroke (figure 20).

rail. poco moderato , pp-** PPP i poco moderato

- rail. - pp dim.

Fig. 20. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro, last 6 measures.

The Adagio movement of Nielsen's Second Violin Sonata contains some of his most beautiful writing, ranging in terms from heroic to poignant. It is wonderfully broad in character, though it contains sections of complex rhythms and scale passages. Often the violin and piano are at odds with difficult cross - rhythms and tricky sub- divisions of the beat (figure 21). One Nielsen scholar says "The duo that wrestles through this Adagio will be better for it."14

14. Ibid., p. 175. 26

T

. ... ,r - . ....F! v.r ...... s:a.t: . iIII OMNe r.1111. .rw.111111r .w y pesáte - r.,.ex t_t } . T- ."-- ¿- w 7 G+7 .L .,..t...._ - i_ ^- -.r. =l u " lr aÉmr- .", . . J fr f g/! 7 f7iK t ' ---

: %f--at , ,`Z

Fig. 21. Sonata, opus 35, Molto adagio, measures 17 -19.

The third movement is an Allegro piacevole (merry or agreeable),

that belies its name by the irregularity of its rhythms and the mobil-

ity of its tonalities (figure 22). The movement is a kind of rondo

in swaying waltz rhythm, but the harmonic web does not remain clear

and the rhythmic swing begins to be broken up by patterns of staccato,

then accented eigths.

Allegro piacevole.

Allegro piacevole. a, . !9

Fig. 22. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 1-6. 27

In the middle of the movement comes a perhaps welcome change of pace: a broad Alla breve in in a very Brahmsian vein (figure

23) .

Fig. 23. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 103 -113.

By the time the piacevole triple returns, the texture of the piece has changed completely. The violin is still singing away in its broad triple rhythms, but the piano devotes itself entirely to a stac- cato eighth -note pattern that has come into the movement at an earlier stage in its progress (figure 24). 28

Tempo I.

9 - 9 ' 3

u Tempo I. J Li

1 m

f L y- Z --- ' /T-99 - ! '

Fig. 24. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, measures 141 -152.

A further element, briefly touched on by the piano in the episode just preceding, is a hammered eighth -note pattern, in octave unison, extending through the measure. So, for the entire closing page of the score, the piano bangs away passionately at B flat (the opening key of the movement), as if in belated atonement for the harmonic in- fidelities that have occurred from the movement's beginning.15 But, at the last possible moment, the piano suddenly abandons B flat for C, the violin completes its statement in a C major progression, and the two instruments breathe out the last measures on C alone, dwindling away to a triple piano (figure 25).

15. Ibi d. , p. 176. 29

dim.

b?TT-ar T 7TirTT7t? boT?'TT7'

6TTTÓTT bT -ar Z air T bTT? TTT TT:Tz TTTTTT bTíTíT?irT

7r . _-21;-711:::

677 71 hTTT7r -Jr TT -ar T? bT7rTT7r7r 67 T7r??3 ba -air Táir rail.

- - . - -a, ;Z.--". P di>n-a 71 tila. - - -

r . ; , . I , t L f ! p * { dim. I dim. p rail. _ _

.-f- , ---, , , , 1 < t r i , -4P ' -eh ha- T -ar TTT bTZTTT bTTTTT f t f tf.r f f7f i

.

PPP

dim. rail.

ft+-41P-r-f f-t=w -F -t-. f-.- . . f ...... ff- f-. ..f-. - . . . -tt t ff- tf. f. PPP

Fig. 25. Sonata, opus 35, Allegro piacevole, last 31 measures. 30

This second Sonata, of all of Nielsen's compositions for violin, is the most difficult to comprehend, because of its unfamiliar har- monic and rhythmic idiocyncracies. Yet, it is a deeply personal work, very poetic, and one which can enrich the repertory of an advanced violinist.

In comparison, the earlier sonata is not as mature a work, but still merits study by professionals or students on an advanced level.

Both works could inject valuable new blood into the typical sonata recital. Technically more difficult, of course, are the Concerto and solo pieces of Nielsen. These compositions may only be approached on an advanced level of violin technique, but they too can expand the violinist's repertory, not only as mere additions to what already exists, but also as contributions of a high degree of personality and integrity. CHAPTER IV,

CONCLUSION

To familiarize oneself with the music of Carl Nielsen may require time, but as is the case with most great works of art, the time is well spent. It has been particularly enjoyable to study his com- positions for violin, since chamber music next to the symphony, was the instrumental form which had the greatest attraction for Nielsen throughout his life, and especially during his youth and early maturity.

He had an innate sense of clear and concise form combined with ex- ceptional gifts for counterpoint. It is interesting to note that

Nielsen's first attempts as a composer were in the field of chamber music; not until years later did he begin work on his symphonies, the works he is best known for today.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the music of Carl Nielsen is its simplicity. Nielsen believed that adherence to the basic in- terval and to fundamental rhythm is necessary to all music, and helped to re- establish these goals at a time when music had become very intellectual, very experimenting.

The music of Carl Nielsen is continually becoming more widely accepted, though during his lifetime it was performed mainly in

Scandinavia and occasionally in England. Perhaps the turning point in Nielsen's international career came in 1950, when his fifth

31 32 symphony was played at the Edinburgh Festival. The publication of

Robert Simpson's book on Carl Nielsen two years later also helped.

In the United States, Nielsen's reputation hás been furthered by

Leonard Bernstein's interpretations of the symphonies.

Finally, after many years of neglect, the music of Carl Nielsen is beginning to take a firm hold. APPENDIX I

Published Works for Violin

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano opus 9 (1895) Allegro glorioso Andante Allegro piacevole e giovanille

Violin Concerto opus 33 (1911) Praeludium, Largo, Allegro cavalleresco Poco adagio, Rondo, Allegretto scherzando

Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano opus 35 (1912) Allegro con tiepidezza Molto adagio Allegro piacevole

Prelude and Theme with Variations opus 48 (1923)

Preludio e Presto opus 52 (1928)

33 APPENDIX II-

Chronological Survey of Major Works

1888 - String Quartet No. 1, G minor, opus 13. String Quintet, G major Little Suite, for strings, A minor, opus 1.

1889 - Fantasy Pieces, oboe, piano Symphonic Rhapsody, orchestra

1890 - Five Piano Pieces, opus 3. String Quartet No. 2, F minor, opus 5.

1892 - Symphony No. 1, G minor, opus 7.

1894 - Symphonic Suite, piano, opus 8.

1895 - Sonata No. 1, violin and piano, A major, opus 9.

1896 - , soli, chorus, orchestra, opus 12.

1897 - Humoresque - Bagatelles, piano, opus 11.

1898 - String Quartet No. 3, E flat, opus 14.

1901 - Opera, Saul and David

1902 - Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments), opus 16.

1903 - , Helios, opus 17.

1906 - String Quartet No. 4, , opus 44. Opera,

1908 - The Dream of Gunnar, opus 39.

1911 - Symphony No. 3, (Sinfonia espansiva), opus 27. Violin Concerto, opus 33.

1912 - Sonata No. 2, violin and piano, opus 35.

1916 - Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable), opus 29.

1918 - Pan and , orchestra, opus 49. 34 35

1922 - Symphony No. 5, opus 50. Quintet, flute, oboe, clarinet, , horn, opus 43.

1923 - Prelude and Theme with Variations, violin solo, opus 48.

1925 - Symphony No. 6 (Sinfonia semplice)

1926 -

1928 - Preludio e Presto, violin solo, opus 52. , F major, opus 57.

1929 - Three motets, mixed chorus, opus 55.

1931 - , organ, opus 58. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Austin, William W. Music in the Twentieth Century. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., Inc., 1966.

Balzer, Jurgen. Carl Nielsen, Centenary Essays. London: Dobson, 1966.

"Carl Nielsen ", Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. edited by Eric Blom, Vol. 6, (1954), pp. 85 -86.

"Carl Nielsen ", Riemann Musik Lexikon, Personenteil, (1975), p. 273.

Garvie, Peter. "Carl Nielsen ", Canadian Music Journal, No. 2, (Winter, 1961), pp. 20 -28.

Jacobsen, B. "The In- Composers ", Musical America, Vol. 19 (July, 1969), pp. 54 -57.

Jeppesen, Knud. "Carl Nielsen ", Music Review, (1946), pp. 170 -177.

Loft, Abraham. Violin and Keyboard: The Duo Repertory. New York: Grossman Publishers, 1973.

Nielsen, Carl. Living Music. London: Hutchinson and Co. LTD, 1953.

Simonsen, Rudolf. "Carl Nielsen ", Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, Vol II, (1963), pp. 189 -190.

Simpson, Robert. Carl Nielsen -Symphonist. London: J. M. Dent and Sons LTD., 1952.

Telmanyi, E. "Prelude, Theme and Variations, Opus 48 - The Vega Bach Bow ", The Strad, Vol. 66, (Nov. 1955), p. 250.

Thompson, Kenneth. A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Composers. London: Faber and Faber Co., (1973).

Topper, P. "Prelude, Theme, and Variations, Opus 48 - The Contem- porary Unaccompanied Violin ", American String Teacher's Journal. Vol. 12, (1962), pp. 5 -6.

Vinton, John. Dictionary of Contemporary Music. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., (1974]

Waterhouse, John. "Nielsen Reconsidered ", Musical Times, (1965), pp. 425 -427, pp. 515 -516, pp. 593 -594.

36