Carl Nielsen
composer
Carl Nielsen was recognised early on as one of the most important Danish composers of the 20th century. After Jean Sibelius gave up composing at the age of 60 at the height of his artistic success, Nielsen became the sole representative of Scandinavian Modernism for several years – with no less than Wilhelm Furtwängler presenting his Fifth Symphony at the 1925 Festival of the International Society for New Music in Frankfurt and Leipzig.
Carl Nielsen was born on the island of Funen in 1865. Despite his provincial surroundings, he came into contact with the music of the First Viennese School in his youth, which he learnt about through a music society founded on Funen in 1874. In 1879, the budding musician was accepted into the regimental music corps in Odense, where he played the horn and alto trombone. In his spare time, he took violin lessons and composed his first string quartet in D minor. In 1883, Nielsen travelled to Copenhagen and presented the andante of his quartet to Niels Wilhelm Gade, which led to him being accepted as a scholarship holder in violin at the conservatory. In 1889, Nielsen was offered a position as a violinist at the Royal Danish Orchestra in Copenhagen. He was also awarded the coveted [Det anckerske Legat] scholarship, which allowed him to travel to Germany, France and Italy for several months a year later. During this time, Nielsen became known for his own conducting and his First Symphony, which was successfully premiered in March 1894 by the Royal Danish Orchestra under the direction of Johan Svendsen. The premiere of his opera [Maskerade] in Copenhagen in 1906 marked his definitive breakthrough as a composer. Two years later, Nielsen became second conductor at the Royal Theatre, and in 1915 he took over the direction of the Concert Society, with which he performed many of his own works. The musician also taught composition and music theory at the conservatory from 1916 and was internationally recognised as a conductor. Due to a heart condition, Nielsen withdrew from public life in 1922 and focused on composing. He died in Copenhagen on 3 October 1931.
