Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger
Portrait of Adam Oehlenschläger by Christian Albrecht Jensen (1825)
Born	(1779-11-14)14 November 1779 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	20 January 1850(1850-01-20) (aged 70) Copenhagen, Denmark
Occupation	Poet, playwright
Nationality	Danish
Signature

Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger^[1] (14 November 1779 – 20 January 1850) was a Danish poet and playwright. He introduced romanticism into Danish literature.

Biography[link]

He was born in Vesterbro, then a suburb of Copenhagen, on November 14,1779. His father, a Schleswiger by birth, was at that time organist, and later became keeper, of the royal palace of Frederiksberg; he was a very brisk and cheerful man. The poet's mother, on the other hand, who was partly German by extraction, suffered from depression, which afterwards deepened into melancholy madness.

Oehlenschläger and his sister Sofia were allowed their own way throughout their childhood, and were taught nothing, except to read and write, until their twelfth year. At the age of nine, Oehlenschläger began to make fluent verses. Three years later, while walking in Frederiksberg Gardens, he attracted the notice of the poet Edvard Storm, and the result of the conversation was that he received a nomination to the college called Posterity's High School, an important institution of which Storm was the principal. Storm himself taught the class of Scandinavian mythology, and thus Oehlenschläger received his earliest bias towards the poetical religion of his ancestors.

Oehlenschläger was confirmed in 1795, and was to have been apprenticed to a tradesman in Copenhagen. To his great delight there was a hitch in the preliminaries, and he returned to his father's house. He now, in his eighteenth year, suddenly took up study with great zeal, but soon again abandoned his books for the stage, where he was offered a small position. In 1797 he made his appearance on the boards in several successive parts, but soon discovered that he possessed no real histrionic talent. The brothers Ørsted, with whom he had formed an intimacy that proved quite profitable to him, persuaded him to quit the stage, and in 1800 he entered the University of Copenhagen as a student. He was doomed, however, to disturbance in his studies, first from the death of his mother, next from his inveterate tendency towards poetry, and finally from the First Battle of Copenhagen in April 1801, which, however, inspired a dramatic sketch (April the Second 1801) which is the first thing of the kind by Oehlenschläger that we possess.

Statue of Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger in Frederiksberg Gardens (Copenhagen)

In the summer of 1802, when Oehlenschläger had an old Scandinavian romance, as well as a volume of lyrics, in the press, the young Norse philosopher, Henrik Steffens, came back to Copenhagen after a long visit to Schelling in Germany, full of new romantic ideas. His lectures at the university, in which Goethe and Schiller were revealed to the Danish public for the first time, created a great sensation. Steffens and Oehlenschläger met one day at Dreier's Club, and after a conversation of sixteen hours the latter went home, suppressed his two coming volumes, and wrote at a sitting his splendid poem Guldhornene, in a manner totally new to Danish literature. The result of his new enthusiasm speedily showed itself in a somewhat hasty volume of poems, published in 1803, now chiefly remembered as containing the lovely piece called Sanct Hansaften-Spil.

The next two years saw the production of several exquisite works, in particular the epic of Thors Reise til Jotunheim, the charming poem in hexameters called Langelandsreisen, and the bewitching piece of fantasy Aladdin (1805). At the age of twenty-six, Oehlenschläger was universally recognized, even by the opponents of the romantic revival, as the leading poet of Denmark. He now collected his Poetical Writings in two volumes. He found no difficulty in obtaining a grant for foreign travel from the government, and he left his native country for the first time, joining Steffens at Halle in August 1805. Here he wrote the first of his great historical tragedies, Hakon Jarl, which he sent off to Copenhagen, and then proceeded for the winter months to Berlin, where he associated with Humboldt, Fichte, and the leading men of the day, and met Goethe for the first time.

In the spring of 1806 he went on to Weimar, where he spent several months in daily intercourse with Goethe. The autumn of the same year he spent with Tieck in Dresden, and proceeded in December to Paris. Here he resided eighteen months and wrote his three famous masterpieces, Baldur hin Gode (1808), Palnatoke (1809), and Axel og Valborg (1810). Oehlenschläger had also made his own translation of Aladdin into German, adding some extra new material which does not appear in the 1805 edition; this revised version was published in Amsterdam in 1808. Ferruccio Busoni later used the text of this translation for the last (choral) movement of his Piano Concerto Op. 39. Later editions of Oehlenschläger's play do not contain this text.^[2]

In July 1808 he left Paris and spent the autumn and winter in Switzerland as the guest of Madame de Staël at Coppet, in the midst of her circle of wits. In the spring of 1809 Oehlenschläger went to Rome to visit Bertel Thorvaldsen, and in his house wrote his tragedy of Correggio. He hurriedly returned to Denmark in the spring of 1810, partly to take the chair of aesthetics at the University of Copenhagen, partly to marry the sister-in-law of Rahbek, to whom he had been long betrothed. His first course of lectures dealt with his Danish predecessor Johannes Ewald, the second with Schiller. From this time forward his literary activity became very great; in 1811 he published the Oriental tale of Ali og Gulhyndi, and in 1812 the last of his great tragedies, Stærkodder.

From 1814 to 1819 he, or rather his admirers, were engaged in a long and angry controversy with Baggesen, who represented the old didactic school. This contest seems to have disturbed the peace of Oehlenschläger's mind and to have undermined his genius. His talent may be said to have culminated in the glorious cycle of verse-romances called Helge, published in 1814. The tragedy of Hagbarth og Signe, (1815), showed a distinct falling-off in style. In 1817 he went back to Paris, and published Hroars Saga and the tragedy of Fostbrødrene. In 1818 he was again in Copenhagen, and wrote the idyll of Den lille Hyrdedreng and the Eddaic cycle called Nordens Guder. His next productions were the tragedies of Erik og Abel (1820) and Væringerne i Miklagaard (1826), and the epic of Hrolf Krake (1829). His last volumes were Tordenskjold (1833), Dronning Margrethe (1833), Sokrates (1835), Olaf den Hellige (1836), Knud den Store (1838), Dina (1842), Erik Glipping (1843), and Kiartan og Gudrun (1847). On his seventieth birthday, 14 November 1849, a public festival was arranged in his honor, and he was decorated by the king of Denmark under circumstances of great pomp. He died on 20 January 1850 and was buried in the cemetery of Frederiksberg. Immediately after his death his Recollections were published in two volumes.

Legacy[link]

With the exception of Ludvig Holberg, no Danish writer before 1870 has exercised so wide an influence as Oehlenschläger. His great work was to awaken in the breasts of his countrymen an enthusiasm for the poetry and religion of their ancestors, and this he performed to so complete an extent that his name remains to this day synonymous with Scandinavian romance. He supplied his countrymen with romantic tragedies at the very moment when all eyes were turned to the stage, and when the old-fashioned pieces were felt to be inadequate. His plays, partly no doubt in consequence of his own early familiarity with acting, fulfilled the stage requirements of the day, and were popular beyond all expectation. The earliest are the best: Oehlenschlager's dramatic masterpiece being, without doubt, his first tragedy, Hakon Jarl. In his poems and plays alike his style is limpid, elevated, profuse; his flight is sustained at a high pitch without visible excitement. His fluent tenderness and romantic zest have been the secrets of his extreme popularity. Although his inspiration came from Germany, he is not much like a German poet, except when he is consciously following Goethe; his analogy is rather to be found among English poets than his contemporaries. His mission towards antiquity reminds us of Scott; he sometimes has touches of exquisite diction and of overwrought sensibility which recall Coleridge. In his wide ambition and profuseness he possessed some characteristics of Robert Southey, although his style has far more vitality. With all his faults he was a very great writer, and one of the principal pioneers of the romantic movement in Europe.

In 1829 he was publicly crowned with laurel as the "king of Nordic poetry" and the "Scandinavian King of Song" (by Bishop Esaias Tegnér, who would be his Swedish parallel) in the cathedral of Lund, Sweden, based on a vast production of poetry, theatre plays and prose, inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Gottlieb Fichte, and Friedrich von Schelling. (See also Jens Immanuel Baggesen)

He wrote the song "Der er et yndigt land", which is now the national anthem of Denmark.

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Edmund Gosse (1911). "Öhlenschläger, Adam Gottlob". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Beaumont, Antony (1985). Busoni the Composer. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-13149-2

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger

• Oehlenschläger, author presentation in Project Runeberg
• Aladdin, or, The wonderful lamp, by Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, William Blackwood & Sons, 1863

Adam
Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Adam is the figure on the left, and God the figure on the right.

Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם‎, Arabic: آدم‎, Syriac: ܐܵܕ݂ܵܡ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis, the Qur'an and the Kitáb-i-Íqán. According to the creation myth^[1] of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim ("Yahweh-God", the god of Israel), though the term "adam" can refer to both the first individual person, as well as to the general creation of humankind. Christian churches differ on how they view Adam's subsequent behavior (often called the Fall of man), and to the consequences that those actions had on the rest of humanity. Christian and Jewish teachings sometimes hold Adam and Eve (the first woman) to a different level of responsibility for the Fall, though Islamic teaching holds both equally responsible. In addition, Islam holds that Adam was eventually forgiven, while Christianity holds that redemption occurred only later through the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus Christ. Bahá'í Faith, Islam and some Christian denominations consider Adam to be the first Prophet.

Etymology[link]

"Adam" (Hebrew אָדָם comes from the trilateral root אָדַם ( 'ADM ), meaning "red", "fair", "handsome".^[2] In the Book of Genesis, Adam occurs as a proper name in chapters 2-5. As a masculine noun, 'adam ^[3] means "man", "mankind" usually in a collective context as in humankind,^[2] and may also refer to the individual human.^[4] The noun 'adam is also the masculine form of the word adamah which means "ground" or "earth". It is related to the words: adom (red), admoni (ruddy), and dam (blood).^[5]

Genesis narrative[link]

In the first five chapters of Genesis the word אָדָם ( 'adam ) is used in all of its senses: collectively ("mankind"),^[1:27] individually (a "man"),^[2:7] gender nonspecific, ("man and woman")^[5:1,2] and male.^[2:23-24][6]

In Genesis 1:27 "adam" is used in the collective sense, whereby not only the individual Adam, but all humans, are created on the sixth day. The interplay between the individual "Adam" and the collective “humankind” is a main literary component to the events that occur in the Garden of Eden, the ambiguous meanings embedded throughout the moral, sexual, and spiritual terms of the narrative reflecting the complexity of the human condition.^[7] Genesis 2:7 is the first verse where "Adam" takes on the sense of an individual man (the first man): the context of sex and gender, prior to these verses, is absent. The gender distinction of "adam" is then reiterated in Genesis 5:1-2 by defining "male and female".^[8]

A recurring literary motif that occurs in Gen. 1-8, is the bond between Adam and the earth ("adamah"). Adam is made from the earth, and it is from this "adamah" that Adam gets his name. God's cursing of Adam also results in the earth being cursed,^[3:17] and Adam returns to the earth from which he was taken.^[3:19] This “earthly” aspect is a component of Adam’s identity, and Adam’s curse of estrangement from the earth seems to render humankind’s divided identity of being earthly yet separated from nature.^[8:21][9]

Creation[link]

And Elohim Created Adam
William Blake.

According to Genesis 1, God (Elohim) created human beings. "Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam..." (Genesis 5:2). Here "Adam" is a general term for "mankind" and refers to the whole of humankind. God blesses "mankind" to "be fruitful and multiply" and ordains that they should have "dominion" (but the exact meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain and disputed) "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1.26-27).

In Genesis 2 God forms "Adam" (this time meaning a single male human) out of "the dust of the ground" and then "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life", causing him to "become a living soul" (Genesis 2:7). God then placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, giving him the commandment that "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17).

God then noted that "It is not good that the man should be alone" (Genesis 2:18). He then brought every "beast of the field and every fowl of the air" (Genesis 2:19) before Adam and had Adam name all the animals. However, among all the animals, there was not found "a helper suitable for" Adam (Genesis 2:20), so God caused "a deep sleep to fall upon Adam" and took one of his ribs, and from that rib, formed a woman (Genesis 2:21-22), subsequently named Eve.

Fall of Man[link]

Adam and Eve were subsequently expelled from the Garden of Eden, were ceremonially separated from God, and lost their innocence after they broke God's law about not eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This occurred after the serpent (understood to be Satan in many Christian traditions) told Eve that eating of the tree would result not in death, but in Adam and Eve's eyes being opened, resulting in their being "as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3.4-5). Convinced by the serpent's argument, Eve eats of the tree and has Adam do likewise (Gen. 3.6).

As a result, both immediately become aware of the fact that they are naked, and thus cover themselves with garments made of fig leaves (Gen. 3.7). Then, finding God walking in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve hide themselves from God's presence (Gen. 3.8). God calls to Adam "Where art thou?" (Gen. 3.9, KJV) and Adam responds "I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Gen. 3.10, KJV). When God then asks Adam if he had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam responds that his wife had told him to (Gen. 3.11-12).

As a result of their breaking God's law, the couple were removed from the garden (Gen. 3.23) (the Fall of Man according to Christian doctrine) and both receive a curse. Adam's curse is contained in Gen. 3.17-19: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return" (KJV).

Post-expulsion[link]

After his expulsion from Eden, Adam was forced to work hard for his food for the first time. According to the Book of Genesis, he had three male children with Eve named Cain, Abel, and Seth. The Book of Jubilees, a second century BC text which is not considered canonical by most Abrahamic faiths, states that Adam also had two daughters, Azura and Awan, who married Seth and Cain, respectively, in incestuous unions.

According to the Genealogies of Genesis, Adam died at the age of 930. With such numbers, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam would have died only about 127 years before the birth of Noah, nine generations after Adam. In other words, Adam's lifespan would have overlapped that of Lamech (father of Noah), at least fifty years. Ussher and a group of theologians and scholars in 1630 performed calculations and created a study that reported the creation of Adam on October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 am and lived until 3074 BC. There was controversy over the fact that Ussher believed the whole creation process occurred on that day.

Religious views[link]

Jewish traditions[link]

In rabbinic writings and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Adam is a perfect human before his exile from Eden, but is diminished in stature when exiled.^[9] A traditional Jewish belief is that after Adam died, he was buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron. The Book of Joshua mentions a "City of Adam" at the time that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on entering Canaan, but doesn't suggest any relationship between this city and the "first man" of Genesis.

According to some Jewish mystical traditions, the original glory of Adam can be regained through mystical contemplation of God.^[9]

In Jewish folklore, Lilith is the name of Adam's first wife, who was created at the same time and from the same earth as Adam. She left Adam after she refused to become subservient to Adam and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael.^[10] Her story was greatly developed, during the Middle Ages, in the tradition of Aggadic midrashim, the Zohar and Jewish mysticism.^[11] The resulting Lilith legend is still commonly used as source material in modern culture, literature, occultism, fantasy and horror.

Christian traditions[link]

Early Christian views[link]

In Augustine’s reinterpretation of Pauline theology, Adam’s sin is transmitted by sexual relations (specifically by semen) to each descending generation. This contrasts with Christ who was conceived without sin by immaculate conception.^[9]

Jehovah's Witnesses[link]

Jehovah's Witnesses view Adam and Eve as the ones who brought sin, and thus death, into the world by committing the original sin, by disobeying Jehovah's clear command not to eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.

Eve's sin is counted as deliberate disobedience, as she did know that Jehovah had commanded them not to eat, but she is held to have been deceived by the Serpent. (She was deceived only about the effect of their disobedience, not about the will of God on the matter.) Adam's sin is considered even more reproachable, as he had not been deceived. Rather, when confronted with his sin, he attempted to blame both his wife Eve, and Jehovah himself. Genesis 3:12 NWT - "The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate.".^[12] By his sin, he forfeited human perfection and was therefore unable to pass it on to his offspring.

Latter Day Saints[link]

The Latter Day Saint movement holds that Adam and Michael the archangel are the same individual.^[13] Michael the archangel fought against and cast out Lucifer (who became Satan) and his followers at the conclusion of the War of Heaven during the pre-mortal existence (see Book of Revelation 12:7-9). Michael was born into this mortal existence as the man "Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the Ancient of Days" (see Doctrine and Covenants 27:11 and 107:54). Mormons also consider Adam to be the first among all the prophets on earth. Brigham Young and other early leaders spoke favorably about the Adam–God theory, the idea that Adam and God the Father were the same person, but it did not become church doctrine and has since been repudiated by the church.

The Latter Day Saints hold the belief that the "Fall" was not a tragedy, but a necessary part of God's plan. They believe that Adam and Eve had to partake of the forbidden fruit in order to fulfill God's will, and that it is good that they did so.^[14]

Seventh-day Adventists[link]

Seventh-day Adventist believe that the importance of the literal creation time-line is pivotal to the story of humanity, their relationship to God, and the plan of salvation and atonement for Adam and Eve’s transgression (fall), by which all their descendants are under subjugation. The Bible states, “Since by man (Adam) came death, by man (Jesus the Christ) came also the resurrection... (I Cor. 15:21).” To disavow a literal creation and our first parents (Adam and Eve) nearly 6,000 years ago negates a fundamental, orthodox doctrine and the supremacy of the Holy Bible that the sovereign, triune God --“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth,” (Genesis 1:26 NASB)—according to His own purpose and counsel and for His own glory, created humanity in the Biblical/Torah account.^[15]

Islamic view[link]

In Islam, Adam (Adem; Arabic: آدم) is believed to have been the first human being and the first prophet. Adam's role as the father of the human race is looked upon by Muslims with reverence, who also venerate his wife, Eve, as the "mother of mankind".^[16] Muslims see Adam as the first Muslim, as the Qur'an promulgates that all the prophets preached the same faith of submission to God.^[17] According to Hadith, Abu Huraira reports Muhammad as having said, "God created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall" and, "Any person who will enter Paradise will resemble Adam (in appearance and figure). People have been decreasing in stature since Adam's creation."^[18]

Bahá'í view[link]

In the Bahá'í view, Adam was the first Manifestation of God in recorded history.^[19] He is believed by Bahá'ís to have started the Adamic cycle 6000 years ago, which has culminated with Bahá'u'lláh.^[20][21] The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, according to Bahá'í belief, is allegorical and is explained by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions.^[21]

Druze belief[link]

In the Druze religion, Adam and Eve are seen as dualistic cosmic forces and are complementary to one another. Adam represents the universal mind and Eve, the universal soul.^[22]

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Adam

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Adam

• Adam and Eve
• Adam Kadmon
• Banu (Arabic)
• Paradise Lost
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• Y-chromosomal Adam
• Mahabad (prophet)

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Bahá'u'lláh (1862). Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book of Certitude. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 1-931847-08-8. http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KI/. 

• Hendel, Ronald S (2000). "Adam". In David Noel Freedman. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=eerdmans+dictionary+of+the+bible&hl=en&ei=Hu28TuaZA87nmAX22Z3MBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Adam&f=false. 

• Oxford annotated NRSV, editors, Michael D. Coogan, editor ; Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Pheme Perkins, associate (2007). The new Oxford annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books : New Revised Standard Version (Augm. 3rd ed. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-528880-3. 
• Barker, Kenneth (Editor); John H. Stek, Mark L. Strauss, & Ronald F. Youngblood (2008). The NIV Study Bible. Genesus: Zondervan Publishing House. pp. 7. ISBN 978-0-310-93896-5. 

vep:Adam

Carl Nielsen in 1910

Carl August Nielsen (Danish pronunciation: [kʰɑːl ˈnelsn̩]), (9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931), widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist.^[1] Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age. While it was some time before his works were fully appreciated, even in his home country, Nielsen has now firmly entered the international repertoire.^[2] Especially in Europe and the United States, Nielsen's music is ever more frequently performed, with interest growing in other countries as well.^[3] Carl Nielsen is especially admired for his six symphonies, his Wind Quintet and his concertos for violin, flute and clarinet. In Denmark, his opera Maskarade and a considerable number of his songs have become an integral part of the national heritage.^[4] While his early music was inspired by composers such as Brahms and Grieg, he soon started to develop his own style, first experimenting with progressive tonality and later diverging even more radically from the standards of composition still common at the time. For many years, he appeared on the Danish hundred-kroner banknote.^[5][6]

Life[link]

Early years[link]

Carl Nielsen's childhood home

Nielsen was the seventh of 12 children in a poor peasant family in Nørre Lyndelse near Sortelung south of Odense on the Danish island of Funen. His father, Niels Jørgensen, was a house painter and amateur musician who, with his abilities as a fiddler and cornet player, was in strong demand for local celebrations. All the children bore the surname Nielsen despite regulations by the Ministry of Church Affairs.^[7] Nielsen's own description of his childhood in his autobiography Min Fynske Barndom (My Childhood in Funen) written in his later life appears to be a rather over-romanticised account. His mother whom he recalls singing folk songs during his childhood was in fact the daughter of a well-to-do family of sea captains and his uncle was a composer and performer of popular music.^[8] Nevertheless, Nielsen's own account of his introduction to music where he tells us: "I had heard music before, heard father play the violin and cornet, heard mother singing, and, when in bed with the measles, I had tried myself out on the little violin" is probably authentic.^[9]

Nielsen aged about 14 in Odense.

Nielsen learned the violin and piano as a child and wrote his earliest compositions at the age of eight or nine: a lullaby, now lost, and a polka which the composer notated in his autobiography. However, his parents apparently did not believe he had any future as a musician as he was apprenticed to a shopkeeper from a nearby village at age 14.^[7] By midsummer the shopkeeper had gone bankrupt and Carl had to go home to his parents. He also learned how to play brass instruments, which led to a job as a bugler and alto trombonist in the 16th Battalion at nearby Odense that opened up around the time his apprenticeship ended. Carl took up his new positions in the 16th Battalion on the first of November 1879.^[7]

While Nielsen did not give up the violin during his time in the military, for his first two years he usually only played it when he went home to appear at dances with his father.^[7] In 1881, he began to take his violin playing more seriously and began to take private lessons from Carl Larsen, who was the sexton at Odense Cathedral. It is not known how much Carl Nielson composed during his time in the military, but from his autobiography, it can be deduced that he wrote some trios and quartets for brass instruments, and that he had difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that brass instruments were tuned in different keys. One of his overseers, Klaus Berntsen, introduced him to Niels Gade, who was director of the Royal Conservatory.^[7] He was well received by Niels Gade, and Carl Nielson made sure that he could be released at a short notice from the military band. In January 1884, he went to Copenhagen for further studies at the conservatory.

He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen from the beginning of 1884 until December 1886. Though not an outstanding student there and composing little, he progressed well in violin under Valdemar Tofte and received a solid grounding in music theory from Orla Rosenhoff, who would remain a valued adviser during Nielsen's early years as a professional composer. He also studied composition under Niels Gade, Denmark's revered composer, whom he liked as a friend but not for his music.^[2] Contacts with fellow students and cultured families in Copenhagen, some of whom would become lifelong friends, would become equally important. The patchy education resulting from his country background left Nielsen insatiably curious about the arts, philosophy and aesthetics. But, as David Fanning writes, it also left him "with a highly personal, common man's point of view on those subjects".^[10]

By September 1889, only three years after graduating from the conservatory, Nielsen had progressed well enough on the violin to gain a position with the second violins in the prestigious Royal Danish Orchestra which played at Copenhagen's Royal Theater. This position would sometimes cause Nielsen considerable frustration but he continued to play there until 1905. In between graduation and attaining this position, he gave violin lessons, made a modest income as a teacher and enjoyed continued support from patrons. Some of Nielsen's string chamber works were performed at this time, including a Quartet in F which he considered his official debut as a professional composer. However, the greatest impression was made by the Suite for Strings, which was performed at Tivoli Hall on 8 September 1888. Nielsen would designate this work his Opus 1.^[10]

Marriage[link]

Nielsen's wife Anne Marie

After less than a year at the Royal Theater, Nielsen won a scholarship of 1,800 kroner (£90^[a]), giving him the means to spend several months traveling in Europe. During this time he discovered and abandoned Richard Wagner's music dramas, heard many of Europe's leading orchestras and soloists and sharpened his opinions on both music and the visual arts. While revering the music of Bach and Mozart, he remained ambivalent about much 19th century music. In Paris, he met the Danish sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen, who was also traveling on a scholarship. They toured Italy together, marrying in the English Church of St Mark's in Florence on 10 May 1891 before returning to Denmark.^[11]

"As well as being a love match," Fanning writes, "it was also a meeting of minds. Anne Marie was a gifted artist.... She was also a strong-willed and modern-minded woman, determined to forge her own career."^[12] This determination would strain the Nielsens' marriage, as Anne Marie would spend months on location during the 1890s and 1900s, leaving Carl to raise their three young children in addition to composing and coping with his duties at the Royal Theater. While Carl suggested divorce in March 1905, the Nielsens remained married for the remainder of the composer's life. Carl sublimated his anger and frustration over his marriage in a number of musical works, most notably between 1897 and 1904, a period to which he sometimes referred as his "psychological" period.^[12] Fanning writes, "At this time his interest in the driving forces behind human personality crystallized in the opera Saul og David and the Second Symphony ("De fire temperamenter") and the cantatas Hymnus amoris and Søvnen.^[12]

Mature composer[link]

Carl Nielsen at his childhood home (1927)

At first, he did not gain enough recognition for his works to be able to support himself. During the concert which saw the premiere of his first symphony on 14 March 1894 conducted by Johan Svendsen, Nielsen played in the second violin section. However, the symphony was a great success when played in Berlin in 1896, contributing significantly to his reputation. Nielsen became increasingly in demand to write incidental music for the theater and cantatas to mark special occasions, both of which provided a welcome source of additional income. "A reciprocal relationship grew up between his programmatic and symphonic works," Fanning writes; "sometimes he would find stageworthy ideas in his supposedly pure orchestral music; sometimes a text or scenario forced him to invent vivid musical imagery which he could later turn to more abstract use."^[12]

Beginning in 1901, Nielsen received a modest state pension—800 kroner at first, growing to 7,500 kroner by 1927—to augment his violinist's salary. This allowed him to stop taking private pupils and left him more time to compose. From 1903, he also had an annual retainer from his principal publisher, Wilhelm Hansen Edition. Between 1905 and 1914 he served as second conductor at the Royal Theatre. From 1914 to 1926, he conducted the orchestra of Musikforeningen or the Music Society. In 1916, he took a post teaching at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and continued to work there until his death, in his last year as director of the institute.

The strain of dual careers and constant separation from his wife led Nielsen to more than one extra-marital affair. When the last one came to light, between Nielsen and his children's governess, the result was an eight-year breach in his marriage. During much of this time Carl and Anne Marie lived apart. The period led to a creative crisis for Nielsen, bringing about a powerful reappraisal of himself as a composer. This, along with World War I and professional developments in his life, would strongly influence his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, arguably his greatest works.^[13]

For his son-in-law, the Hungarian violinist Dr. Emil Telmányi, Nielsen wrote his Violin Concerto, Op. 33 (1911).

After suffering a serious heart attack in 1925, Nielsen was forced to curtail much of his activity, although he continued to compose until his death. In 1927, he wrote My Childhood on Funen (Min Fynske Barndom), a delightful memoir of his childhood . He also produced a short book of essays entitled Living Music (1925). Both have been translated into English, and Min Fynske Barndom was made into a docu-drama in 1994. Nielsen died in Copenhagen in 1931.

Music[link]

Odd Fellows Mansion in Copenhagen where many of Nielsen's compositions were premiered

Nielsen is best known for his six symphonies. Other well-known pieces are the incidental music for Adam Oehlenschläger's drama Aladdin, the operas Saul og David and Maskarade, the three concertos for violin, flute and clarinet, the Wind Quintet, and the Helios Overture, which depicts the passage of the sun in the sky from dawn to nightfall.

The music initially had a neo-classical sound but became increasingly modern as Nielsen developed his own approach to what Robert Simpson called progressive tonality, moving from one key to another. Typically, he would end on a different key, sometimes as the outcome of a struggle as in his symphonies. His frequently blended melodic passages inspired by folk music with more complicated stylings including counterpoint and modern variations.^[14]

Like his contemporary, the Finn Jean Sibelius, he studied Renaissance polyphony closely, which accounts for much of the melodic and harmonic "feel" of his music.

Nielsen's works are sometimes referred to by FS numbers, from the 1965 catalogue compiled by Dan Fog and Torben Schousboe.

Symphonies[link]

Nielsen is perhaps most closely associated with his six symphones, which were written between 1892, when he was an aspiring young composer, and 1925, when he was already beginning to suffer from poor health. The works have much in common: they are all just over 30 minutes long, brass instruments are a key component of the orchestration, and they all exhibit unusual changes in tonality, which heightens the dramatic tension.^[15]

From its opening bars, Symphony No. 1 in G minor (1890–92), while reflecting the influence of Grieg and Brahms, shows Nielsen's individuality. Surprisingly, it begins in C major and hints at what Robert Simpson calls evolving or progressive tonality or the practice of beginning a work in one key and ending in another.^{[16][clarification needed]} The composer, who was playing in the second violins at the work's premiere, must have been gratified at the work's highly enthusiastic reception.^[17] From his manifestation of personal strength in the First Symphony, in the Second Nielsen embarks on the development of human character. Inspiration came from a painting in an inn depicting the four temperaments (choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic and sanguine).^[18] The first and the third movements are reminiscent of the doleful style of Mahler.^{[citation needed]}

The Sinfonia Espansiva is understood by Robert Simpson to mean the "outward growth of the mind's scope". It fully exploits Nielsen's technique of confronting two keys at the same time and includes a peaceful section with soprano and baritone voices, singing a tune without words.^[15] Symphony No. 4, "The Inextinguishable", written during the First World War is perhaps the most popular. In the last movement two sets of timpani are placed on opposite sides of the stage as a sort of musical duel. Nielsen described the symphony as "the life force, the unquenchable will to live".^[1][19] Almost as popular is the equally dramatic Fifth Symphony, presenting another battle between the forces of order and chaos. A snare drummer is given the task of interrupting the orchestra, playing ad lib and out of time, with the intention of destroying the music. Performed by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Erik Tuxen at the 1950 Edinburgh International Festival, it caused a sensation, inspiring interest in Nielsen's music outside Scandinavia.^[15][20] Finally, the Sixth Symphony, written 1924–25, is less aurally accessible than the previous five. The tonal language is similar to Nielsen's other symphonies, but the symphony soon degenerates into a number of cameos, some sad, some grotesque, some humorous. Even Robert Simpson was confused.^[21][15]

Operas and cantatas[link]

Carl Nielsen with the cast of Saul og David, Stockholm 1931

Nielsen's two operas are in very different styles. The four-act Saul og David (Saul and David), written in 1902 to a libretto by Einar Christiansen tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David while Maskarade (Masquerade) is a comic opera in three acts written in 1906 to a Danish libretto by Vilhelm Andersen, based on the comedy by Ludvig Holberg.^[22][23] While Saul og David is one of Denmark's most important musical works for the theatre, it is difficult to stage as the really dramatic episodes are often separated by longer, less dynamic sequences. The choral scenes are certainly among the opera's highlights. The music, which is both dramatic and lyrical, is free of any late Romantic effects.^[24] The much lighter Maskarade, on the other hand, is considered to be Denmark's national opera as a result of its lasting success and popularity. Its many strophic songs and wonderful dances have great appeal for Danish audiences as has its underlying "old Copenhagen" atmosphere. The ensembles such as the striking wind quartet at the end of the first act are full of life while the orchestration is the most balanced in all of Nielsen's works.^[25]

Nielsen wrote a considerable number of choral works but most of them were composed for special occasions and were seldom repeated. Three fully-fledged cantatas for soloists, orchestra and choir have, however, become part of the modern repertoire. Hymnus amoris (Hymn of Love) (1897) is inspired by Titian's painting "The Miracle of a Jealous Husband" which Nielsen saw on his honeymoon in Italy in 1891. On one of the copies, Nielsen wrote: "To my own Marie! These tones in praise of love are nothing compared to the real thing."^[26] Nielsen composed the work after studying the choral style of the old polyphonic masters. Its premiere at the Music Society in April 1897 was a great success.^[17] Søvnen (The Sleep), Nielsen's second major choral work, sets to music the various phases of sleep including the terror of a nightmare in its central movement which, with is unusual discords, came as an unwlecome shock to the reviewers at its premiere in March 1905.^[27] Fynsk Foraar (Springtime on Funen), completed in 1922, is often cited as the most Danish of all Nielsen's compositions as it extols the beauty of Funen's countryside.^[28][29]

Concertos[link]

Nielsen wrote three concertos: the Violin Concerto is a middle-period work, from 1911, which lies within the tradition of European classicism, whereas the Flute Concerto of 1926 and the Clarinet Concerto which followed in 1928 are late works, influenced by the modernism of the 1920s and the product of "an extremely experienced composer who knows how to avoid inessentials."^[30] Unlike Nielsen's later works, the Violin Concerto has a distinct, melody-oriented neo-classical structure. There are three movements. The calm "Praeludium" is followed by a catchy tune for the orchestra providing opportunities for violin virtuosity. The long, slow Adagio leads to the final Scherzo which, as Nielsen commented, "renounces everything that might dazzle or impress."^[31][32] The Flute Concerto, in two movements, was written for the flautist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen, a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet who had performed in Nielsen's Wind Quintet (1922).^[33] In contrast to the rather traditional style of the Violin Concerto, it reflects the modernistic trends of the 1920s. The first movement, for example, switiches between D minor, E flat minor and F major before the flute comes to the fore with a cantabile theme in E major.^[34] Similarly, the Clarinet Concerto was specifically written for a member of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet, namely the clarinetist Aage Oxenvad. Nielsen seems to have had an uncanny understanding of the clarinet, stretching its abilities to the utmost. Unusually, the Clarinet Concerto has just one continuous movement and contains a struggle between the soloist and the orchestra and between the two principal competing keys, F major and E major.^[35]

Orchestral music[link]

One of Nielsen's earliest works for orchestra is the immediately successful Suite for Strings (1888), rather reminiscent of Scandinavian Romanticism as expressed by Grieg and Svendsen. The waltzing Intermezzo develops an appealing sparkle leading into the Finale where Nielsen demonstrates his mastery of form by cleverly reintroducing the opening theme.^[36] The work marked an important milestone in Nielsen's career as it was not only his first real success but it was also the first of his pieces he conducted himself when it was played in Odense a month later.^[37]

The Helios Overture (1903) stems from Nielsen's stay in Athens which gave him the inspiration of a work depicting the sun rising and setting over the Aegean Sea.^[38] The score is written for three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings. A great showpiece for orchestra, it has been one of Nielsen's most popular works ever since.^[39] Saga-Drøm (Saga Dream), sometimes known as Gunnar's Dream, is a tone poem for orchestra based on the Icelandic Njal's Saga. In Nielsen's words: "There are among other things four cadenzas for oboe, clarinet, bassoon and flute which run quite freely alongside one another, with no harmonic connection, and without my marking time. They are just like four streams of thought, each going its own way — differently and randomly for each performance — until they meet in a point of rest, as if flowing into a lock where they are united."^[40]

At the Bier of a Young Artist (Ved en ung Kunstners Baare) for string orchestra was written for the funeral of the Danish painter Oluf Hartmann in January 1910. The four-minute piece in E flat minor was first performed by the Gade Quartet at Oluf Hartmann’s funeral on 21 January in the chapel at Holmen’s Cemetery in Copenhagen and was also played at Nielsen's own funeral.^[41] Pan and Syrinx (Pan og Syrinx), a vigorous nine-minute symphonic poem inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses, was particularly well received at its premiere in 1911, Charles Kjerulf of Politken commenting: "For each note that was added it became more and more sublime."^[42]

The Rhapsodic Overture, An Imaginary Trip to the Faroe Islands (En Fantasirejse til Færøerne), is an occasional work which depicts a sea voyage from Denmark to the Islands. It draws on Faroese folk tunes but also contains freely composed sections.^[43]

Among Nielsen's orchestral works for the stage are Aladdin (1919) and Moderen, Opus 41 (1920). Aladdin was written to accompany a production of Adam Oehlenschläger’s fairy tale at The Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. The complete score, lasting over 80 minutes, is Nielsen's longest work apart from his operas but is now often performed as the shorter orchestral suite consisting of the Oriental March, Hindu Dance and Negro Dance.^[44] Moderen, written to celebrate the reunification of Southern Jutland with Denmark, was first performed on 30 January 1921 at the Royal Danish Theatre where it was well received. The text was basically a collection of generally patriotic verses written by Helge Rode for the occasion.^[45]