Flute Concerto (Nielsen)
The Concerto for Flute and Orchestra ( Danish: Concert for Fløjte og orkester, FS 119) was written by Carl Nielsen in 1926 for Holger Gilbert-Jespersen (1890–1975), who succeeded Paul Hagemann as flautist in the Copenhagen Wind Quintet . The concerto in two movements was largely positively received in a shortened version when it premiered in Paris in October 1926. In January of the following year, this time in Copenhagen , it was played in full for the first time. Today Nielsen's Flute Concerto is part of the international repertoire for the instrument .
background
In 1921, Nielsen heard the Copenhagen Wind Quintet rehearse Mozart's music and was surprised by the ensemble's musical prowess. In the same year he composed his wind quintet for the five musicians. The last movement of the wind quintet is a theme with variations , which takes up the personalities of the five instrumentalists and their respective instruments, much like Edward Elgar musically describes his friends in the Enigma variations . Nielsen announced that he would write a concerto for each musician in the quintet and began with Holger Gilbert-Jespersen. Due to his poor health, Nielsen only completed the clarinet concerto in 1928 for Aage Oxenvad .
Nielsen began work on the flute concerto while traveling through Germany and Italy in August 1926. It was to be performed together with three other of his works at a concert on October 21 of that year in Paris. Because of an ailment in the stomach, he could not finish the work on time and so the shortened version with a temporary end was necessary.
reception
When it was premiered in Paris at the Maison Gaveau on October 21, 1926 with the orchestra of the Concert Society of the Paris Conservatory under the direction of Nielsen's son-in-law Emil Telmányi , the flute concert was a success. Paul Le Flem wrote in Comoedia : “The concerto for flute and orchestra, superbly played by Mr. Holger-Gilbert Jespersen, is the latest work by Mr. Nielsen. It has spice and verve and it is not lacking in humor. ”Jan Meyerheim came to a different conclusion during his discussion in the Télégramme :“ The flute concerto, played by Mr Jespersen, didn't touch me; I didn't understand. ”Nielsen said the premiere was one of the“ greatest experiences ”of his life. Maurice Ravel and Arthur Honegger are said to have been present. Honegger is said to have commented: "The famous orchestra of the conservatory played great and the flute concerto was performed masterfully and with a delicate tone - there was standing applause and the soloist Gilbert-Jespersen (...) was repeatedly brought back to the stage."
On January 25, 1927, the completed version was played for the first time at the music forum in Copenhagen. In this version it belongs to the international repertoire of the composer as well as the instrument.
music
Apart from the solo flute, the line-up includes two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , two horns , bass trombone , timpani and strings . In contrast to the traditional style of Nielsen's Violin Concerto, the Flute Concerto takes up the avant-garde trends of the 1920s and is not consistently tonal . Basically the work has a neoclassical character, but comprises only two instead of (as in the classical concert form ) three movements.
The approximately eleven-minute first movement, Allegro moderato , ranges between D minor, E flat minor and F major. Solo passages, dialogues between the solo flute and the orchestra as well as a conversation between clarinet and bassoon characterize him. After an unexpected slump in the bass trombone, the flute comes to the fore with a Cantabile theme in E major. An orchestral cadenza leads back to the opening themes, before the movement ends calmly and almost in G flat major. Much of this movement is reminiscent of chamber music with the flute and various other instruments.
Nielsen describes the beginning of the approximately seven-minute second movement ( Allegretto: Adagio ma non troppo; Allegretto ) as “a bit uncomfortable in some of the notes that the orchestra plays, but the atmosphere quickly relaxes again, and when the solo flute is added, this happens too childlike innocence. ”The melodic beginning of the movement fluctuates between Allegretto and Adagio , before the music comes to rest in a Tempo di marcia variation over the beginning. The bass trombone begins with a final series of playful grinders, with which the work also ends.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Elly Bruunshuus Petersen, "Carl Nielsen: Concertos," Carl Nielsen Edition
- ↑ a b c d Mogens Friis: Carl Nielsen's Flute Concerto . In: Flutist.dk . Flutist.dk. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
- ^ "Carl Nielsen Society: Art and consciousness". Retrieved October 19, 2010.
- ^ "Carl Nielsen: Flute Concerto, FS119". Classical Archives . Retrieved October 19, 2010.
swell
[1] Score in the International Music Score Library Project