Ludolf Nielsen

Ludolf Nielsen

Carl Henrik Ludolf Nielsen (born January 29, 1876 in Nørre Tvede near Næstved , † October 16, 1939 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish composer .

Life

Ludolf Nielsen, the son of a farmer, showed great musical talent as a child and received his first regular violin lessons from 1883. In 1892 he moved to Copenhagen to take further lessons. Three years later he received a scholarship that enabled him to study violin, piano and music theory at the conservatory. During his studies Nielsen began to write his first compositions autodidactically. In 1897 he was accepted as a violist in the Copenhagen Tivoli Orchestra, and completed his studies the following year.

At the turn of the century, he went public with his first compositions. A short time later, Nielsen received another scholarship and was able to continue his education in Leipzig in 1903 and 1904 . In the following years his reputation as a composer in and outside Denmark increased . The First World War marked a deep turning point in his life. He had to give composition lessons and lead an amateur orchestra in order to make a living. In 1926 Nielsen became musical advisor to Danish Broadcasting, which he remained until 1932. Overall, however, apart from a few successes, he was hardly publicly recognized as a composer after the First World War and was gradually forgotten.

style

Nielsen's work can be divided into two periods. In the first period his work was clearly influenced by the late Romantic period . Characteristics of his works of this time are opulent sonority and a tendency towards ideas of symbolism . Many works speak of deep idealism and a certain tendency towards the positive. The use of the cyclical principle in many larger works is particularly noticeable, that is, most of the topics recur across sentences and sometimes even have a certain function. In this respect, Nielsen proves to be more influenced by César Franck than any other Danish composer . He also has a preference for themes that are reminiscent of dances and musicians' tunes. During the First World War Nielsen did not write any new works, but after the war he started composing again. Shaken by the terrible events, however, he believed that he could no longer maintain his previous style. In his second creative period, he is no longer writing as romantically as before, but instead places greater emphasis on polyphony and linearity. In place of the chromatics that had prevailed up to then , a preference for bitonality now appears . Even if he continues to incorporate elements of Danish folklore into his music, the works of the second creative period appear much more distant and cooler than those of the first. Nielsen has been completely overshadowed by his namesake Carl Nielsen since the First World War .

Works

Orchestral works

• Symphony No. 1 in B minor op.3 (1902/03)
• Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 19 "Glückssinfonie" (1907-09)
• Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 32 (1911–13)
• "From the Mountains", Suite op. 8 (1905)
• "Waldwanderung", Suite op. 40 (1922)
• Concert Overture in C major op.13 (1906)
• "Hjortholm", audio image op. 53 (1923)
• "Spring Overture" op. 56 (1932)
• "Brunnenmarkt", symphonic poem op. 60 (1936)
• "Lakschmi", ballet op. 45 (1919–21)
• "Der Reisekamerad", ballet op. 54 (1928)

Vocal works

• "Isbella", opera op. 10 (1907)
• "The Clock", Opera op. 16 (1911)
• "Lola", opera op. 43 (1920)
• "The Tower of Babel", oratorio for solos, choir and orchestra op. 35 (1912/13)
• approx. 120 songs
• Choirs

Chamber music

• String Quartet No. 1 in A major op.1 (1900)
• String Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 5 (1903/04)
• String Quartet No. 3 in C major op.41 (1920)
• Romance for violoncello and piano or orchestra op.11 (1905)

Piano works

• 4 piano pieces op.17 (1907)
• 3 Novelettes op.21 (1908)

literature

• Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea World of Music - The Composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 173, volume 4 .
• Jens Cornelius:  Nielsen, Ludolf. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 12 (Mercadante - Paix). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1122-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
• Jens Cornelius: Ludolf Nielsen. Danske komponister, 2nd Multivers (2018)