All posts by StevieWhitmont
Did you think Carl Nielsen was a serious composer?
Neilsen’s childhood Home in Fumen, Denmark
Carl Nielsen grew up in the village of Norre Lyndelse, south of Odense on the Island of Funen, Denmark. 
Nielsen’s Funen home, now a museum
Sources: https://www.google.com.au/search?q=map+funen&biw…; https://www.google.com.au/search?q=image+carl+nielsen+home&biw….
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
East Windies Players begin 2017 by embarking on 20th Century music with Carl Nielsen’s famous Wind Quintet Op 43. Here is some generic info about Nielsen (for starters):
Carl Nielsen age 14, 16th Battalion, Odense
- Denmark’s most prominent composer (orchestral and chamber music)
- Works are organized by CNW (Carl Nielsen Works) numbers
- Generally well-received during his lifetime, although his 5th Symphony was described by one critic as:
“Filthy music from [the] trenches” and “Bloody, clenched fist in the face of an unsuspecting snob audience.”
Nielsen’s Wind Quintet Op 43 (1922)
- Written specifically for members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet
- Opus 43 has become a major “staple” of the modern wind quintet repertoire
- Structure: 3 movements a) Allegro b) Minuet c) Prelude/Theme & Variations.
- Variation theme based on Nielsen’s melody for his hymn:
- “My Jesus Let my heart receive“
- Performed at Nielsen’s funeral in 1931
Style
- Influenced by song; background interest in folk music
- Energetic rhythms and generous orchestration
- Ambiguous re: late Romanticism and nationalistic theme
Life Events
- Raised in modest circumstances on Island of Funen
- Father worked as a house painter and occasional musician (played “fiddle” and cornet)
- Played violin (at first self-taught/age 6) and bugle/trombone; Joined army band age 14 (16th Battalion near Odense)
- Played in the Violin 2 section, Royal Danish Orchestra (1889 – 1805)
- Tempestuous marriage (open relationship) to Danish sculptor, Anne Marie Broderson (1891)
- Fathered five children (only 3 with Anne Marie)
- Died of heart attack, age 66.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_Quintet_(Nielsen)
Festive Season
The East Windies musicians wish all our friends a joyful musical holiday!
Some Bits about Briccialdi
Guilio Briccialdi (1818-1881)
19th century Italian flute virtuoso; dubbed “Paganini of the flute”
Born in Terni Italy, later moved to Rome
Selected a musical career over the priesthood (his family’s preference)
First appointment: Academia di Santa Cecilia Rome, age 17
Flute teacher to the king’s brother
Director of Rudall and Rose (instrument makers): made mechanical innovations still used today
1870 Professor of Flute, Florence Conservatoire
Wrote three wind quintets: Bb major, Series 10, nos 2 & 3; and D major, Op 124
His many other compositions were mostly for flute and piano, one of the better known being Il Carnevale di Venezia
Information above from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giulio_Briccialdi
“Our French Beethoven”
Academie des Beaux-Arts, Paris
Dubbed “Our French Beethoven”, George Onslow’s (1784-1853) musical output was dominated by the stringed instruments (for example: 36 String Quartets and 34 Quintets) According to Robert Schumann, Onslow and Mendelssohn were the only contemporary composers equivalent to Beethoven for the mastery of string quartet form. Onslow was unique in France for concentrating on small ensemble works, at a time and place when grand opera captured the imagination of most composers (and the concert public). But in 1850 Onslow, aged 66, wrote a single Wind Quintet (F Major, Opus 81) for which he is now remembered. That Wind Quintet, however, was not Onslow’s sole use of wind instruments. He wrote several pieces which combined winds and strings, and which immediately preceded his famous Opus 81. These were:
-
Opus 77a. Nonet for Winds and Strings. 1848
-
Opus 77b. Sextet for Winds and Strings. 1848
-
Opus 79a. Septet for Piano, Winds, and contrabass. 1849
-
Opus 81. Wind Quintet. 1850
Onslow was community-minded and publically active in the first half of the 19th century; he was awarded numerous honours, including:
-
Honorary Fellow Philharmonic Society of London. 1831
-
President, Athenée musical, Paris. 1835 – 1838
-
Founder, Société Philharmonique de Clermont. 1839
-
Member Académie des Beaux-Arts. 1842
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Onslow_(composer);
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_compositions_by_George_Onslow
