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Modernist Mysteries: Persephone

Carl Nielsen: Symphony No.5 Op.5 (Score)

Carl Nielsen (1865-1931) was a Danish musician, often seen as his country’s greatest composer. While his operas and songs have become embedded in the cultural heritage of his native Denmark, internationally he is better known for his symphonies and concertos – distinguished by his prominent use of Brass instruments and dramatic changes in tonality. His Symphony No.5 (Op. 50, FS. 97) was composed in 1922, and is often seen as his “War Symphony”, despite the composer denying any such direct influence. Strangely, it is formed of only two movements, and does not have any title. Often said to be a modernist piece, it is constantly restless, some would say pulsating. Brought to fame by Leonard Bernstein in 1962, scholars and musicians are still trying to understand this enigmatic work.

Waltzes

Waltzes, a cycle of twelve virtuoso waltzes for violin, viola, cello, and double bass, was commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, where the first nine waltzes were premiered in 1981. Soon thereafter I composed the final three waltzes. The violinist Rolf Schulte led the first performance of the complete work in New York City in 1983. Waltzes lasts about 22 minutes and is dedicated to the violist Scott Nickrenz, who directed the chamber music series at Spoleto. In arranging the commission, Mr. Nickrenz made three stipulations: make my modernist idiom accessible for summer-festival listening, provide a challenge for brilliant string players accustomed to 19th-centuryrepertory, and give the piece a loud ending. The idea of composing a set of waltzes came from the pleasureI took in playing waltzes by Schubert and Chopin at the piano. Waltzes incorporates occasional references to the music of past composers, but always in ways that fit within my own musical language. Its instrumentation for “low” string quartet is reminiscent of Schubert’s Vienna.