CARL NIELSEN

The Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), together with Jean Sibelius from Finland, is a towering figure of twentieth-century Scandinavian music. Both are masters of the modern symphony, but it is arguably Nielsen who was the more progressive. He emerges as an energetic, well-rounded individual, one who was much more dynamic than suggested by his popular image of the country boy rising from poverty to become Denmark’s most influential composer. His musical style advanced beyond the comprehension of his contemporaries to express personal and national turmoil and, above all, the inextinguishable power of music. In this biography, the author reveals much that is new and unpublished about Nielsen’s life and times.