Download CARL NIELSEN Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, “The Inextinguishable

CARL NIELSEN Symphony No. 4, Op. 29, “The Inextinguishable” Born: June 9, 1865, in Sortelunge, Denmark Died: October 3, 1931, in Copenhagen Work composed: 1914–16 World premiere: February 1, 1916, in Copenhagen. The composer conducted the orchestra of the Copenhagen Music Society. During the 19th century, a new kind of symphony captured the imaginations of many composers. This type of composition had an inherently dramatic character that reflected the Romantic ideal of heroic striving. Specifically, it conveyed a sense of struggle and eventual triumph, with turbulent first movements preparing joyous finales. Initiated by Beethoven (who gave his magisterial Third Symphony the subtitle Sinfonia eroica, or “Heroic Symphony”), and subsequently cultivated by Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mahler and many other composers, the heroic symphony proved one of the Romanticism’s most important musical developments. The Romantic symphonic tradition came late to countries on the northern periphery of Europe. One of its last champions was the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, whose most successful symphony is also the one most closely allied with the “heroic symphony” tradition. This is his Symphony No. 4, which concludes our program. Nielsen completed this work in 1916, during the dark days of World War I, and gave it a striking title: “The Inextinguishable.” He explained that he meant this title to connote “the elemental Will of Life,” the urge of life to continue even in the face of destructive forces. “Music is Life and, like it, is inextinguishable,” Nielsen added. However, he also noted that the symphony implied nothing more specific, and that his remarks were “only a suggestion as to the right approach to the music.” But if this composition is a celebration of life, it also expresses the drama of crisis and overcoming central to the Romantic symphonic tradition. Life may be inextinguishable, but it must struggle for its existence, and Nielsen’s composition derives much of its power from suggestions of elemental strife. We hear this particularly in the symphony’s initial movement. The work opens on an impassioned note, with frantic activity throughout the orchestra. Soon, though, the energy dissipates, and a new theme, more serene and lyrical, emerges. Having established contrasting poles of expression, Nielsen proceeds to make contrast the defining feature of the movement. The music grows by turns tender and violent, consoling and menacing, confident and worried, as it passes from one episode to another. The second movement follows without pause. (All four movements of the symphony are linked to form an unbroken stream of music.) In contrast to the tempestuous first portion of the work, this offers a pastoral interlude. The third movement begins as a somber elegy, stark and funereal, but progresses through more comforting sonorities to a ringing affirmation. In the finale, Nielsen resumes the drama of the opening movement, with thundering drum strokes and other ominous sounds buffeting the music. But the outcome is not long in doubt. An initial climax is appropriately marked “Glorioso” in the score. A quiet episode prolongs the work and permits a long build-­‐up to a final exultation. What to Listen For Nielsen opens the symphony not with a single discreet theme but with a succession of melodic shapes that fairly tumble forth during the first minute of the work. The initial movement’s far more tranquil second theme is introduced by solo cello in dialogue with a flute trio. After much development of these ideas and a sonorous climax, the music fades to a spare melodic line for violins over an anxious drum rhythm. The second movement presents a melody that might accompany an antique folk dance. Here Nielsen juxtaposes two distinctive instrumental colors, those of the woodwind choir and of the strings plucking their instruments. The elegiac third movement concludes with a series of rushing violin figures then propels the symphony into its dramatic finale. Here Nielsen bolsters the music’s power by using not one but two sets of timpani, their volleys seeming at times a cannonade. One of their exchanges, late in the movement, brings a return of the theme that had opened the symphony, its triumphant re-­‐
emergence moving the composition toward a radiant conclusion. Scored for 3 flutes, the third doubling on piccolo; 3 oboes, 3 clarinets and 3 bassoons, the third doubling on contrabassoon; 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba; 2 timpani; strings.