Symphony No. 2 (Nielsen)
Encyclopedia
Symphony No. 2 De fire Temperamenter, "The Four Temperaments", Op. 16, FS 29 is the second symphony
by Danish composer Carl Nielsen
, written in 1901–1902 and dedicated to Ferruccio Busoni
. It was first performed in 1 December 1902 for the Danish Concert Association, with Nielsen himself conducting. As indicated in the subtitle, each of its four movements is a musical sketch of a humor of the four temperaments: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, and sanguine. Despite its apparent concept of program music
, the work is a fully integrated symphony in traditional symphonic structure.
was still in progress. The first movement was finished on 28 December 1901 but after this the composition made slow progress. The composer only finished his work at the last moment. The fourth movement has is dated 22 November 1902, just a week before the first performance.
Nielsen himself describes the background to the symphony in a programme note for a performance at the Konsertföreningen (Concert Society) in Stockholm
shortly before he died in 1931.
The composer's inspiration for the symphony came from a four-part comical picture of the temperaments in a village pub in Zealand during a visit with his wife and friends. In his account of the symphony (quoted in full in ), Nielsen gave a detailed outline of his vision for each temperament in each of the four movements. For example, in the phlegmatic temperament of the second movement, the composer visualized a young teenager who is loved by all:
Whereas the finale symbolizes a cheerful man:
Progressive tonality
is demonstrated in the symphony; the first three movements are in descending thirds: B minor
, G major
, and E flat minor
, and the final movement springs out the D major
chord. The second symphony, as in the first, still belongs to the tradition of Brahms
and Dvořák
, but more compact and concentrated with simple but powerful finishing by an A major
march.
. The symphony was well received by the audience, and the press was generally positive. But not all the reviews were good. Writing in Dannebrog, Leopold Rosenfeld commented: "Carl Nielsen’s new work should, I suppose, rather be called a suite of moods for orchestra than designated as what we
understand by a symphony. But aside from the name, this new work by the highly fêted composer again bears favourable testimony to its author’s uncommon ability to give expression to characteristic sound painting through a considerable orchestral technique. Whether one really dares call these constructed orchestral sounds music is another question again. What is especially captivating about these musical illustrations is the composer’s ability to mix colours, which neglects no opportunity to exercise the listening ear. Sometimes, though,
the colours are very brutal and in their crudeness easily cross the aesthetic line."
In January 1903 Carl Nielsen and Henrik Knudsen were travelling in Germany to stir up interest in the new symphony and in Saul and David. When in Berlin, they showed the symphony to Ferruccio Busoni
whom Nielsen had known since 1891. Busoni took an interest in the work and promised to put it on the programme in the series of concerts of new and rarely heard music that he was giving at this time with the Berlin Philharmonic. It was probably out of gratitude for this that Nielsen dedicated the work to Busoni. On 5 November 1903 the symphony was performed in Berlin, with Nielsen conducting. As Busoni had warned, the work was not very well received
The symphony did however gain increasing popularity, quickly becoming one of Nielsen’s best loved orchestral works. By 1928, the composer had conducted at least 13 performances in Denmark,
Norway
(Christiania
and Bergen
), Sweden
(Gothenburg
)
and Germany (Berlin). In 1921, it was also performed in London under Sir Henry Wood
and, in 1927, by the Pasdeloup Orchestra
in Paris
conducted by Frederik Schnedler-Petersen.
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
by Danish composer Carl Nielsen
Carl Nielsen
Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...
, written in 1901–1902 and dedicated to Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
. It was first performed in 1 December 1902 for the Danish Concert Association, with Nielsen himself conducting. As indicated in the subtitle, each of its four movements is a musical sketch of a humor of the four temperaments: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, and sanguine. Despite its apparent concept of program music
Program music
Program music or programme music is a type of art music that attempts to musically render an extra-musical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience in the form of program notes, inviting imaginative correlations with the music...
, the work is a fully integrated symphony in traditional symphonic structure.
Background
Nielsen began on the Second Symphony while the work on his first opera, Saul and DavidSaul og David
Saul og David is the first of the two operas by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen. The four-act libretto, by Einar Christiansen, tells the Biblical story of Saul's jealousy of the young David, taken from the Book of Samuel. The first performance was at Det Kongelige Teater, Copenhagen on 28...
was still in progress. The first movement was finished on 28 December 1901 but after this the composition made slow progress. The composer only finished his work at the last moment. The fourth movement has is dated 22 November 1902, just a week before the first performance.
Nielsen himself describes the background to the symphony in a programme note for a performance at the Konsertföreningen (Concert Society) in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
shortly before he died in 1931.
- "I had the idea for ‘The Four Temperaments’ many years ago at a country inn in Zealand. On the wall of the room where I was drinking a glass of beer with my wife and some friends hung an extremely comical coloured picture, divided into four sections in which ‘the Temperaments’ were represented and furnished with titles: ‘The Choleric’, ‘The Sanguine’, ‘The Melancholic’ and ‘The Phlegmatic’. The Choleric was on horseback. He had a long sword in his hand, which he was wielding fiercely in thin air; his eyes were bulging out of his head, his hair streamed wildly around his face, which was so distorted by rage and diabolical hate that I could not help bursting out laughing. The other three pictures were in the same style, and my friends and I were heartily amused by the naivety of the pictures, their exaggerated expression and their comic earnestness. But how strangely things can sometimes turn out! I, who had laughed aloud and mockingly at these pictures, returned constantly to them in my thoughts, and one fine day I realized that these shoddy pictures still contained a kind of core or idea and – just think! – even a musical undercurrent! Some time later, then, I began to work out the first movement of a symphony, but I had to be careful that it did not fence in the empty air, and I hoped of course that my listeners would not laugh so that the irony of fate would smite my soul."
Music
Its movements and their respective temperament illustrated are as followed:- Allegro collerico (Choleric)
- Allegro comodo e flemmatico (Phlegmatic)
- Andante malincolico [sic] (Melancholic)
- Allegro sanguineo — Marziale (Sanguine)
The composer's inspiration for the symphony came from a four-part comical picture of the temperaments in a village pub in Zealand during a visit with his wife and friends. In his account of the symphony (quoted in full in ), Nielsen gave a detailed outline of his vision for each temperament in each of the four movements. For example, in the phlegmatic temperament of the second movement, the composer visualized a young teenager who is loved by all:
His real inclination was to lie where the birds sing, where the fish glide noiselessly through the water, where the sun warms and the wind strokes mildly round one's curls. He was fair; his expression was rather happy, but not self-complacent, rather with a hint of quiet melancholy, so that one felt impelled to be good to him... I have never seen him dance; he wasn't active enough for that, though he might easily have got the idea to swing himself in a gentle slow waltzWaltzThe waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
rhythm, so I have used that for the movement, Allegro comodo e flemmatico, and tried to stick to one mood, as far away as possible from energy, emotionalism, and such things.
Whereas the finale symbolizes a cheerful man:
I have tried to sketch a man who storms thoughtlessly forward in the belief that the whole world belongs to him, that fried pigeons will fly into his mouth without work or bother. There is, though, a moment in which something scares him, and he gasps all at once for breath in rough syncopations: but this is soon forgotten, and even if the music turns to minor, his cheery, rather superficial nature still asserts itself.
Progressive tonality
Progressive tonality
Progressive tonality is the name given to the compositional practice whereby a piece of music does not finish in the key in which it began, but instead 'progresses' to an ending in a different key...
is demonstrated in the symphony; the first three movements are in descending thirds: B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....
, G major
G major
G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
, and E flat minor
E flat minor
E minor or e-flat minor is a minor scale based on E-flat, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. In the harmonic minor, the D is raised to D. Its key signature consists of six flats ....
, and the final movement springs out the D major
D major
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....
chord. The second symphony, as in the first, still belongs to the tradition of Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
and Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, but more compact and concentrated with simple but powerful finishing by an A major
A major
A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps.Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor...
march.
Reception
Nielsen himself conducted the first performance of The Four Temperaments in a concert at the Dansk Koncertforening on 1 December 1902, just three days after he had conducted the premiere of Saul and David at the Royal TheatreRoyal Danish Theatre
The Royal Danish Theatre is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first serving as the theatre of the king, and then as the theatre of the...
. The symphony was well received by the audience, and the press was generally positive. But not all the reviews were good. Writing in Dannebrog, Leopold Rosenfeld commented: "Carl Nielsen’s new work should, I suppose, rather be called a suite of moods for orchestra than designated as what we
understand by a symphony. But aside from the name, this new work by the highly fêted composer again bears favourable testimony to its author’s uncommon ability to give expression to characteristic sound painting through a considerable orchestral technique. Whether one really dares call these constructed orchestral sounds music is another question again. What is especially captivating about these musical illustrations is the composer’s ability to mix colours, which neglects no opportunity to exercise the listening ear. Sometimes, though,
the colours are very brutal and in their crudeness easily cross the aesthetic line."
In January 1903 Carl Nielsen and Henrik Knudsen were travelling in Germany to stir up interest in the new symphony and in Saul and David. When in Berlin, they showed the symphony to Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
whom Nielsen had known since 1891. Busoni took an interest in the work and promised to put it on the programme in the series of concerts of new and rarely heard music that he was giving at this time with the Berlin Philharmonic. It was probably out of gratitude for this that Nielsen dedicated the work to Busoni. On 5 November 1903 the symphony was performed in Berlin, with Nielsen conducting. As Busoni had warned, the work was not very well received
The symphony did however gain increasing popularity, quickly becoming one of Nielsen’s best loved orchestral works. By 1928, the composer had conducted at least 13 performances in Denmark,
Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
(Christiania
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
and Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
), Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
)
and Germany (Berlin). In 1921, it was also performed in London under Sir Henry Wood
Henry Wood (conductor)
Sir Henry Joseph Wood, CH was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundreds of new works to British audiences...
and, in 1927, by the Pasdeloup Orchestra
Pasdeloup Orchestra
The Pasdeloup Orchestra is the oldest symphony orchestra in France.-History:Founded in 1861 by Jules Pasdeloup with the name Concerts Populaires, it is the oldest orchestra still in existence in Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
conducted by Frederik Schnedler-Petersen.
Instrumentation
- 3 flutes, 1st flute doubles piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
- 2 oboes, 2nd oboe doubles English horn
- 2 clarinets in A, B-flat
- 2 bassoons
- 4 hornsHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
in F - 3 trumpets in F
- 3 trombones (2 tenor, 1 bass)
- TubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- TimpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
- Strings