Special Collections Finding Aids

Carl Nielsen Collection - Printed Music

Accession: SC1998.1

Location: M2A 3,1-2

Size: 2.5 feet

Biography: Carl Nielsen (1865-1931), beyond his position as a composer of international stature, was a major force in shaping Danish musical life and consciousness in the 20th century. While his reputation abroad rested primarily on his symphonies and chamber music, a significant part of his output was for domestic consumption. These works include operas, incidental music and songs for plays and pageants, occasional cantatas for schools and professional societies, collections of songs and hymns for church, school, and home use, easy piano pieces for students, chorale preludes for harmonium, and even two pieces for Langelek, a Danish folk instrument,. His music was not only performed in concert halls and theatres, but, in the form of transcriptions and paraphrases for chamber ensembles, piano, and salon orchestras, was heard in homes, schools, and informal concerts throughout the country , While these works are virtually unknown outside Denmark, they earned him the lasting affection of the Danish public, as evidenced by the great national outpouring of grief at his funeral in October, 1931. While the present collection includes representative works from Nielsen's "international" career, its greatest value may lie in the large number "gebrauchsmusik" works it contains, materials which may be difficult to access outside Denmark. In this regard, researchers will also find a considerable body of newsclips, programs, offprints of articles, and other ephemera in a readily searchable format.

Provenance: The Carl Nielsen Collection consists of the remainder of a much larger collection purchased from the Danish agent, Dan Fog, in 1964. Most of the items acquired at this time were cataloged individually.

Scope and Content: The Collection contains a wide range of materials pertaining to Carl Nielsen and his career as composer, educator, administrator, conductor, and critic. It includes previously uncataloged printed music, librettos, articles, newsclips and other ephemera, a small number of manuscripts, and.a few pieces of correspondence.

Associations: Many items initially acquired from Dan Fog were cataloged individually, and may be found in the Library's circulating and Rare Books collections. The holdings of the Sibley Library's combined collections comprise virtually the entire output of Nielsen's career. Also of interest to those doing research in Danish music would be the Friedrich Kuhlau Collection, and the J.C. Gebauer Collection, both also acquired from Dan Fog.

Restrictions: There are no restrictions on the use of this collection, beyond the usual requirements of copyright law.

Series: 1

Series Name: Printed Music

Series Description: Contains scores of Nielsen's works, collections, transcriptions and arrangements, and related works by other composers. Materials are filed by FS (Fog & Schusboe catalog) numbers where practical.