Subscription Concerts 2023-2024Program C
No. 1993 Subscription (Program C)

The most prominent Danish composer of all time, Nielsen studied composition in Copenhagen under Niels Gade who also trained the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. While composing, Nielsen started his career as an orchestral violinist and later served as a conductor with the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen (as the second Kapelmester, 1908–1914) and the Orchestra of the Copenhagen Music Society.
Although best-known for his six important symphonies, Nielsen left us numerous incidental music works of which the most large-scale and highly-valued is the one for a production of the play Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp. Based on the Arabian Nights, this five-act “Dramatic Fairy Tale” was written by the Danish playwright Adam Oehlenschläger. For the 1919 new production premiered in the Royal Theatre, Nielsen’s previous workplace, he composed thirty-one pieces. After and even before the premiere, he enjoyed conducting excerpts of the original score in concerts. Reflecting his favorite selections, the suite Op. 34 was published nine years after his passing.
The most striking – and modern – of the suite is The Market Place in Ispahan, the music from the scene Aladdin secretly sees his future wife Gulnare, the sultan’s daughter, and falls in love with her. To recreate the bazaar’s hustle and bustle, Nielsen divided the orchestra into four groups which, after entering one by one, play different pieces in different tempos. Exotic sound worlds, Hindu Dance and Negro Dance add zest and colors to the wedding of Aladdin and Gulnare.

[Kumiko Nishi]

The same age as Nielsen, Sibelius gained recognition outside his home Finland at the turn of the century. Of this period, his patriotic tone poem Finlandia (1899/1900) and Symphony No. 1 (1899/1900) were published straightaway. Sibelius also occupied himself in 1900 by touring Europe (including the Finnish pavilion at the World’s Fair in Paris) with the Helsinki Philharmonic to present his latest works. Then came his Symphony No. 2: it was mostly penned in 1901 and premiered in March 1902 in Helsinki before the composer revised it the following year.
The most frequently-played among all the symphonies of Sibelius, No. 2 is marked by its brightness due to the home key of D major and the Beethovenian triumphant conclusion. This attainment of “light” after passing through “darkness” is often interpreted as the victory of Finland against oppression (the country was then under the yoke of the Russian Empire), though the composer stated it was a non-programmatic symphony. Sibelius’ stay in warm Italy (February to April 1901) during the composition of No. 2 is worthy of attention when it comes to its overall radiant nature, however, the death of his youngest daughter in early 1900 must have casted a shadow over this chapter of his life.
No. 2 is in four movements of which the last two are performed continuously. “Dualism” is probably a key to grasp the middle movements both in A–B–A–B–coda form. As for the slow second movement in D minor, studies have found that Sibelius associated the mournful theme A (given by bassoons over the cello pizzicato) with the Don Juan legend (more precisely his death brought by the Stone Guest), and the reposeful theme B with “Christus.” The third movement alternates a vehement scherzo section A and a bucolic trio B. The hesitantly-climbing-up motif heard on strings at the beginning of the first movement turns to the resolutely-ascending main theme of the final movement: based on this buoyant theme, a hymn-like melody is sung by the brass to close the symphony exultantly.

[Kumiko Nishi]