Klarinet Archive - Posting 000161.txt from 1997/03

From: Eric Nelson <esnelson@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Nielsen Fantasy
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 21:42:36 -0500

>Hi everyone. Can anyone give me any info on Nielsen's Fantasy? When was it
>written? Was is written for cl. and piano or was it arranged? This is a new
>piece to me, so any additional info will be welcomed. Thanks
>
>Frank Garcia

Not much to say about this, except that it was probably written in about
1881, when Nielsen was about 16 years old, so it is of more historical than
musical interest. Torben Meyer, Nielsen's principal biographer, assigns
composition of the work to the years Nielsen was at the Royal Conservatory
[1883-1887] however. [Meyer: Carl Nielsen: Kunstneren og Mennesket.
Volume II, page 346] I studied the manuscript in Copenhagen, in 1979, and
made a hand copy of it. The new published version, edited by Torben
Schousboe and issued on the centenary of the work's composition, is very
true to the autograph, and those places where it differs are carefully
annotated by Schousboe. There are _no_ changes in the clarinet part,
[except for dolce p, which is added to the pickups in the 1st ending, to
coincide with the pickups in bar 8]. One thing in the autograph the is not
in the new addition is the phrase "Allegro Volti Subito" right before the
Allegro Agitato.

Also, on the out side of the folder in which this manuscript is contained
is the following:

[Carl Nielsen]
Fantasistykker i G moll
Klaver og (Clarinet?)
(B Clarinet?)
(op. 8 - skitser) S.R.

apparently S.R. was a librarian attempting to sort this out. There is no
indication that this was written for clarinet, so S.R. was guessing that it
was for clarinet, because it is for an instrument in Bflat. The word
"skitser" means "sketches", so S.R. assumed that it was just that. The
designation "opus 8" is a blatant error.

The piece is also dedicated M. Hansen, who could have been one of two
clarinetists employed in the Odense Regiment at the time Nielsen was
playing cornet there.

By the way, the dedication quote, which is partially obliterated, is from
Niels Gade's overture "Efterklang af Ossian" - "Formen har mig ikke bunden
... hedder Poesi" and translates roughly to "I am not bound by form, [our
art] is called poetry.] ... a true Romantic sentiment.

This is all I have found about it.

Eric

Eric Nelson
Lightwood Duo
esnelson@-----.net