# Nielsen 6 : One Weird And Fascinating Symphony !



## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The other day I was listening to Carl Nielsen's 6th and last symphony on my recording by Russian conductor Eduard Serov and. the Odense symphony of Denmark on Danish label I can't recall offhand, and I was struck by what an incredibly original and weird work this is . 
Nielsen called it his " Sinfonia Semplice " but it's anything but simple ! I think it could be called the "Tragicomic symphony " , because it's an uneasy mixture of both . 
The first movement begins rather cheerfully. , but it becomes more and more disturbed and disturbing and the climax is agonizingly dissonant and chaotic . The composer himself described it as a musical depiction of one of the heart attacks he experienced late in life . The symphony was written in the mid 1920s and the composer finally succumbed to heart trouble in 1931 . If only he could have lived as long as his friend and admirer Sibelius and. done things such as his plan to write a concertos for horn, oboe and bassoon for the members of the Copenhagen woodwind quintet as well as the ones for flute and clarinet he wrote ! The movement ends in quiet resignation .
The second movement is meant to be a satire of the " avant garde modern music " of the 1920s . It's filled with all kinds of musical zaniness , including. rude. glissandos by a solo trombone , and much of it is quite atonal . The 3rd movement,. subtitled "Proposta Seria ) is as dark and brooding as anything by Shostakovich , and the finale may be the most bizarre theme and variations ever written . 
The main theme is. pretty straightforward , and. continues with a prominent solo for bassoon in one of the variations , but the variations get crazier and crazier : the theme is transformed into a merry if rather trivial sounding waltz , but the trombones. and start to attack and destroy it with. a wildly dissonant. outburst ! One of the variations after this temper tantrum is quiet and. brooding , but them there is a merry fanfare form the brass , and the symphony ends with a kind of wacky. and zany good humor of an almost Monty Pythonesque kind , as with the final scene of the Life of Bria n ", where they song the merry song "Always look at he bright side of of life, "while Brian and. two other guys are dying in agony on the cross . And there is an irreverent bassoon. fart , sticking its tongue out at the very end !

What the heck was Nielsen trying to say in this. bizarre masterpiece ? Apparently he knew he was going to die of heart failure before too long, and he did . But instead of. Stygian gloom, Nielsen chose to. die laughing , unlike the doom laden finale of the Tchaikovsky "Pathetique " symphony .


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## golfer72 (Jan 27, 2018)

Interesting post. I like Neilsen's Symphonies especially the 5th. Havent listened to 6 in a long time. Have to revisit it soon.


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## RobertJTh (Sep 19, 2021)

I think of Nielsen's 6th as one of those "farewell to life" pieces that don't go the Mahlerian route of sad resignation, but instead chose sardonic humour as a means to deal with fate - and propose insolvable riddles as the only answer to the ultimate meaningless of life. Such a nihilistic approach can be just as impressive and touching.
Think Shostakovich' 15th, Beethoven's F major quartet op. 135, Prokofiev's 7th, etc.


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

I've listened to this one several times over the last month or two — on a CD (Blomstedt, San Francisco) I bought for $1 in a local thrift store. I'm enjoying it but I'm still having a hard time getting an overall view or comprehension of it. From the above posts it seems I'm not alone. I'll keep at it.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

RobertJTh said:


> I think of Nielsen's 6th as one of those "farewell to life" pieces that don't go the Mahlerian route of sad resignation, but instead chose sardonic humour as a means to deal with fate - and propose insolvable riddles as the only answer to the ultimate meaningless of life. Such a nihilistic approach can be just as impressive and touching.
> Think Shostakovich' 15th, Beethoven's F major quartet op. 135, Prokofiev's 7th, etc.


I am tempted to put the RVW 9th in a similar category.


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## dko22 (Jun 22, 2021)

I've always thought of the first movement as one of Nielsen's greatest achievements and the symphony as a whole is probably his most original. Comparisons with Shosty 15 in particular are not out of place though I think the second movement is not just satire but also genuine concern about where the future of music was headed.


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## CnC Bartok (Jun 5, 2017)

Closer in spirit in so many way to VW's 8th, I would have said, but the valedictory aspect wouldn't work.....?
Nielsen's Sixth is a wonderful work, still so unmistakable as Echt-Nielsen, but enigmatic by the bucket load. Totally weird too, and similarly weird, my go-to recording happens to be Neeme Jarvi's DGG recording.


Becca said:


> I am tempted to put the RVW 9th in a similar category.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

Note that not all "final" works are contemplations on the glooms of dying or of being dead. Beethoven wrote the famous words "Muss es sein?" into the score of his great last Quartet, No. 16 in Fm Op. 135, citing the line twice before answering his own question with "Es muss sein!" on the transition to the final movement, a movement of pure laughter and joy that seems to suggest that "the difficult decision" remains easier if one can see humor in life. What a joy it is to be able to die. The alternative, to have never lived, is the real downer.

Still, I remain entranced by many a composer's final (or late) works, especially those penned by composers who could anticipate their soon to come ends. I was intrigued by the closing movement of Mahler's Ninth for a long while (could the composer really be so resigned? after quoting Beethoven, of all people, in his earlier great Third Symphony finale), until I heard the Tenth, which seems to suggest, again, that laughter and humor are the true spirits of ending human life. For Believers, the joy is in expectation of afterlife; for non-Believers I suspect it is in awareness of the utter absurdity that _was_ existence, and if that is not funny, nothing is.

Shostakovich, to my mind a very political composer, turns in a final symphony of what seems to me an appreciation of the absurdities. Recall that it follows two of the gloomiest contemplations on injustice and death ever composed, though I tend to see some light of hope in the Babi-Yar, but not so much in the 14th Symphony.

Why Sibelius apparently destroyed his eighth symphony I don't know. Could he have made it too gloomy? Did he think he had no time to produce a rethinking, as did Mahler (who actually sketched out his Tenth on his death bed). Sibelius went on for a few more years, so he could have had time to write a couple more symphonies. But maybe the realization of the absurdity of it all made the act of writing symphonies seem fruitless anyhow.

I suspect that at least part of our appreciation of the arts is to contemplate the unanswerable questions. So I will not give up pondering "final" statements by artists. Must it be? I'm with Beethoven. It must be.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I love Nielsen's 6th and don't get why it is overlooked. It is demented, willfully so in spots for lack of a better word. Oddly the orchestration is actually some of his most transparent and "chamber esque". The way it begins is remarkably similar to the beginning of Shostakovich 15 half a century later, with the triangle. Every movement is just like Nielsen to the max. The first movement is perfection, the 2nd is incredibly bizarre but with cute wind writing, the 3rd is seriously ill which I can relate to, and then the finale is a **** show, bitter sarcasm is right. It's been a while since I've listened to it.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

This performance is excellent.


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