Tonality, Clarity, Strength’
Gesture, Form, and Nordic Identity in Carl Nielsen’s Piano Music
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10655989 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel M Grimley (University of Nottingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 86 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 202-233 |
| Publication date | 2005-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Music and Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0027-4224 • E-ISSN: 1477-4631 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ml/gci033 |
| OpenAlex | W1997198412 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
Identifying elements of a Nordic subjectivity in the music of Carl Nielsen is a complex exercise. As Naomi Cumming has observed, we construct musical subjectivity in multiple ways, some of which we perceive as a ‘composer’s voice’. But musical identity is properly a tension between compositional process, reception, and historical context. Carl Nielsen’s piano music has been less widely acknowledged outside Denmark than his symphonies, but offers a compelling case study in the formation of musical subjectivity. His piano works employ a diverse range of different compositional strategies, from stylized neo-Baroque textures to angular modernist dissonance and the carnivalesque juxtaposition of different musical characters or voices. The critical reception of his piano music reveals interesting trends in the construction of a Danish musical style. This essay presents a general survey of his major piano works, from the Symphonic Suite to the posthumous Three Piano Pieces, and seeks to place them in their European historical context.
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Context (archaeology) · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Literature · Musical · Piano · Subjectivity · Symphony · Tonality · Visual arts · Diverse Musicological Studies · History · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
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