Carl Nielsen's Two Operas

[Superhorn]

    Scandinavian  opera  is  pretty  much  terra  incognita  for  operas  fans,  even  the  most  experienced  and  knowledgable.  Swedish, Danish  and  Finnish  composers  (I'm  not  sure  about  Norway )  have  produced  a  fair  number  of  operas  which  have  had  local  success,  but  they  have  never  travelled  well,  I  suppose  because  of  the  languages. 
   It's  a  little-known  fact  that  Sibelius  wrote  a  brief ,one-act  opera  called  "The  Maiden  In  The  Tower ",  set  to  a  libretto  in  Swedish,  in  the  1890s.  This  has  been  recorded  about  twice, in  versions  by  Neeme  Jarvi  and  his  son  Paavo.
   But  His  great  Danish  contemporary  Carl  Nielsen ,  also  born  in  1865,  wrote  two  wonderful  operas  which  have  had  slightly  more  exposure  in  recent  years.  "Maskarade",  the  second,  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  comic  operas  ever  written,  and  is  considered  the  Danish  national  opera.
   The  first, "Saul  and  David",  a  vastly  different  work  based  on  the  Bible,  has  been  available  on  a  superb  Chandos  recording  conducted  by  the  ubiquitous  Neeme  Jarvi.
   A  performance  from  the  Royal  Danish  opera  of  Maskarade  has  recently  been  issued  on  DVD,  and  there  is  another  sung  in  German  from  the  Bregenz  festival  in  Austria. 
   I  got  to  know  Maskarade  from  the  excellent  performance  on  Decca  conducted  by  Ulf  Schirmer  with  the  orchestra  and  chorus  of  the  Danish  radio,  and  this  has  recently  been  reissued. 
   This  is  the  story  of  a  young  man  who  frequents  the  riotous  public  masquerades  in  18th  century  Copenhagen ,  to  the  disgust  of  his  rather  puritanical  father,  who  wants  him  to  marry a  young woman  he  has  never  met.  The  young  man's  mother  is  more  amenable  to  dancing.
   In  the  3rd  act, the  father  reluctantly  follows  the son  to  one  of  the  "wicked"  masquerade  balls,  gets  drunk  and  enjoys  himself in  spite  f  everything.  The  unknown  prospective  bride  turns  out  to  be  the  very  young  lady  the  young  man  had  already  fallen  in  love  with  at  a  masquerade ,  and  everything  ends  joyously.
   Nielsen's  irresistable  score  overflows  with   wit  and  exuberance.  I  think  you'll  love  this  comic  masterpiece.  It ought  to  be  much  better-known.
   Edvard  Grieg  went  to  a  performance  not  long  before  he  died  and  was  delighted,  as  you  should  be.
   Saul  and  David,  from   1902,  is  not  as  well-known,  but  the  superb  Chandos  recording,  which  I  have  shows  it  to  be  a  kind  of  Scandinavian  Boris   Godunov.  King  Saul  is  condemned  by  the  prophet  Samuel   for  breaking  God's  law  by  making  a  sacrifice  to  God  asking  for  his  help  in  fighting  the  invading  Philistines   before  Samuel   comes  to  officiate.  David  obtains  the  king's  favor  with  his  soothing  songs,  and  is  to  be  betrothed  to  Saul's  daughter.  But  when  David  slays  Goliath,  Saul  becomes  insanely  jealous.  Eventually,  Saul  is  killed  in  battle,  and  David  is  proclaimed  the  king. 
   Nielsen's  music  is  powerful  and  sweeping,  and   the  role  of  the  tormented  Saul  is  the  kind  of  role  that  great  basses  would  be  dying  to  sing  if  they  got  to  know  this  opera. 
   As  far  as  I  know,  the  Chandos  recording,  with  the  late  bass  Auge   Haugland  in  a  compelling  performance  as  Saul  is  not  in  print;  but  if  you  can  find  it,  grab  it.   There  are  several  other  Danish  recordings  of  the  two  Nielsen  opera  which  i  have  not  heard,  and  I  do  not  believe  they  are  currently  available.  But  the  two  Danish  operas  are  well-worth  getting to  know.
   

[karlhenning]

Both Maskarade and Saul og David are very fine operas.

[The new erato]

Fine thread. I've always wondered why Saul and David was so little known, a very dramatic work.

[Wendell_E]

As  far  as  I  know,  the  Chandos  recording,  with  the  late  bass  Auge   Haugland  in  a  compelling  performance  as  Saul  is  not  in  print;  but  if  you  can  find  it,  grab  it.      

amazon.com has it in stock, as well as copies from their sellers.  I've had it on my wishlist forever, maybe this'll motivate me to finally buy it.

I do have the Decca recording of Maskerade, but haven't listened to it much.  But I usually prefer tragedy, any any case.  A "Scandinavian Boris Godunov" sounds like just my thing!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Just to add my voice - Nielsen's two operas are terrific. Saul og David, especially, is a work of true grandeur and nobility. And Maskaraden always reminds me of Meistersinger in its joyousness.

[Catison]

Wait, you guys can actually read what Superhorn writes?

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Wait, you guys can actually read what Superhorn writes?

The lay-out isn't exactly helpful, but the contents are clear.

[karlhenning]

I read the subject-header . . . .

[Superhorn]

    Here's more information on Scandinavian opera. A  number have been recorded in recent years,such as "The Handmaid's Tale", by contemporary Danish composer Poul Ruders. This is an adaption of the famous novel by the same name. It's a very interesting work, and has been successfully performed in Copenhagen and elsewhere.
  Finnish composers such as Einojuhani Rautavaara,Joonas Kokkonen and Aulis Sallinen have written successful operas, and Rautavaara's Rasputin was recently premiered in Helsinki. There is an interesting sounding opera by a composer whose name I don't remember called "Aslak Hetta", about a Lapp who started a
rebellion and was executed.
   Edvard Grieg wrote fragments of an opera about medieval king Olav Trygvason,who converted Norway to Christianity. I heard a  Unicorn LP of the fragments years ago, and it was fascinating. it sounded unlike anything else by Grieg I've heard.
  There was also an opera by Norwegian composer Chrsitian Sinding of an opera subg in German  whose name I can't remember, and there have been a number of other Scandinavian operas recorded, such as "Aniara",by Karl BirgerBlomdahl, a science fiction opera about a space ship full of people escaping a dying earth.
The ship has gone hopelessly off path and is doomed. Very interesting.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

    Here's more information on Scandinavian opera. A  number have been recorded in recent years,such as "The Handmaid's Tale", by contemporary Danish composer Poul Ruders. This is an adaption of the famous novel by the same name. It's a very interesting work, and has been successfully performed in Copenhagen and elsewhere.
  Finnish composers such as Einojuhani Rautavaara,Joonas Kokkonen and Aulis Sallinen have written successful operas, and Rautavaara's Rasputin was recently premiered in Helsinki. There is an interesting sounding opera by a composer whose name I don't remember called "Aslak Hetta", about a Lapp who started a
rebellion and was executed.
   Edvard Grieg wrote fragments of an opera about medieval king Olav Trygvason,who converted Norway to Christianity. I heard a  Unicorn LP of the fragments years ago, and it was fascinating. it sounded unlike anything else by Grieg I've heard.
  There was also an opera by Norwegian composer Chrsitian Sinding of an opera subg in German  whose name I can't remember, and there have been a number of other Scandinavian operas recorded, such as "Aniara",by Karl BirgerBlomdahl, a science fiction opera about a space ship full of people escaping a dying earth.
The ship has gone hopelessly off path and is doomed. Very interesting.

I uploaded 'Aniara' a few months ago. Do you have it? If not, here are some links -

http://rapidshare.com/files/125259047/ANIARA_Disc_1_of_2.mp3

http://rapidshare.com/files/125261508/ANIARA_Disc_2_of_2.mp3

http://rapidshare.com/files/125259048/ANIARA_Info.rtf

[The new erato]

    The ship has gone hopelessly off path and is doomed. Very interesting.

Use your horn so others can avoid you.

[Superhorn]

    Erato,can you please tell me what's wrong with my posts? They look okay to me on my computer. Or anybody else?

[Bulldog]

    Erato,can you please tell me what's wrong with my posts? They look okay to me on my computer. Or anybody else?

There must be something wrong with the text you are using.  Change the text within your program; maybe that will correct things.  As it stands, each paragraph is indented and some of your lines end too soon.

[The new erato]

Superhorn; what Bulldog says. Makes them hard to read. Do you import them from a word processing program? Maybe that carries over some formatting?

[Wendell_E]

Just inserting a blank line between pargraphs would help a lot.

    Scandinavian  opera  is  pretty  much  terra  incognita  for  operas  fans,  even  the  most  experienced  and  knowledgable.  Swedish, Danish  and  Finnish  composers  (I'm  not  sure  about  Norway )  have  produced  a  fair  number  of  operas  which  have  had  local  success,  but  they  have  never  travelled  well,  I  suppose  because  of  the  languages. 

   It's  a  little-known  fact  that  Sibelius  wrote  a  brief ,one-act  opera  called  "The  Maiden  In  The  Tower ",  set  to  a  libretto  in  Swedish,  in  the  1890s.  This  has  been  recorded  about  twice, in  versions  by  Neeme  Jarvi  and  his  son  Paavo.

   But  His  great  Danish  contemporary  Carl  Nielsen ,  also  born  in  1865,  wrote  two  wonderful  operas  which  have  had  slightly  more  exposure  in  recent  years.  "Maskarade",  the  second,  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  comic  operas  ever  written,  and  is  considered  the  Danish  national  opera.

etc.

[Catison]

It also appears there is more than one space between each word.

[karlhenning]

It also appears there is more than one space between each word.

W h y ,  y e s ,  t h e r e  i s ,  a t  t h a t !