Symphony No. 6 (Nielsen)

The Symphony No. 6 by Carl Nielsen, written in 1925 is a work in four movements:

1. Tempo giusto (from the Italian, meaning the right pace)
2. Humoreske: Allegretto
3. Proposta seria: Adagio
4. Tema con variazioni: Allegro

It was premiered in Copenhagen with the composer conducting in the same year.

He gave it the title Sinfonia Semplice. According to Robert W. Simpson , from the second edition of his book on Nielsen (but not the first — this represents a revision of an earlier opinion) this work may be partially autobiographical; the composer had just experienced a tremendous success with his fifth symphony, but had also suffered a series of heart attacks. He was to write several more works, some of them substantial, in the remaining six years of his life including the Three Motets and Commotio for organ solo, but around this time the atmosphere of his works begins to change somewhat.

As with many other works by Nielsen starting as early as his first symphony, the symphony uses "progressive tonality", not only starting in one key — G, here — and ending in another (B-flat) but making the change part of the drama of the work (this was one of the main theses of Simpson's book).

Description

First movement

G major here, opening with bell sounds followed by what is, indeed, a "simple" and peaceful melody in strings — followed in turn, though, by active and very characteristic figures in the winds. As in the fifth symphony there is an early hint of the key B-flat in which we will eventually close, since the wind response hits that B-flat as an odd and off note in an otherwise G major passage. The mood of the opening gives way to fugal unrest and, eventually, two chaotic and disturbing outbursts (Simpson believes these reflect Nielsen's heart attacks, in a manner of speaking, though he does not claim that the piece is pictorially or otherwise programmatic) before again quieting, to a lightly-scored but unsettled close in A-flat.

Second movement

The Humoreske is for winds and percussion alone, almost athematic/tuneless and depending on rhythm. The composer, according to Robert Layton, a British music writer who specializes in 20th century Scandinavian music in notes he wrote for an RCA recording of the work, said of this movement that the wind and percussion quarrel, each sticking to his own tastes and inclinations; Nielsen went on to liken this to the musical world of the time.

Several other symphonies in the 20th century had wind-only scherzos and string-only slow movements, for example the Sinfonia Serena of Paul Hindemith, and the eighth symphony of Vaughan Williams.

Third movement

Proposta seria — as noted, for strings alone (until the very end where the rest of the orchestra re-enters). The opening is just a bit similar to that of the slow movement of his fourth symphony. Several passages in this movement circle around as though snakes chasing forthemoment lost tails (to paraphrase Simpson, again).

Finale

Fanfare, theme and variations, fanfare-reprise and coda, on a fairly unstable theme in B-flat. The ninth variation, just before the fanfare-reprise and coda, has a sound and affect like that of the Humoreske — Simpson likens it to a grinning skeleton; it is preceded by a minore variation before that, as in many variations sets (a variation in the parallel minor), but one that is so protracted that when its last minor cadence arrives it is difficult to grasp as one whole variation. Layton describes it as a lament and that is a closer description.

The last gesture of the piece is a brief, low-wind B-flat, well-described as a raspberry.

Book

Simpson, Robert Wilfred Levick. Carl Nielsen, Symphonist. London: Kahn & Averill Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0900707968.