The Mother, Op. 41, was forgotten to an even greater degree than most of Carl Nielsen's music. It was published only in 2007, although before that, single pieces had found their ways into Danish national musical life. It is incidental music for a play celebrating the 1920 reunification of the South Jutland region with Denmark. That doesn't sound like a promising subject, and the tonal orientation of the music certainly didn't endear the work to the keepers of the repressive apparatus of modernism who allowed Maskarade (for ...
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The Mother, Op. 41, was forgotten to an even greater degree than most of Carl Nielsen's music. It was published only in 2007, although before that, single pieces had found their ways into Danish national musical life. It is incidental music for a play celebrating the 1920 reunification of the South Jutland region with Denmark. That doesn't sound like a promising subject, and the tonal orientation of the music certainly didn't endear the work to the keepers of the repressive apparatus of modernism who allowed Maskarade (for who can resist Maskarade?), but not other works in the same style. As it happens, the music here somewhat resembles the compact, sparkling pieces of that great opera. There are patriotic, national-style songs (some of them humorous), programmatic scenes, a piano waltz depicting the coming of the gramophone, and a triumphal chorus. Almost every one of them will leave listeners humming their tunes. The play has an unusual structure, consisting of a prologue plus seven scenes, each of...
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