"Helios" Overture, Opus 17 (1903)
Carl Nielsen (1865-1931)
Calls for: 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings.
Carl Nielsen was a Danish composer that was as honored in Denmark as Sibelius was in Finland. Nielsen wrote many types of music and although he wouldn't have called himself a nationalist, he did compose many Danish folk songs. His personal style as a composer is best represented in his symphonies and 3 solo concertos for violin, flute and clarinet. He was a violinist and for almost 20 years he played with the Danish Royal Orchestra as a second violin (1889-1905). His music was heavily influenced by the Renaissance polyphony he studied which included early and fully developed Baroque fugues (there is even a fugue in the string section towards the second half of the "Heilos" Overture).
Nielsen wrote the "Helios" Overture while he was on leave from the Danish Royal Orchestra in 1903. He took a trip with his wife, Anna, Marie, to Greece for an extended visit. While touring Greece he and Anna Marie spent more than a couple of weeks in Athens, beginning February 20th. Nielsen wrote to a friend of his back in Copenhagen on March 27th, "It's really hot here. The Helios [the sun] shines all day and I am headlong into my new sun piece. A long introduction with sunrise and a dawn song is done, and I have started the Allegro." He writes to another friend after the piece is performed in Denmark by the Danish Royal Orchestra (October 8, 1903), with him still performing as a second violinist, "What do you think of this so-called Program Music? It is of some interest to me as I have just done a piece: that is to say, not a detailed program. My overture describes the movement of the sun through the heavens from morning to evening, but it is only called Helios and no explanation in necessary. What do you say? Such a program, title is not a nuisance. Light, Darkness, Sun, and Rain are almost the same as Credo, Crucifixus, Gloria, and so forth." Nielsen inscribed a verse into the score that better reveals the "program" he had intended for Helios,
"Silence and darkness -
The sun rises with a joyous song of praise,
It wanders on its golden way,
And sinks gently into the sea."
The sun rises with a joyous song of praise,
It wanders on its golden way,
And sinks gently into the sea."
Nielsen explained the development of the work in a letter he wrote to Julius Borup, his friend, while he was still in Greece:
"My overture is in praise and honor of the sun. It begins very softly with some low notes in the bass, then joined by several more instruments, and the horns give out a rather solemn morning hymn. Now the sun rises high in the sky until the midday light is almost blinding and everything is bathed in a sea of light, making almost all living creatures feel sleepy and lazy. Finally it sinks slowly and majestically behind the distant blue mountains, far down in the west. Have I succeeded with it? I simply know that it has given me immense satisfaction to have carried out this idea which is so superbly well suited to musical setting and has an automatically organic shape to it."
Later, Helios became linked to the Danish New Year's celebrations.
The opening sounds very similar to the opening of Mahler's First Symphony in that both pieces depict the awakening of life - Mahler woke up the creatures in the woods, Nielsen woke up the people of Athens. Slow, drawn out notes and chords of the strings eventually awaken the horns and other sections of the orchestra. More and more instruments become energized by the sun's rays, finally reaching all depths of the orchestra and the land as the trumpets sound an energized fanfare. Even though Nielsen describes the middle section as creatures feeling "sleepy and lazy" I hear the sun's ray bringing life and energy to the orchestra. The first theme of the middle section as the sun travels across the sky is in the violins and they are alive with their "joyous [songs] of praise." The second theme is first in the cellos, then the woodwinds. It is not as quick-witted as the violin's theme but it is still celebratory and brimming with life. Futhermore, the music then goes into a lively fugue for the string section which is interrupted by the brass. Following the resounding of the two main themes, the music turns to a gentler demeanor as we reach the final section. The sun sets behind "the distant blue mountains" as the same horns and strings that awoke the orchestra and the world ten minutes ago, gently lulls us back to sleep as the day turns to night. Nielsen takes the listener through the different parts of the day while still maintaining a flow from dawn to dusk. In terms of programmatic music, Helios is wonderfully illustrative and Nielsen beautifully describes the sun's effects on life in his melodies and chordal movement.
Well that's all for now. Time to start researching on the next piece in the program. Later!
