Nielsen, Ludolf

Nielsen, Ludolf – Skovvandring! (Woodland Ramble) Suite for orchestra / first print, ed. by Christian Biskup

(b. Nørre Tvede, January 29, 1876 – d. Copenhagen, October 16, 1939)

op. 40

Echo og Narkissos p.1
Pan færdes i Skoven! p.15
Dryadens Död p.29
Ved Ellemosen p.43
Eos p.56

Preface
Ludolf Nielsen is just one of the many Danish composers who have fallen into oblivion under the overpowering shadow of Carl Nielsen. Yet the lives of the two, incidentally unrelated namesakes, show remarkable parallels. Both Carl and Ludolf grew up in a rural environment before they were drawn to the Danish capital to study, where both were quickly counted among the most promising musicians of their generation. While Carl Nielsen succeeded in adapting his musical language to the musical trends, Ludolf remained largely faithful to the Romantic idiom throughout his life, which may be the reason for his early demise on the stage.

Ludolf Nielsen was born the fifth child of a farming family on January 29, 1876 on a farm in the tranquil village of Nørre Tvede on the island of Zealand. Although his parents were not very musical, they had a small collection of various instruments, which Ludolf enjoyed exploring from a young age. When the local minstrels played in the small hall of the house at harvest festivals, he, as the youngest member of the family, was right in the middle of it all with great fascination. He eventually received his first music lessons. He played the violin, viola and – if the drawings in his sketchbooks are to be believed – also the accordion and later the piano. Initially, his lessons were probably not well-founded: local minstrels and military musicians were his first teachers.

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