Moderen
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Carl Nielsen's incidental music Moderen (The Mother), Opus 41, was written for a gala celebrating the reunification of Southern Jutland with Denmark. It was first performed on 30 January 1921 at the Royal Danish Theatre. The text was basically a collection of generally patriotic verses written by Helge Rode for the occasion.[1]
Nielsen began to compose the music for the various songs in April 1920. The work proceeded rather slowly, partly because he was not too keen to be working for the theatre once more and partly because he was travelling on assignments in Paris, London and Amsterdam. In addition, he was already starting to work on his Fifth Symphony. Nevertheless, as time passed, he grew increasingly interested in the project. By the beginning of October, he was able to tell Johannes Nielsen, the theatre director, “It is a beautiful play, and I am interested in being part of it,” and inform Rode, “Your gala play has given me pleasure, so I want to do what I can with my music.”[1]
The gala performance, originally scheduled for Boxing Day 1920, had to be postponed to January because the score was not completed in time for rehearsals. After considerable preparation, it finally took place on 30 January 1921. The accompanied songs assigned either to the Scald or to the Jester were sung by Svend Methling and Johannes Poulsen.[1]
Reception
While the reviews were not too enthusiastic about the production as a whole, most of them welcomed the music. Extrabladet praised "Carl Nielsen’s often magnificent music, clear and straightforward and with a rhythmic beauty of tone as it should be in a national gala play" while Gunnar Hauch commented in Theatret that Nielsen had succeeded in conveying a Danish tone, especially in the song about "Princess Tove of Denmark" which was "played upon strings that were so authentic".[1]
