Nielsen, Tage

Nielsen, Tage, Danish composer, pedagogue, and administrator; b. Copenhagen, Jan. 16, 1929. He received training in music and French at the Univ. of Copenhagen (M.A., 1955). In 1951 he joined the music dept. of Radio Denmark, where he was program secretary (from 1954) and later program ed. and deputy head of the dept. (from 1957). In 1963 he became director of the Jutland Academy of Music in Århus, where he was prof. of theory and music history from 1964. From 1983 to 1989 he was director of the Accademia di Danimarca in Rome. He served as managing director of the Soc. for the Publication of Danish Music from 1989 to 1993. In 1992 he received the Schierbeck Prize. His stylistic development proceeded through neo-Classicism, expressionism, the Danish New Simplicity mode, to neo-Romanticism.

Works

dramatic: opera:Laughter in the Dark (1986–91). orch.:Intermezzo gaio (1952; rev. 1963); Bariolage (1965; Århus, Feb. 7, 1966); II giardino magico (1967–68; Århus, Feb. 24, 1969); Passacaglia (1981; Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 1983). chamber:Variants for Alto Flute (1963); 2 Impromptus for Viola and Organ (1967); Recitative and Elegy for Guitar (1975); Arrangement and Landscape for Flute (1981); Ballade for Percussion (1984); Salon, trio for Flute, Viola, and Harp (1984); 3 Opera Fragments for 13 Instruments (1986); Tramonto for Cello and Percussion (1989); The Frosty Silence in the Gardens for Guitar (1990); Uccelli for Clarinet (1992); A Winter’s Tale, clarinet sonatina (1994). keyboard: piano: Sonata (1949–50); 2 Nocturnes (1960–61); 3 Character Pieces and an Epilogue (1972–74); Paesaggi for 2 Pianos (1985). organ: Toccata (1951); Divertimento: Fields and Meadows (1971); Lamento (1993); Chorale Fantasy (1994–95). vocal:5 Songs for Mezzo-soprano and Piano (1946–70); Attic Summer for Soprano, Guitar, and Percussion (1974); 8 Choral Songs (1974); 3 Shakespeare Fragments for Soprano, Oboe, Cello, and Piano (1977–78); 3 Black Madrigals for Chorus (1978); 5 Poems by William Blake for Soprano and Vibraphone (1979); 3 Mexican Poems for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, and Piano (1982); 2 Choral Songs (1984); In tribulatione mea, motet for Chorus (1985); Ritual for Mezzo-soprano, Flute, Piano, and Percussion (1989); 3 Choral Songs (1990); 5 Romantic Songs for Mezzo-soprano and Guitar (1994).

—Nicolas Slomnisky/Laura Kaun/Dennis McIntire