Fredag 1.2.1918 Viggo Bierring, København, til Carl Nielsen, København
Raadhusplads 4. 1 Febr. 1918
Herr Komponist Carl Nielsen.
R. af D.
her.
Ved Nærværende tillader man sig høfligst at forespørge Herr Komponisten, om det er muligt at opgive en Tid, paa hvilken Musikken til ”Fyensk Foraar” [CNW 102] af Aage Berntsen, vil kunne foreligge færdig fra Deres Haand.
Det vil være behageligt at faa denne Oplysning, af Hensyn til forskellige Dispositioner, som skal træffes i nærmeste Fremtid.
P.O.V.
Ærbødigst
Viggo Bierring.
pt. Formand
[underskrevet:] Jul Rasmussen
Carl Nielsens Fynsk Foraar, op. 42, fik sin førsteopførelse ved Dansk Korforenings tredje landssangstævne i Odense 8.7.1922 efter at Carl Nielsen havde komponeret værket i sommeren 1921, men Dansk Korforenings bestilling af værket hos Carl Nielsen ligger, som dette brev viser, længere tilbage i tiden.
Aage Berntsen fortæller om værkets tilblivelse i et brev af 25.9.1946 til redaktør Torben Meyer:
”Carl Nielsen var af og til Gæst i min Fars Hjem – især i Perioder, hvor der var Vanskeligheder paa Teatret, hvor han var Kapelmester. Naar disse Sager var drøftet med min Far, udfoldede han sit henrivende Lune – spillede Scener af Maskarade [CNW 2] før det kom op, eller gengav levende og morsomt smaa dagligdags Optrin som han havde overværet paa Gader og Stræder.
Et mere personligt Forhold fik jeg til ham, da han skulde sætte Musik til ”Fynsk Foraar”.
”Dansk Korforening” (tror jeg den hed) havde ladet udskrive en Konkurrence om en Tekst for Dansk Natur – Historie – eller Folkeliv og Karl Nielsen skulde sætte Musik til Ordene. Jeg var netop paa dette Tidspunkt færdig med et anstrængende lille videnskabeligt Arbejde, hvor jeg bl.a. i timevis sad og talte Blodlegemer. Min Pegasus, der havde været tøjret i et Aarstid eller saa, vrinskede og slog bagud og i Løbet af en Uges Tid lavede jeg to Tekster: en om Drabet paa Knud den Hellige i Odense og en, som jeg kaldte ”Fynsk Foraar” – den sidste paa Erindringer fra mine fynske Barneaar – iblandet Beskrivelsen af ”Den blinde Spillemand”,Blinde Anders, jf. Klaus Berntsen: Erindringer fra Barndom og Ungdom, Kbh. 1921, s. 79 og 172, MfB s. 102-105 og 119. Samt: Jens Ole Storm Pedersen: Blinde Anders spillede natten lang i mosen, Jubilæumsskrift, Carl Nielsens Barndomshjem 1956-2006, Lokalhistorisk Forening og Arkiv for Nr. Lyndelse Sogn 2006, s. 3-8. som min Far havde kendt i sin Barndom.
Jeg sendte begge Sagerne ind – og ”Fynsk Foraar” fik Præmien, der var paa 200 gode blanke Kroner (for hvilken Sum jeg købte et gammeldags Mahognichatol, der nu pryder min Stue).
Jeg tog ud til Carl Nielsen og gav ham Manuskriptet. Han sad ved et stort Skrivebord i det hyggelige, omend vist noget støvede Hjem i Bissens gamle Lejlighed ved Frederiksholms Kanal. Han trissede rundt i store Sivsko, da der var fodkoldt i Huset. Manuskriptet lagde han i Skrivebordsskuffen og jeg forlod Huset i glad Forventning om det kommende Korværk.
Saa gik der et Aarstid – vist nok snarere to Aar og en skønne Dag hørte jeg Carl Nielsens milde fynske Maal i Telefonen. Ja nu vilde dem i Korforening[en] jo have Værket, men – men – han kunde ikke hitte Manuskriptet. I min Ungdoms Naivitet havde jeg ingen Kopi, men kun løse Notater i min ”Sesambog”. Jeg forsøgte at rekonstruere Teksten, men det blev noget andet, og vist ikke bedre end Originalen. Vi drøftede i stille Sørgmodighed Sagen – og under Samtalens Løb sagde jeg, at jeg huskede vi sad ved hans Skrivebord, da han fik Manuskriptet og dette førte til at han kiggede alle Skuffer igennem og omsider fandt ”Fynsk Foraar” – det var gledet bagud af en Skuffe.
Efter 14 Dages Forløb ringede han og sagde, at nu var det færdigt, der var bare to Ting han vilde bede om: Først ønskede han et Vers til i den unge Mands Sang om Ilsebil. Dernæst at jeg vilde ændre Navnet Marie i Verset:
Og har Du ingen Hjærtenskær
saa kan Du faa Marie –
hun er vel nok en Bitte svær,
men en forstandig Pige.
”Forstaar De” – sagde han – ”min Kone hedder jo Marie” – veltalende Pause – Billedhuggerinden hørte jo ikke til de Smækre.
Jeg føjede ham naturligvis med Glæde – Sangen om Ilsebil fik et Slutningsvers og Marie blev døbt om til Sophie.”Torben Meyers redaktionsmateriale, MTA. Jf. MS II, s. 204-205.
Denne skildring af Fynsk Foraars tilblivelse er summarisk upræcis og på et væsentligt punkt misvisende: Det var ikke på forhånd (op)givet, og Aage Berntsen vidste ikke da han skrev digtene, at Carl Nielsen skulle skrive musikken.
Dansk Korforening, der blev stiftet i 1911, afholdt sit første landssangstævne i Aarhus i juli 1916. Samme år var Viggo Bierring blevet foreningens formand og kunne som sådan i december 1917 meddele offentligt:
”Hvis Tidsforholdene maatte tillade det, agtes det andet store Landssangstævne afholdt i Odense Sommeren 1918, og der vil da blandt andet komme til Opførelse en ny Komposition af Carl Nielsen med Tekst af Læge Aage Berntsen, der vandt en af D. K. udsat Pris for en Digtning om Fyen.”Musik, 1. årg. 1917, s. 160.
Sådan skulle det imidlertid ikke gå. Presset på komponisten for at få værket færdigt forsvandt igen i flere år; en samlet troværdig redegørelse for forløbet finder vi i Dansk Korforenings 10-årsberetning:Dansk Korforening 1911-1921, Et Tilbageblik, udgivet af Overbestyrelsen ved Sophus Halle, Kbh. 1921, s. 7-8.
”Paa Repræsentantmødet i Aarhus 1916 drøftedes den gamle Tanke om et Landsstævne i Odense; i de følgende Bestyrelsesmøder uddybedes Planerne, og man begyndte at skitsere Programmet. Som Tyngdepunktet i dette tænkte man sig et Korværk, der direkte tog Sigte paa i Ord og Toner at prise Fyen. Men hvorledes fremskaffe en god og rammende Tekst? Som en nærliggende Udvej vedtog man at udsætte en Præmie for en Digt-Cyklus, der kunde danne Grundlag for musikalsk Behandling, og man krævede, at Motivet skulde hentes fra Fyens Historie, Natur, eller Folkeliv. I Løbet af 1917 indkom ikke færre end 12 Besvarelser, og det overdroges Forfatterne, Prof. Einar Christiansen og Sophus Michaelis i Forbindelse med ”D.K.”s Formand at bedømme de indsendte Arbejder. Resultatet blev, at et Digt med Titel ”Fyens Foraar” fik Prisen: Forfatteren viste sig at være Dr. Aage Berntsen, en Søn af Forsvarsminister Klavs Berntsen, altsaa en Mand af fyensk Æt. Det gjaldt nu om at faa det sat i Musik, og man enedes hurtig om at overdrage Hvervet til Komponisten Carl Nielsen, der som en af Fyens berømteste Sønner maatte forudsættes at have ganske særlige Betingelser for Løsning af den foreligende Opgave.
Imidlertid fik ”Fyensk Foraar” Lov til at hvile en Stund. Da man nemlig i Begyndelsen af 1918 traadte i Forhandling med den fyenske Kredsbestyrelse, udtalte dennes Repræsentant, Redaktør Dreyer, megen betænkelighed ved Arrangementet af et Landsstævne i Odense den kommende Sommer. Den af Krigen skabte Bolignød gjorde sig netop da stærkt gældende, og det maatte befrygtes, at Byen ikke vilde kunne magte den ret omfattende Indkvartering af Sangstævnets Deltagere. For dette Resonnement maatte man naturligvis bøje sig, og dermed udsattes paany det fyenske Landsstævne.”
I stedet holdtes det andet Landssangstævne i Kolding med Folkekoncert på Skamlingsbanken i 1919, og først i 1921 fik komponisten igen kniven på struben og måtte i hast komponere Fynsk Foraar med henblik på Landssangstævnet i Odense, der endelig blev til virkelighed året efter – og med uropførelsen af Fynsk Foraar.
Friday 1 February 1918 Viggo Bierring, Copenhagen, to Carl Nielsen, Copenhagen
Raadhusplads 4. 1 February 1918
Mr Carl Nielsen, Composer.
Knight of the Order of Dannebrog.
Hereby a friendly request to inquire of the Composer whether it is possible to name a date on which the music for Springtime on Funen [CNW 102] by Aage Berntsen will be finished on your part.
This information would be welcome due to the consideration of various dispositions which need to be arranged in the near future.
pp.
Respectfully,
Viggo Bierring.
Currently Chairman
[signed:] Jul. Rasmussen
Carl Nielsen's Springtime on Funen, op. 42, had its premiere at The Danish Choral Society's third national singing convention in Odense on 8 July 1922 after Carl Nielsen had composed the work during the summer of 1921, but the commission of the work from Carl Nielsen by The Danish Choral Society, as this letter shows, goes further back.
Aage Berntsen explains the origin of the work in a letter of 25 September 1946 to the editor Torben Meyer:
'Carl Nielsen was a frequent guest in my father's home – especially whenever he was facing trouble at the Theatre where he was working as kapellmeister. When these matters had been discussed with my father, he would demonstrate his wonderful wit – would play scenes from Masquerade[CNW 2] before it was put on, or in a lively and humorous way would enact little everyday episodes that he had witnessed out and about.
Our relationship became more personal when he came to write music for Springtime on Funen.
The Danish Choral Society (I believe it was called) had set up a competition for a text about Danish nature – history – or ordinary lives, and Carl Nielsen was to set the words to music. At that point in time, I had just finished a difficult little piece of scientific work which, among other things, had had me counting blood cells for hours on end. My poetic Pegasus, which had been tethered for about a year, was neighing and kicking and a week or so later I had created two texts: one about the killing of Canute the Holy in Odense, and one that I called Springtime on Funen – the latter based on my memories from my childhood years on Funen – including the description of 'The Blind Musician',Blind Anders, cf. Klaus Berntsen: Erindringer fra Barndom og Ungdom, Copenhagen 1921, pp. 79 and 172. MfB pp. 102-105. And: Jens Ole Storm Pedersen: Blinde Anders spillede natten lang i mosen, Jubilæumsskrift, Carl Nielsens Barndomshjem 1956-2006, Lokalhistorisk Forening og Arkiv for Nørre Lyndelse Sogn 2006, pp. 3-8. whom my father had known in his childhood.
I submitted both texts – and Springtime on Funen won the prize of 200 honest, shiny kroner (for which I bought an old-fashioned mahogany bureau, which now adorns my living room).
I went to see Carl Nielsen and gave him the manuscript. He was seated at a large desk in his cosy and rather dusty home in Bissen's old apartment on Frederiksholms Kanal. He was pottering about in large rush shoes as the floors were cold. He put the manuscript in the desk drawer and I left the house in joyful expectation of the coming choral work.
Then a year or so passed – closer to two years, I think, and one fine day I heard Carl Nielsen's soft Funen dialect on the telephone. Well, now the people of The Choral Society wanted the piece, but – but – he could not find the manuscript. In my youthful naivety I had no copy; only loose sheets in my commonplace book. I tried to reconstruct the text, but it turned out differently and not as good as the original. We discussed this unfortunate business in muted sorrow – and during the course of the conversation I said that I remembered we had been sitting at his desk when he got the manuscript, and that led to him looking through all of the drawers and finally finding Springtime on Funen - it had slid out of the back of a drawer.
A fortnight later he rang and said that now he had finished it. There were just two things he wanted to ask: Firstly he wanted an extra verse to the young man's song about Ilsebil. Then he wanted to change the name Marie in the verse:
"And if no true love you have found,
then you can take Marie –
she may be just a wee bit round
but prudent as can be."
"You see" – he said – "my wife's name is Marie" – significant pause – the sculptress was no beauty after all.
I happily obliged of course – the song about Ilsebil was given a final verse and Marie was renamed Sophie.'Torben Meyer's editorial material, MTA. Cf. MS II, pp. 204-205.
This description of the origin of Springtime on Funen is imprecise as a summary and misleading on a central point: It was not agreed beforehand, and Aage Berntsen did not know in advance when he wrote the poems, that Carl Nielsen would compose the music.
The Danish Choral Society, which was founded in 1911, held its first national singing convention in Aarhus in July 1916. That same year, Viggo Bierring had become the chair of the society and could in December 1917 publicly announce:
'If time allows, we intend to arrange the second large national singing convention in Odense in the summer of 1918, and among other things there will be a performance of a new composition by Carl Nielsen with text by Doctor Aage Berntsen, who won a competition by The Danish Choral Society for poetry about Funen.'Musik, vol. 1 1917, p. 160.
However, these plans came to nothing. The pressure on the composer to finish the work disappeared for several years; a coherent explanation of the turn of events is found in The Danish Choral Society's 10-year celebratory article:Dansk Korforening 1911-1921. Et Tilbageblik, published by the board by Sophus Halle, Copenhagen 1921, pp. 7-8.
'At the meeting of representatives in Aarhus 1916, the old idea about a national convention in Odense was discussed; at the subsequent board meetings the plans were elaborated and the beginnings of a programme were sketched out. A choral work focusing on celebrating Funen in words and music was considered as the centrepiece of the event. But how were we to find a good and fitting text? An obvious solution to that was to offer a prize for a cycle of poems, which could work as the basis for a musical setting, and the requirement was that the theme should derive from history, nature or everyday life on Funen. During the course of 1917, no less than 12 submissions were sent in, and it left to the authors, Prof. Einar Christiansen and Sophus Michaëlis together with the chairman of "The Choral Society" to judge the entries. A poem with the title Springtime on Funen was selected as the winner: the author turned out to be Aage Berntsen, son of Minister for Defence Klaus Berntsen, so a man of Funen descent. Now it was time to set the words to music and we quickly agreed on entrusting the job to the composer Carl Nielsen, who, as one of the most famous sons of Funen, would surely possess the necessary qualities to fulfil such a task.
However, Springtime on Funen was shelved for a while. When, at the beginning of 1918, the board entered negotiations with the local administration on Funen, its representative, Editor Dreyer, expressed considerable concern about the arrangement of a national convention in Odense that following summer. The housing shortage caused by the war was very pronounced at that point in time and there were fears that the town could not cope with the rather extensive accommodation of participants during the singing convention. Of course such arguments had to be taken into consideration and so the Funen convention was postponed yet again.'
Instead, the second singing convention was moved to Kolding with a folk concert in Skamlingsbanken in 1919, and not until 1921 was there once again pressure on the composer, who had to compose Springtime on Funen in all haste for the national singing convention in Odense that finally took place the following year – with the premiere of Springtime on Funen.