Carl Nielsen

Born to poor but musical parents on Funen in 1865, Nielsen played in a military band before entering the Royal Danish Academy of Music in 1884. He premiered his Suite for Strings at 23, then took a second violin chair in the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1889, playing under Johan Svendsen for sixteen years while composing on the side. The works from 1897 to 1904 — his "psychological" period — reflected a turbulent marriage to sculptor Anne Marie Brodersen. He taught at the Academy from 1916 until his death, writing six symphonies, a Wind Quintet, and concertos that broke from Brahms and Grieg into…