Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 7, FS 16 is the first symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 of Danish composer Carl Nielsen

Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...

. Written between 1891 and 1892, it was dedicated to his wife, Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was a Danish sculptor. Her preferred themes were domestic animals and people, with an intense, naturalistic portrayal of movements and sentiments. She also depicted themes from Nordic mythology...

. The work's première, on 14 March 1894 was performed by Johan Svendsen

Johan Svendsen

Johan Severin Svendsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania , Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark....

 conducting the Chapel Royal Orchestra (Royal Danish Orchestra

Royal Danish Orchestra

The Royal Danish Orchestra is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The Danish name for the orchestra indicates its original function as an ensemble geared to supplying the music for court events...

), with Nielsen himself among the second violins. It is one of two symphonies by Nielsen without a subtitle (the other being his Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen)

Symphony No. 5, Op. 50, FS 97 is a symphony composed by Carl Nielsen in Denmark between 1920 and 1922. It was first performed in Copenhagen on 24 January 1922 with the composer conducting. It is one of the two of Nielsen's six symphonies lacking a subtitle....

).

The symphony is in the standard four movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

, with the following tempo markings:

1. Allegro orgoglioso
2. Andante
3. Allegro comodo — Andante sostenuto — Tempo I
4. Finale. Allegro con fuoco

A typical performance takes approximately 35 minutes.

The symphony's melodies have a distinctive Danish flavour and are imbued with Nielsen's personal style. Nielsen scholar Robert Simpson

Robert Simpson (composer)

Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells...

 describes the composer's symphonic debut as "probably the most highly organized first symphony ever written by a young man of twenty-seven."

The work opens in G minor

G minor

G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. For the harmonic minor scale, the F is raised to F. Its relative major is B-flat major, and its parallel major is G major....

, and closes with a rousing peroration in C major

C major

C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

. This tendency to move away from the original key to C major is the basis of the whole symphony's tonal structure

Tonality

Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...

, and displays for the first time Nielsen's hallmark compositional device, "progressive tonality

Progressive tonality

Progressive tonality is the name given to the compositional practice whereby a piece of music does not finish in the key in which it began, but instead 'progresses' to an ending in a different key...

." (Nielsen at one stage even thought of calling the work "Symphony in C".) Simpson states "it is possibly the first symphony to end in a key other than that in which it started".

Instrumentation

• 3 flutes, Flute 1 doubles piccolo
  Piccolo
  The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
  
   in Movement 4
• 2 oboes
• 2 clarinets in B-flat
• 2 bassoons

• 4 horns
  Horn (instrument)
  The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
  
   (1 and 2 in E-flat, G, and C basso; 3 and 4 in B-flat basso and F)
• 2 trumpets in E-flat and C
• 3 trombones (2 tenor, 1 bass)

• Timpani

• Strings