Carl Nielsen

Balladen om Bjørnen, opus 47

(De dræbte Bjørnens Unger)

Ballad of the Bear, Opus 47

(The bear's two cubs were murdered)

Opus 47
CNW 315
CNUCarl Nielsen Udgaven (The Carl Nielsen Edition. Royal Danish Library: Copenhagen 1998–2009) III/5, 251
CNSCarl Nielsens Samling (The Carl Nielsen Collection, Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen) 78
FSDan Fog & Torben Schousboe: Carl Nielsen kompositioner. En Bibliografi. København 1965. 109

Author: Aage Berntsen

Carl Nielsen Edition (Editorial Texts)

Composition: 1923.

Balladen om Bjørnen is by far the weightiest among the relatively few large-scale art-songs from Nielsen's later years. The text was written by Aage Berntsen at Nielsen's request. The ink fair copy is end-dated 9 January 1924, though he already on 15 November 1923 wrote to his son-in-law that he had finished the work.

Tempo giusto

De dræbte Bjørnens Unger

The bear's two cups were murdered