This recording of Carl Nielsen's opera "Maskarade" was originally a live broadcast from January 28, 1954, performed before an invited audience.
Historical Context
Ludvig Holberg, whose 1724 play inspired Nielsen's "Maskarade," was a jurist and the father of modern Danish and Norwegian literature, working when both countries shared a monarchy.
Composition History
Carl Nielsen composed "Maskarade" in 1905-06 as a satirical follow-up to his earlier opera "Saul and David," drawing inspiration from the social comedies of Ludvig Holberg.
Performer Biography
Launy Grøndahl, the conductor, was instrumental in promoting Danish music, leading the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra on international tours that sparked British interest in Carl Nielsen's music.
Composer Biography
Knud Jeppesen, a composer on this album, was an organist, musicologist, and composer, largely self-taught like Carl Nielsen, and known for his studies of Palestrina's Masses.
Recording & Production
To accommodate radio listeners, a narrator was used in the original 1954 broadcast of "Maskarade" to explain the plot, but these intrusions have been largely removed for this CD release.
Recording & Production
This album features the first (almost) complete recording of Nielsen's "Maskarade" and a previously unreleased work by Knud Jeppesen, "The Eagle and the Beetle."
