sentences:  Nielsen was born on 9 June 1865, the seventh of twelve children in a poor peasant family, at Sortelung near Nørre Lyndelse, south of Odense on the island of Funen.His father, Niels Jørgensen, was a house painter and traditional musician who, with his abilities as a fiddler and cornet player, was in strong demand for local celebrations.Nielsen described his childhood in his autobiography ("My Childhood on Funen").