What is Carl Nielsen?
{{unsourced|date=March 2021}} [[Image:Carl Nielsen 1931.jpg|thumb|Carl Nielsen in 1931]] '''Carl Nielsen''' (born in Sortelung, near Nørre Lyndelse on Funen, June 9, 1865; died in [[Copenhagen]], October 3, 1931) was a [[Denmark|Danish]] [[composer]]. He is the most famous composer from Denmark and one of the most important composers of [[symphony|symphonies]] from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ==Life== Carl Nielsen was the seventh in a family of twelve children. His father’s name was Niels Jørgensen. It was Danish [[tradition]] for a child to get his father’s [[given name]] as part of his name, so Carl became Carl Nielsen (“son of Niels”). The family was very poor and Carl had to help in the home. During the school holidays he looked after the [[goose|geese]]. His father, who was a simple painter, played the [[violin]] and [[cornet]] in the village band. Carl soon learned to play the violin and joined in with his father’s band. He listened to music by [[Haydn]] and [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] and became very interested in general knowledge. All his life he tried to learn new [[language]]s and was interested in [[literature]], [[art]] and [[philosophy]]. He loved [[animal]]s and the [[nature]] around him. [[Image:Denmark-Carl Nielsen's Childhood Home.JPG|thumb|250px|left|Carl Nielsen's childhood home]] When he was 14, he had a job in the [[military]] [[orchestra]] in the nearby [[town]] of [[Odense]]. He played the [[horn (musical instrument)|horn]] and [[trombone]]. In 1884 some rich people in Odense paid for him to go to the Conservatory in Copenhagen. He studied music there and did quite well, but there was nothing yet to show that he would be a brilliant composer. He got a job as violinist in the Royal Chapel, a good orchestra which was conducted by [[Johan Svendsen]]. He got to know the music of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], and he went to [[Germany]] to study it. Later he was not so keen on Wagner’s music, and he was not much [[influence]]d by it. In 1891, he married Anne M