Praeludio e Presto - Autograph Musical Manuscript

Used; Like New/Used; Like New. Autograph musical score for the important Danish composer's Praeludio e Presto for solo violin, apparently in the hand of Nielsen's son-in-law and the dedicatee of the work, Hungarian violinist Emil Telmányi. Dated March 28, 1928. Neatly copied with performance notes in Danish, German, and English, this copy may have been intended for a publisher. Written in ink, with corrections in pencil throughout, including performance notes (and one version of the title) struck though on the first page, added dynamics, and changed fingerings. Folio. 9 pp, pages loosely sewn with a split to the spine crease, with toning and a slight folding crease, but overall highly legible and in fine condition.
Provenance: Descendants of the Hungarian violinist Emil Telmányi (1892-1988).

Telmányi was a family member and close friend of Nielsen, having married his daughter Anne Marie in 1918, and a proponent of his works, leaving several authoritative recordings. The Praeludio e Presto was written for him in 1923, as the final piece for a recital on a London tour with Nielsen. Nielsen took Bach's sonatas and partitas for violin as his inspiration for the virtuosic piece. He had finished the piece shortly before Telmányi's departure for London, but Telmányi told the composer that he was not satisfied with one of the variations. Nielsen then wrote a new, and extremely demanding, variation after they had already arrived in London. Telmányi remembered in his memoirs: 
"So - thought Carl Nielsen - if you think it's too easy, you'll get what you want. And then he composed a variation in sixty-fourth notes, a 'Presto' as confoundedly difficult as the worst Paganini caprice. I was well and truly punished, since it was not finished before we left for London. We lived in a hotel on Russell Square, a quiet place where I was the only person to break the silence with my perpetual practicing. Carl Nielsen sat in his room and sweated with inspiration to get the diabolical variation finished... The piece was an amazing success with the audience. I was called out a whole six times, something quite unheard-of in the conservative English musical world after a modern, highly personal solo violin piece. At the last call the composer had to take a bow too, and I think he was happy..."


"One of the most important and free-spirited of the generation of composers who straddle the 19th and 20th centuries, his music covers a wide range of styles, from Brahmsian Romanticism at the outset to a high-principled, personal brand of neo-classicism in his last years. He composed in virtually all the main genres of the time, but he is best known for his six symphonies, which significantly contributed to the renewal of the genre in the 20th century. In Denmark he has been equally revered for his large output of popular strophic songs, which helped to redefine the national song tradition. His activities as conductor, teacher and writer made him the most prominent and influential Danish musician of his time, and although international recognition was sporadic in his lifetime, it has grown steadily since the 1950s, especially in Britain and the USA." – Grove Online