Carl Nielsen Monument

The Carl Nielsen Monument, located at the corner of Grønningen and Store Kongensgade in central Copenhagen, Denmark, is a monument to Danish composer Carl Nielsen created by his wife Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen. It depicts a young man playing pan-pipes on a wingless Pegasus and is also known as The Genius of Music (Danish: Musikkens Genius). The original plaster model is owned by the Carl Nielsen Museum in Odense.

Carl Nielsen Monument
LocationCopenhagen, Denmark
DesignerAnne Marie Carl-Nielsen
TypeEquestrian statue
MaterialBonze and granite
Opening date17 December 1939
Dedicated toCarl Nielsen

Description
The monument with Grønningen in the background

The monument is an allegorical equestrian statue. Horse and man are depicted in a dynamic pose. The naked young man with pan-pipes represents Pan, god of music in Greek mythology. His face strongly resembles that of a young Carl Nielsen.[1] The Pegasus figure had wings in Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen's earlier models but the wings were left out in the final design.

Carl-Nielsen has commented on the design that "What I wanted to show in my figure is the forward movement, the sense of life, the fact that nothing stands still."[2]

History
Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen and Pegasus – first model of her Carl Nielsen monument in her studio in Civiletatens Materialgård

Carl Nielsen died on 3 October 1931. The monument was a donation from the Committee for the Creation of a Monument to the Composer Carl Nielsen and the Foundation for the Advancement of Artistic Purposes (Fonden til kunstneriske Formaals Fremme).[3]

Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen was commissioned to design the monument. She worked on it in her studio in Civiletatens Materialgård at Frederiksholms Kanal 26. She wrote: "I wanted to take the winged horse, eternal symbol of poetry, and place a musician on its back. He was to sit there between the rushing wings blowing a reed pipe out over Copenhagen". Dispute about her design and a shortfall in funding meant that the monument was delayed and that Anne Marie herself ended up subsidising it. It was finally unveiled on 17 December 1939.[4]

References
  1. "Fokus på billedhuggeren Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens produktion". Odense Museum (in Danish). Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  2. Lawson 1997, pp. 216–217.
  3. "Monument for komponisten Carl Nielsen". sites.itera.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 27 April 2018.
  4. Holmen 1985, pp. 29–31.

Citations

  • Holmen, Grethe (1985). "Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen and Anne Marie Telmànyi: Mother and Daughter". Woman's Art Journal. 5 (2): 28–33. doi:10.2307/1357963. JSTOR 1357963.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lawson, Jack (1997). Carl Nielsen. London: Phaidon Press. ISBN 0-7148-3507-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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