601 - Carl Nielsen Signed 1917 ‘Chaconne’ Sheet Music Booklet (First Edition)

Carl Nielsen Signed 1917 ‘Chaconne’ Sheet Music Booklet (First Edition) Important Danish composer (1865-1931) best known for his six grandly scaled symphonies, a number of which bear such evocative subtitles as 'The Expansive' (No. 3) and 'The Inextinguishable' (No. 4). First edition sheet music booklet for Carl Nielsen’s Chaconne for Piano-Forte, Op. 32, 17 pages, 9.25 x 12, published by Wilhelm Hansen of Copenhagen and Leipzig in 1917. Signed and inscribed by Nielsen on the front cover in Danish to his close friend, German-Dutch composer and pianist Julius Röntgen, offering Christmas and New Year’s wishes, and signed and dated December 7, 1917. Nielsen presented the score to Röntgen in December 1917, the same year the Chaconne received its world premiere and was first published. Two small performance annotations in pencil appear on the final page. In very good to fine condition, with light toning and staining to the covers, and partial separation of the covers at the upper spine. Nielsen began work on his Chaconne for solo piano in December 1916 and completed it in January 1917, returning to substantial composition for the piano after more than a decade and drawing inspiration from Bach’s celebrated Chaconne for solo violin. The work received its world premiere at Copenhagen’s Odd Fellow Palace on April 13, 1917, with Alexander Stoffregen at the piano, and was published by Wilhelm Hansen that year. This first-edition score was inscribed by Nielsen to Röntgen in December of that same premiere year. Their friendship extended into their compositions: Nielsen dedicated his Helios Overture to Röntgen 'in Friendship,' while Röntgen dedicated his Piano Trio No. 6 in C minor, Op. 50, to Nielsen.