Nancy Dalberg (1881–1949) was born Nancy Hansen in 1881 at the estate of Bødstrup near Slagelse. Her father, Christian D.A. Hansen (1843–1916), was a highly successful businessman who developed products for the dairy industry, meaning that Dalberg grew up in a family with no lack of financial resources. In 1882, the family moved to the newly acquired estate of Mullerup in South Funen, where Dalberg grew up.
In 1901, at the age of 20, she married the engineering officer and portrait painter Erik Dalberg (1875–1945). She received piano lessons from one of the most renowned piano teachers of the time, Ove Christiansen (1856–1909), and from 1909 to 1911 studied composition with the Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen (1840–1911). She was presumably also a student of the composer Fini Henriques (1867–1940) before, in 1913, becoming a student of the most prominent Danish musician of the time, Carl Nielsen (1865 – 1931). Over time, Dalberg and Nielsen developed a closer professional relationship, and Nielsen conducted or participated as a violinist in the performance of several of her works. He also asked her to help orchestrate his works Aladdin and Springtime on Funen.
Dalberg had several of her songs performed in 1911, and her first string quartet was performed at her home – with Carl Nielsen on violin – in 1914, but her true public debut as a composer came in 1915 when she held a so-called composition concert at the Odd Fellow Palace in Copenhagen, with only her works on the programme. She held another composition concert in 1918 and a third in 1922. At these concerts, her string quartets, songs, and several orchestral works – most notably the symphony – were performed.
Generally, Dalberg’s music was well received, but critics rarely failed to comment on her gender, often surprised that a woman was able to compose so well.
During the winter of 1922 – 23, she took up residence in Algeria due to health problems, amongst them arthritis. Here, she was inspired by the music of nomadic people and wrote down melodies, which later became the work Arabic Music from the Sahara. Upon her return, she began composing an opera based on Selma Lagerlöf’s (1858 – 1940) Gösta Berling’s Saga, but since Lagerlöf had already granted the Italian composer Riccardo Zandonai (1883 – 1944) permission to compose an opera on this story, Dalberg had to give it up – however the song Marianna Sinclair’s Song remains from this work.
In 1929, Dalberg held her fourth composition concert, and in 1937, her last. Stylistically, Dalberg moved from the late romantic and into the modern. In her music, one finds both sweeping, romantic melodies and short, repetitive motifs. The latter feature was often criticized by contemporary critics but can also be heard as a modern quality in Dalberg’s music.
