A sensational premiere
The premiere of Nancy Dalberg's Symphony in C sharp minor in 1918 attracted great interest. Many reviewers attended and wrote about the event where Dalberg, as the first woman in Denmark, had a symphony premiered. None other than her composition teacher Carl Nielsen stood at the head of the orchestra.
For several of the reviewers, however, the most sensational thing was that a woman had managed to compose music in such a monumental genre and had handled the task as well as a man. Others were critical to the lacking connections between the symphony's three movements. Dalberg later had the second and thrid movements seperated from their symphonic context, giving them the title To stykker for orkester (‘Two Pieces for Orchestra’), Op. 9.
"Trembling intimacy and sweeping drama"
With the new recording, which was carried out in connection to a concert performance in 2025, we can for the first time hear the work as she originally intended it: three movements in a symphonic whole.
The first two movements have a feeling of unease, absence of resolution and sadness, while the finale opens a completely different and life-affirming space, thanks to Nancy Dalberg's sense of effective orchestration. After the concert, Kristeligt Dagblad wrote how the symphony shifts between “trembling intimacy and sweeping drama – snarling violins, romantic richness, and great sonic beauty.”
In the symphony, it is clear that Dalberg was attuned to the international trends of her time. This is particularly evident in the work’s tonality, which, as has been noted, displays a distinct boldness, with features that point towards modernism.
The first Danish female symphonic performed
Nancy Dalberg's carreer took place in a time where the possibilities for female composers were highly limited. Many of her works received only one or two performances, which she herself often helped to arrange and finance.
Of the few Danish women who made a mark as composers at the time, Dalberg was one of the very few who took on writing a symphony, and the first to have a symphony performed. Recent research has shown that Nicoline Leth ( wrote a symphony prior to Dalberg, but this was - as far as we know - never performed.
Nancy Dalberg's Symphony is released by Dacapo Records as a part of a bigger project in collaboration with Copenhagen Phil and Edition·S and will later be released on CD, together with more orchestral works by historically overlooked Danish female composer.
Find more information about the female composers (re)published in our DCM series here.
Listen to the second movement from Nancy Dalberg's Symphony, Andante sostenuto, here.