Nancy Dalberg's Scherzo was premiered in 1914 at her first public appearance as a composer. The performance included the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, a series of songs, two pieces for cello and piano and finally the Scherzo for string orchestra, performed by “a small string orchestra” conducted by Carl Nielsen.
It was not common for a female composer to debut with a full and ambitious concert programme and several critics took this as a staring point in their reviews. ”One can hardly sit for a whole evening admiring a lady’s energetic writing skills,” one critic wrote.
Others were luckily much more positive: ”It was a well-structured, amusingly conceived and skillfully executed piece of music, which contained well-balanced contrasting effects within its concise form,” Gustav Hetsch of Nationaltidende concluded.
Skallsjö Sommarorkester performs Scherzo at four concerts:
20 July - Ljungs kyrka, Ljungskile, Sweden 22 July - Tossene Kulturkyrka, Tossene, Sweden 24 July - Marienstiftskirche, Lich, Germany 25 July - Villa Vauban Park, Luxemburg
Find more information about the four concerts here.
On 26 July, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra performs Dalberg's Scherzo in Finland at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. Read more here.