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Donald Macleod explores the impact that marriage, separation from his wife, and the First World War had on Carl Nielsen and his work.

When the sculptor Anne-Marie Nielsen created a monument to her husband, the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, she said she had wanted to capture "the forward movement, the sense of life, the fact that nothing stands still" in his work. From his early years in the woods and fields of Fyn during the aftermath of the catastrophic 1864 war, to his studies and triumph as a composer in Copenhagen, and years of restless travel and touring beyond, Donald Macleod traces the evolution of a composer determined to forge his own path.

Carl Nielsen and his wife, the sculptor Anne-Marie, lived with their three children in homes around Copenhagen that became bustling meeting places for artists. But the domestic scene wasn't always happy. Both parents spent increasing time away from home, as they each pursued their own successful careers. There were increasing tensions, leading to a period of his life Nielsen would describe as "a stormy sea". The world events of 1914 appalled Nielsen: "It's as if the whole world is disintegrating. What will become of it?" Through his letters it's possible to trace the evolution of his Fourth Symphony during a time of personal as well as political turmoil due to the war.