Talk:Poul Knudsen (writer)

Clarification

@Finnusertop: Thanks for your work on this subtopic of the Madetoja bio. It really will help, and I have already begun to incorporate some of the details into the article I am writing. That said, just a couple of quick clarifying questions:

1. In general, the content that you are providing from these translation is an exact translation of the Salmenhaara original Finnish or have you already paraphrased the material and placed it into your own words?
2. There is a lot of mention of other abortive projects between Madetoja and Kundsen, and I have a bit trouble keeping them straight; until I clearly understand what is going on, I cannot write about this information (which has no mention in the English language sources) in the article. So...here's what I gather:
   1. "In his letter to Madetoja outlining his plans for Okon Fuko, Knudsen enclosed another libretto for a new opera, hoping Madetoja would compose it, too.[4] Madetoja, however, was still waiting for Okon Fuko to be premiered and was not interested in a new project.[5]" So it sounds like Madetoja was approached by Kundsen with a libretto for an opera in 1925-1927 (do you know the exact year?) What was this opera project called?
   2. "Knudsen and Madetoja's ways parted in 1937. Plans to stage Okon Fuko in Dortmund had failed, but Knudsen presented two new liberettos for Madetoja to compose: an opera based on a theme by E. T. A. Hoffmann, and a ballet that was originally to be composed by Carl Nielsen who had died suddenly.[13] In the end, Okon Fuko was performed only thrice in Finland and never abroad.[14]" So, two more proposals in 1937? What was the name of the opera project based on Hoffman? And what was the name of the ballet that Nielsen had abandoned?
   3. "While Okon Fuko was still without a premiere, Madetoja agreed to compose music for Knudsen's new play Les masques de la vie et de la mort for the Royal Danish Theater, but Madetoja never finished this task.[15]" Les masques de la vie et de la mort is this a separate project or is it merely the name of one of the three mentioned above? Also was this play set to also be a ballet-pantomime? Why did Madetoja never complete the task? Death? Lack of enthusiasm?
   4. Any details on why Madetoja refused these various projects?
3. Who was the conductor at the Finnish premiere? Can't find this information anywhere...
4. What is a "partiture"? Just found out it is another word for score. :)
5. Why was the Royal Danish Theatre so opposed to staging Okon Fuoko? They seemed to have signed on and approved of it when Hoeberg conducted the rehearsals (in 1927?)...if the only reason for the delay was the fact that Kundsen wanted Poulsen (who wasn't available), why did a Copenhagen premiere never occur?
6. Why did the Dortmund plans fail?
7. Why did the London and Paris plans fail? Or where these just the unfounded hopes and dreams of the librettist? :)
8. Madetoja made a contact with Kundsen through Wilhelm Hansen, but it appears as though he died in 1904. So, does this mean that it was the publishing house/firm, rather than the individual, that connected the two? I have found on Danish Wikipedia and English Wikipedia page for Edition Wilhelm Hansen.

I cannot thank you enough for your assistance on this project; my suspicion that the Salmenhaara (1987) would be filled with additional details that haven't made it into English has been confirmed. Sgvrfjs (talk) 23:29, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

@Sgvrfjs: I'm glad you find this helpful. Here are some points:

1. Yes, its' in my own words. This material is ready to be used on Wikipedia as is and there is no copyright issue.
2. This draft is based on basically every single mention of Poulsen in Salmehnaara and Mäkinen's books, so if there's something missing here, it's probably missing from my source as well. There is a lot more on Okon Fuko from the point of view of Madetoja though. The names of the operas Knudsen wanted Maedtoja to compose in particular are not mentioned (there was even one more request that I noticed just now). You are right in asking about the chronology though: Salmehnaara seems to try to date all events in Madetoja's life and I did not reproduce the dates here (I will, of course, provide those on request).
   1. The date of the letter where Knudsen wants Madetoja to compose his libretto for an unnamed opera is not given, but it is mentioned between passages about Madetoja in early December 1927. It's safe to assume the letter was sent around this time.
   2. Again, the opera proposals in 1937 are not named. It seems that I forgot to mention how they parted: Salmenhaara writes that "It appears that Leevi [Madetoja] did not even bother to reply Knudsen".
   3. Not much further information is provided on Les masques de la vie et de la mort - which is only characterized as a "play" - except that it was "not realized, at least when it comes to Leevi [Madetoja]", implying that Knudsen might have found someone else to do it. At the time, Madetoja was composing the opera Juha (and was probably busy enough with it).
   4. None of the refusals are given a clear-cut reason, but it's implied that Madetoja was busy with other work, relived to have completed Okon Fuko which was a difficult project, and perhaps even fed up with Knudsen's frequent letters.
3. The conductor was Martti Similä (Salmenhaara 1987, p. 260)
4. Yes, sorry about the "partiture" - this word is used in Finnish a lot :)
5. The rehearsal conducted by Hoeberg is recounted in the same letter of Knudsen as the unnamed libretto above, so it was probably in late 1927. This was a one-off test rather than a proper "rehearsal" (I didn't find a better word). I assume the only obstacle for a premier in Copenhagen was the lack of actors, and specifically Poulsen. No other reason is given.
6. Nothing further is given on Dortmund.
7. Nothing further is given on these either. My impression is that Knudsen might have got his hopes up without much guarantees.
8. They're talking about the person Hansen here, and the index gives him as Wilhem Hansen, so I'm a bit confused as well.– Finnusertop (talk ⋅ contribs) 00:34, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

assuming this is the same Knudsen

an opera of Reznicek’s was written to a libretto of his, too (Das Opfer, 1932). ELSchissel (talk) 11:49, 3 September 2020 (UTC)