Carl Nielsen - Family

Family

Nielsen's parents were Maren Kirstine Jørgensen, née Johansen (9 April 1833 – 28 January 1897) and Niels Jørgensen (22 January 1835 – 22 November 1915). He was one of 12 children. The brothers and sisters were Jørgine Caroline (1854–1879), Mathilde Sophie (born 1856), Karen Marie (1857–1876), Jørgen Peter (born 1859) emigrated to Australia, Johan Sophus (1861–1942) emigrated to USA, Christian Albert (born 1863) emigrated to USA, Carl August (1865–1931), Anders Jacob (born 1867) emigrated to USA, Helene Christine Louise (born 1869) emigrated to USA, Valdemar Emil (1871–1965), Julie Christine (born 1872), Anna Dusine (8 January to 2 April 1875).All the children bore the surname Nielsen despite regulations by the Ministry of Church Affairs.

He and his wife Anne Marie had two daughters and a son. Irmelin, his eldest daughter, had studied music theory with her father. In December 1919, she married Eggert Møller (1893–1978), a medical doctor who became a professor at the University of Copenhagen and director of the polyclinic at Rigshospitalet, the national hospital. Anne Marie, who graduated from the Copenhagen Academy of Arts, married the Hungarian violinist Emil Telmányi (1892–1988) in 1918 who contributed to Nielsen's music, both as a violinist and a conductor. Nielsen's son, Hans Børge, was handicapped as a result of meningitis and spent most of his life away from the family. He died near Kolding in 1956.

Shortly before Carl Nielsen met his wife, he had a son Carl August Hansen (8 January 1888 – 4 April 1963) by a housemaid, Karen Marie Hansen (4 September 1865 – 17 March 1949). Mother and son emigrated in December 1901 to New York, where Carl August qualified as a pharmacist. Although he returned to Denmark for a few years, he returned to the United States in June 1921 where he resumed his career as a pharmacist. He had three children by two different wives. There are living descendants.