Fellow Nielsen nuts, in response to various claims of expertise in matters
Nielsen, I had asked:

>>Ok Guys, what is FS 135? When was the Cobbler's Wedding Waltz written?
>>First with the correct replies gets the title.

So far no correct answers to either question (but some amusing ones)!

Andrew Carlan comes close on the second question:

>Seriously, I remember reading that his father let him play at local
>weddings on Funen and was somewhat disturbed that he wouldn't keep to the
>simple tunes, but improvise his own.  Perhaps, that's the origin of
>"the Cobbler's Wedding Waltz," although I doubt it.

Which is essentially correct, but doesn't answer the question. Nielsen's
earliest extant composition is a polka (1874), the next is the Cobbler's
Wedding Walzt (1878), written when he was 14.

On the first question (what is FS 135) Andrew misses completely:

>FS 135 probably refers to one of his art songs in the tradition of >Weyse...

Nope.

Ok, I'll come clean:

What is FS 135? This is a trick question.  Nielsen's opus numbers are a
nightmare, his compositions were catalogued by Fog and Schousboe in 1965
(hence FS numbers).  The catalogue has a couple of anomalys, one of which
is that FS 135 does not refer to anything (and you think Deryck picks
nits)!  If you want to see the full FS catalogue, I put it on the web a
while ago at:

   http://members.aol.com/dmlovelock/nielsen_fog.htm

If you take a look, you will see that as Andrew Carlan points out, Nielsen
wrote over a hundred wonderful songs (there is a great range in the songs,
you can find a good introduction on the Danacord historical recordings set
(DACOCD 365-367).  He also wrote lots of canatas for local choral
societies, with unappetizing names like "Cantata for the Opening of the
Swimming Baths".  Has anyone heard any of these?

In view of Andrew Carlan nailing the circumstances of the composition of
the Cobbler's Wedding Waltz, I (in leaden manner) pronounce him the leaden
Nielsen expert.

Best wishes,
Andy Jackson