Rough draft

Symphny No. 16 was hastily scribbled down in the form of a rough draft in the course of three days in March 1951. On the basis of this, the final score was written in 12 days in April. It has 95 pages, but 28 of them are 'recycled', in the sense that the 3^rd movement had been composed the year before as an independent work. This score was simply given new page numbers and then inserted into the manuscript of the symphony.

Below may be seen the beginning of the rough draft of the finale (5^th Movement) of the symphony, which is entitled Syndflod af Sol (Sun Deluge). Notice the composer's instructions "Outrageously tumescent", corrected to "Murderously tumescent", and then crossed out. These terms express the ambiguity of several of Langgaard's later works. The movement is inspired by Richard Strauss, but the expressive aspect has been pushed to the extreme, and the whole symphony seems confused and strangely unclarified.

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