This haunting work was written for the festival play Moderen (The Mother) by Helge Rode, celebrating the reunification of Schleswig in southern Jutland with Denmark after more than half a century of German rule. Though the play is no longer performed, Carl Nielsen's incidental music has survived and has remained popular in Denmark. Some of Nielsen's instrumental pieces in Moderen, particularly this one, have gained popularity elsewhere in the world as well. This piece accompanied the play's opening scene, in which the fog lifts to reveal the tender tableau of a mother taking leave of her son—an allegory for the separation of Schleswig from Denmark in 1864. Nielsen's music is therefore both tender and painful. The first soft strains of the harp in Tågen letter lead into the gentle, lilting cadences of the primary melody on the flute. The melody is bright and almost joyful at first; it then sinks into melancholy and despair. This dark mood is delicately echoed by the harp. Seemingly floundering, the flute drowns the initial melody in an aching flurry of trills. When the melody returns, it is with heaviness, drifting reluctantly to its conclusion at a slower tempo and with great sadness. This brief, mournful piece has been absorbed into popular flute repertoire and is often performed and recorded, perhaps most notably, by James Galway.

© Margaret Godfrey, All Music Guide