Carl Nielsen's Saga-Drøm (Saga Dream), also known as Gunnar's Dream, is a tone poem for orchestra based on the Icelandic Njal's Saga. It was first performed at the Music Society (Musikforeningen) in Copenhagen on April 6, 1908 by Nielsen himself. Background While working on the music for Ludvig Holstein's drama Tove in the winter of 1907–08, Nielsen started to think about writing an orchestral piece based on Njal's Saga. The first traces of the introductory theme for clarinet and viola are to be found in a draft of Tove where it is played by a French horn. On April 1, 1908, just after completing Tove, Nielsen signed off the fair copy of Saga Drøm, only a few days before its scheduled performance. Nielsen no doubt learned of Njal's Saga and the piece's motto "Now Gunnar dreams; let him enjoy his dream in peace" from the translation by N.M. Petersen. The saga tells how Gunnar, on his way out of the country with Kolskeg and Hjort after being sentenced to exile, is so tired that he calls for a stop and falls into a troubled sleep. Hjort asks whether they should rouse him but Kolskeg replies, "No, let him enjoy his dream." In his dream, Gunnar imagines they are being attacked by wolves. He and Kolskeg manage to defend themselves but Hjort is killed. The others see Gunnar is having a nightmare but Kolskeg still insists that he should not be disturbed. Reception The reviews of the initial performance at the Music Society on April 6, 1908 were not very favorable. Dannebrog maintained: "It is not music at all, nothing but juxtapositions of sounds and an eternal build-up from pianissimo to fortissimo." William Behrend, writing in Illustreret Tidende concluded that though the piece had a "highly stimulating effect... it seems to lack proportions — to be at once too short and too long, as dreams after all can be."Robert Henriques, writing in Vort Land said"It is as much the daydreaming of a fantasist as a sleeping dream that the composer wanted to depict. The entire piece presents a clash between the reality of life (the fugato movement) and life as a preparatory stage for an afterlife (the chorale). In the middle of the piece Carl Nielsen has tried definitively to paint the confusion that seizes us when one idea after another rushes through our heads. He has done so very originally