Resurrecting the douçaine: Mount Angel Abbey concert introduces an old sound to a new century

By Jo Garcia-Cobb

On feast days at the Mount Angel Abbey Church, one can hear the sound of a “mystery” wind instrument once silenced for nearly 500 years.

“What was that?” churchgoers have asked, wondering what produced the beautiful other-worldly sound described as a cross between an English horn and a clarinet.

It’s called a douçaine, and it’s a replica of the instrument found during the 1982 salvage of King Henry VIII’s flagship, the Mary Rose. The Mary Rose sank during battle in the English Channel in 1545.

The douçaine played at the Abbey is one of about 60 replicas in the world.

Just as rare as the instrument itself are those who play it. Bro. Niels Nielsen, professional musician and music teacher turned Benedictine monk, has been blazing a trail in douçaine performance and scholarship since he left behind a successful career to enter the monastery.

Before heeding a call to the monastic life, Aage Nielsen played the bass clarinet with the Boise Philharmonic for 23 years. He founded Darkwood Consort, a collaborative group of musicians who performed a variety of ethnically themed concerts or something as quirky as an assortment of music by composers whose names start with the letter M. He was part of the world’s only bass clarinet and viola duo, touring internationally with a unique blend of eclectic music and humor, dubbed “stand-up chamber music.”

The douçaine is an early cylindrical, bored, double-reed instrument. It is mentioned frequently in literature and chronicles from the 13th to 17th centuries. Early music enthusiasts believe that the “still shawm” mentioned in Shakespeare’s works was the douçaine. The shawm is a medieval and Renaissance musical instrument that’s shaped like the douçaine, its body turned from a single piece of wood and terminated in a flared bell, somewhat like that of a trumpet. While the shawm makes a loud sound, the douçaine’s subdued sound makes it an ideal instrument for indoor settings.

Nielsen took up the douçaine in 2006 at the urging of another musician who suggested Nielsen might become a douçaine trail-blazer since so few played it.

Nielsen did an Internet search for douçaine makers and found only two in the world, one of whom happened to live in Oregon City. He ordered two, waited a year to get them, and then began to learn how to play his new instrument.

“As soon as I started making decent sounds on it, I began joking that I could very well sell all of the other instruments that I had, take the douçaine to a monastery, and really learn how to play it,” he said.

“I was really just kidding. I didn’t have monasticism in the brain,” Nielsen said.

In August 2010, however, Nielsen began discerning a monastic vocation, after graduating with a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at Boise State University. It was during his graduate studies that Nielsen became exposed to monasticism and the role it has played in art and music history.

“The more I learned about monasticism, the more I could see myself looking into it,” he said.
At the funeral of his stepmother Nielsen felt the stirring of a major change taking place in his life.

“Within a period of 10 years, all of my closest relatives passed away, and there was a strong draw to return to Oregon,” he said.

Nielsen was born in Portland and was adopted by a family in Klamath Falls.

“The only thing I know about my biological father is that he was Danish. The state of Oregon matched me up with adoptive parents who had a Danish heritage. My Danish roots have always meant a lot to me,” he said.
Nielsen’s birth mother, meanwhile, was also adopted, and musical. “I actually know her name, but have never found her.”

The draw towards the monastic life grew stronger for Nielsen, who yearned to be able to pray continually. He researched a few monasteries in Oregon, and found a fit in Mount Angel Abbey, where he spent 21 days in a three-month period to learn about the Benedictine monks’ way of life.

Raised Baptist and Lutheran, Nielsen converted to Catholicism and entered the 125-year-old monastery in the summer of 2011. Last month, he made his “simple vows” and chose the name Niels, after Blessed Niels Stensen of Denmark.

Before entering Mount Angel Abbey, Nielsen quit his life as a professional musician and sold a recorder, flute, shawm, four clarinets, and two douçaines. He kept his favorite douçaine.

“After all, I really prefer to play just one instrument, and to play it well,” he said.

Nielsen’s interest in the instrument goes beyond performing. His master’s thesis, titled Douçaine Vivant: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of a Cylindrical Survivor, was meant to help lift the douçaine out of obscurity among music historians, contemporary musicians and enthusiasts. The CD recording he produced in conjunction with his thesis, titled Douçaine Among Friends, as well as the commercial recordings of the Darkwood Consort duo are available on Amazon.com. Unlike other douçaine players, Nielsen has taken the medieval instrument beyond the Early Music repertoire. He plays music with it from Medieval to Classical to Rock.

A colleague in Early Music circles, Jeffrey Quick, assistant music librarian at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, commented on Nielsen’s penchant for doing the unexpected with his instruments:

“He will take an instrument and see what he can get out of it. I don’t know of anyone else who has taken the douçaine beyond the Early Music repertoire.”

“The douçaine has been a wonderful addition to the monastic liturgy,” Bro. Teresio Caldwell, OSB, the pipe organist at the abbey, said. “It blends well with the organ stops and works great as both an accompanying instrument and for solo literature. Playing with Bro. Niels has not just sharpened my musical ears, but more importantly it brings joy and a prayerful spirit to many who attend liturgies at the Abbey.”

“Where I am now is where it’s all coming together,” Nielsen said.