The late romantic era saw the emergence of a Nordic lied tradition. Jean Sibelius, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Carl Nielsen and other composers gradually departed from German Wagnerian aesthetics in an attempt to find a Nordic sound, ‘clear, honest music’ without grandiose effects.
Nature is often at the heart of these romances (the preferred term for Nordic lieder), both as symbolic material and as inspiration. In the song Sigh, Sigh, Sedges (Säv, säv susa) by Jean Sibelius the words and music imitate both crashing waves and wind in the reeds, telling the tragic tale of a young girl who drowns herself. In the next song, Was it a Dream? (Var det en dröm?) a love affair comes to an end, or was it just a dream? In any case the dream is as short-lived as the first flower of spring. Changing seasons become images of changing emotions. In the last song about the girl who returns home after visiting her loved one, the colour red is associated with roses, red berries and finally with death, as her lover is unfaithful, making her sad.
The writer of the last poem, Johan Ludvig Runeberg, is considered Finland’s national poet. The verses starting Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklingsmöte (The Girl came from her Tryst) have been set to music by many composers, including Wilhelm Stenhammar.
I skogen (In the Forest) is one of Stenhammar’s earliest songs, composed to a text about the Night-smelling Rocket (Hesperis tristis), which symbolises sorrow, darkness and hope for a new tomorrow. Abrupt changes of mood from one word to the next are typical of the romance, and the performer faces many choices of which aspects to emphasise.
The concert also contains two songs by Hugo Alfvén. He was married to a Danish painter, and was consequently probably familiar with Så tag mit hjerte i dine hænder (So Take My Heart in Your Hands) by Tove Ditlefsen, a somewhat later poet and the only female contributor to the programme.
The final piece before the interval is Tonerna (Visions), associated by many with the great Swedish tenors Jussi Björling and Nicolai Gedda.
In Sweden and Finland the Nordic romance tradition is closely related to the symphonic tradition. This is less true in Norway. Norwegian national romantic music arose almost a generation earlier and is influenced by Norwegian folk music rhythms. Compared with the symphonic music of Sibelius, Stenhammar and Alfvén, the music of Edvard Grieg is open and lyrical, with a lighter mood frequently breaking through the melancholy.
Composing songs was close to Grieg’s heart, and many of the poems he set to music selected for this programme use symbols from nature also found in the Swedish and Finnish romances: dreams, sleep and as a symbol of love, the rose.
As a form, the lied depends on a finely attuned relationship between words and music. Listening to a number of miniature musical jewels in close succession may be likened to being in a flower garden.
Text: Hild Borchgrevink
English version: Roger Martin