Music about the North by Non-Scandinavian Composers

[Alan Howe]

It's not a federal offence, but we do like to keep threads on topic. In this case it would have mitigated the 'offence' if it had been made clear that this was a brief digression rather than an inadvertent error. A formula such as 'to digress for a moment...' would have been sufficient.

[LateRomantic75]

I was merely jesting about it being a federal offense, Alan. Now back to topic.....

[Alan Howe]

Er, I think I sort of realised that. Also zur Sache!

[Derek Hughes]

The Flying Dutchman. As is well known, Wagner at a late stage relocated the action from Scotland  to Norway. (Scotland, for some reason, seems not to count as the North in this thread, otherwise one might cite the Hebrides Overture).

One proposed explanation for Wagner's change of setting is that he wanted to avoid the social structure of castles and lairds that is conventionally associated with Scotland (Der Vampyr, La Dame Blanche). But I think another possibility is that he simply wanted to give more emphasis to the North-South polarity--and, consequently, to the global thrust of the expansionism that the Dutchman embodies. He has been sailing the southern seas, the steersman sings of the south wind, and the north is present in the very etymology of Norway.

[LateRomantic75]

I've recently come across another example that would fit this thread: Pancho Vladigerov's Scandinavian Suite Traumspiel, drawn from incidental music he wrote for Strindberg's play of the same name. It's a stunning work, with influences as varied as Impressionism, Wagner, and Swedish folk music. It's available on CPO: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NOIWOY?

[pcc]

I have to take another look at Cowen's opera THORGRIM, which is set in Iceland. I think nothing exists of it now beyond a piano-vocal score, of which we have a copy at Eastman.  There's a very funny description of Joseph Bennett's libretto in the Athlone "The Romantic Era"; in comparing Thorgrim to Wagner's Siegfried, Thorgrim is described as "an unprincipled thug".

[parkermusic]

Looking back at the quote: "Why assume that anything in music constitutes northernness?...A composer may subtitle a symphony "The North" (has anyone mentioned Frederic Cowen yet?) but even if it throws in a few Norwegian folk tunes it is still basically "about" the manipulation of its own musical material. The exception might be overtly programme music, or impressionistic tone pictures where the music is intended to express the mood of a particular place."

The Cowen 'Scandinavian' Symphony certainly has that 'northernness'. While it is not a programme symphony as such, Cowen's writings in a letter clearly indicate that he had 'scenes'/'images'/'unlying stories' for some of the movements. Also some of the material could well have been extracted from or inspired by Norwegian folk music, which he heard whilst touring as accompanist to Trebelli on several occasions in the late 1870s in Scandinavia. What makes it sound 'Scandinavian' or 'Northern' though, that is more difficult to answer...

Curiously, the soundworld of some of Cowen's music predates, but is quite close to, what we later hear in Sibelius...sustained brass especially and often the use of the darker colours of the orchestral palette...

[parkermusic]

I have to take another look at Cowen's opera THORGRIM, which is set in Iceland. I think nothing exists of it now beyond a piano-vocal score, of which we have a copy at Eastman.  There's a very funny description of Joseph Bennett's libretto in the Athlone "The Romantic Era"; in comparing Thorgrim to Wagner's Siegfried, Thorgrim is described as "an unprincipled thug".

There is little doubt that 'Thorgrim' was meant to be Cowen's 'Siegfried' or 'Lohengrin'. With his credentials for his 'Scandinavian' Symphony, he was an obvious choice to set this drama. Unfortunately, neither Joseph Bennett (the librettist), nor Cowen, had the skills to bring such an undertaking to a satisfying fruition. What we have does only survive in the piano-vocal score, which is a shame, because I don't doubt that the orchestration would have been imaginative and well worth a look through...

[JollyRoger]

I see no mention of Europe in the thread title.
There must be a boatload of fine music written about the bleak north from Canada..
perhaps most of it is too recent

[eschiss1]

Offhand I can think of only a few (flourished-in-the-)19th-century Canadian composers- Salomon Mazurette  (moderately prolific American/Canadian composer of some 300? works (not many digitized or even maybe survive?...) for piano, solo voice and chorus) is actually the only one who comes to my mind- and for others I really need to check IMSLP and Wikipedia for a bit of assistance - Arthur Clappé (author and composer), Hugh A. Clarke, Charles A. Harriss, Stephen Humbert, Calixa Lavallée (composer, I think, of "O Canada"; also of a comic opera called The Widow (La veuve)... ok, him I did remember though not by _name_, I was in fact trying to look his name up... ) - maybe Henry Strauss (about whom IMSLP has little biographical or date information, but it seems he was probably Canadian)... I don't see anything specific by any of them at the moment with a Nordic theme, but - one keeps looking...