Influences of Norwegian Folk Music on Norwegian composers
Master Project – Dorothea Möri
The plan for my Master project was to learn as much as possible about Norwegian Folk Music, its influences on the music of Norwegian composers and the history, development and characteristics of the musical language which is considered to be Norwegian and the so-called “Norwegian National Style”. This also included that I started to learn how to play the Hardanger fiddle, one of the most special and, obviously for me being a string player, one or the most interesting instruments used in Norwegian Folk Music. For the concerts I needed to organize as a part of my Master Project I chose to perform exclusively music by Norwegian composers which was in some pieces clearly affected by the traditional way of playing, as well as others seemed to be further away from the traditional musical language.
Since my very first music lessons on violin, I have been very interested
in different kinds of Folk Music. As a kid, I started learning the
violin at the Suzuki school and this is where I very soon got in touch
for the first time with Folk melodies and started to play them. At least
twice a year, we had courses where we were taught Folk tunes, just by
listening to the teacher and watching how he played. First, this were
mostly Eastern European melodies, but in later years the repertoire
included some Irish tunes as well. From the very start I have liked this
kind of music a lot and I also think it is interesting how often traces
of it can actually be found in composed classical music. For my Bachelor
thesis I did some research on Hungarian Folk Melodies and how
characteristic elements of this music or even whole tunes has been used
by Hungarian composers as Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály or Jenö Hubay. To
my luck, I was able to find a tune which was used by two different
composers in very different epochs for their pieces and it was
fascinating to me to see how the melody was treated in diverse ways, but
still was clearly recognizable. While spending my exchange year at the
NMH in 2018/2019 I learnt that there is a Folk Music Department at the
Academy and, as this is not common at all in Switzerland, was quite
surprised about that. I also had the opportunity to take part in the
Folk Music Week where I first got a more detailed insight into the world
of the Norwegian Folk Music. It was very interesting to me, something
quite different from the Eastern European and Irish tunes which I was
more familiar with. I also didn’t know before that special Norwegian
Folk Music instruments as for example the Hardanger fiddle or the
Langeleik exist. When I decided to continue my studies in Oslo and do a
Master’s degree here, I read about the Master’s Project which is part of
the study programme. Immediately I had the idea and the strong wish that
I would like to learn more about this country’s Folk Music and also try
to find and understand the connections between traditional music in
Norway and pieces composed by people who grew up surrounded by this kind
of music and were inspired by it. I was also curious about what the
characteristic traits of Norwegian Folk Music are, in rhythmical,
harmonical as well as in melodical ways and was asking myself about how
much of it can actually be rediscovered in composed Norwegian Music. Of
course, when learning about Norwegian music and composers, there is no
way to not get in touch with Edvard Grieg, who is known to have taken a
lot of inspiration out of Norwegian Folk tunes and to be the founder of
a sort of a so-called “Norwegian National Style” in music. But during
the search for pieces for my concerts, I also discovered other
composers, mostly from the 20th century on whose music I took a closer
look. Having its own department for Folk Music, the Norwegian Academy of
Music is of course the perfect place to learn more about this topic and
I was lucky to get help from a lot of people who are specialized is this
field.
The first step I took in my Master’s project development were the
lessons on Hardanger fiddle. Unfortunately, it was not possible for me
to choose the necessary electives already during my first year, but l
decided to just contact the Hardanger fiddle professor Håkon Høgemo and
he was so kind to already give me lessons during my second Master
semester, even if I was not in the Norwegian Folk Music Instrument
elective course yet.
The Hardanger fiddle is one of the most special instruments in Norwegian
Folk Music. It was developed in the Hardanger region during the 17th
century and is used mainly in the south-western parts of Norway. The
Hardanger fiddle reminds of a violin, but is usually a bit smaller and
richly decorated. The biggest difference to an ordinary violin or a
fiddle is the very flat bridge which makes it much easier to play on
more than one string at a time and the – nowadays usually - five
understrings which are not touched by the bow, but resonate when the
other strings are played. This fact always reminded me of a viola
d’amore. There are many different tunings which are used on the
Hardanger fiddle what doesn’t make it easier to learn it. The most
common of these tuning is said to have been Grieg’s inspiration to the
famous theme of his “Morgenstemning”, as the melody consists exactly of
the notes of this tuning’s understring notes.
Another special feature in many Hardanger fiddle tunes is that they are
not composed of parts of four or eight bars, but consist of short
phrases which are repeated and slightly varied many times. This made it
also much harder for me to learn by ear as I am used to a more
structured composition.
But the scales only fell from my eyes when I heard about this
characteristic in Hardanger fiddle music during my fourth semester, in
one of the other Folk-Music-related electives I chose, “Traditional
Norwegian Folk Music and its Theories”. In this course, we learnt about
different tunings, not only on Hardanger fiddle, but also on the normal
fiddle, about how to transpose from one tuning to another and about
different types of Folk Music in different parts of Norway. Another
topic was the problem of how one should write down Folk Tunes and how it
was – more or less – solved. Besides this, we also got to learn some
tunes.
During the third semester I took part in the Dansespill course where we
were taught dance tunes as well as in the Folk Dance class. A lot of the
Norwegian Folk Music is based on dance tunes and I think, when playing
dance music, it is important to know the steps one would be supposed to
do to this music. Both classes were a lot of fun and I learnt many
things, of which I also got much inspiration for playing. One fact that
surprised me was that one of the most common Norwegian Folk dances is
called “Rheinländer”, what shows clear influences from Central Europe.
I chose all these electives pursuing my goal to collect as many
impressions and as much information as possible to be prepared for
putting together the next step of my project: The concert programmes.
I ended up choosing pieces by Edvard Grieg, Johan Kvandal, Bjarne
Brustad and Sven Nyhus. When concentrating on Norwegian Music, it is of
course impossible to ignore Edvard Grieg. As my viola teacher at the
Norwegian Academy of Music, Prof. Lars Anders Tomter, had made a viola
arrangement of Grieg’s sonata for violoncello and piano op. 36, this was
a perfect opportunity to include a piece of Grieg’s work in my
programme. It is well known that Grieg got a lot of inspiration from
Norwegian Folk Music. In this sonata, there is not a specific tune he
uses, but there are many places which remind of traditional melodies,
the most obvious ones, in my opinion, the fast theme and the slow middle
theme in the third movement.
Johan Kvandal was a Norwegian composer of the 20th century. I had
learnt about his quintet for Hardanger fiddle and string quartet op. 50
already before I started my lessons on Hardanger fiddle and as I love
chamber music very much and really wanted to include some in my concert
programmes, I had planned to play this piece for my Master’s project
from the very beginning. The quintet consists of two movements, first a
slow Andante movement and then a fast dance movement. As I learnt when
working on this piece in the Hardanger fiddle lessons, the first
movement is based on an actual tune from the Vang region called
“Grihamaren”. The fast and very rhythmical second movement, on the other
hand, reminds of a Halling. These two movements are also good examples
of the two different styles which can be found in Norwegian Folk Music.
The first one, besides being based on a Hardanger fiddle tune, is
obviously influenced by the style which is often found in Hardanger
fiddle tunes: phrases which are repeated several times and slightly
varied and no very clear structure. The dance movement, in contrast, is
exemplary for the other style: a clear structure of two times four bars
and a catchy and very rhythmical melody.
The other composition by Kvandal I chose is the so-called “Elgsonaten”
for viola and piano op. 81. It got its nickname because while Kvandal
was writing it, there was all the time a moose standing in his garden
and staring at the composer. This sonata was written almost twenty years
after the Hardanger fiddle quintet and it is obvious that Kvandal went
much further in developing his own style and musical language during
these years. Of all the pieces I worked on, it is the one in which I
could find the least Folk music influences.
Bjarne Brustad was a Norwegian composer, violinist and violist and lived
in the 20th century. I had already heard his Eventyrsuite for violin
and was first planning to maybe arrange some of the movements for viola.
But then I found a very nice Brustad piece which was written originally
for viola, the “Norwegian Suite”. It consists of five short movements,
three slow and two fast ones. As the name of the suite already implies,
the whole piece is strongly based on Norwegian Folk Music, even if all
the melodies might be invented by Brustad. The slow movements are
lyrical and song-like while the first fast movement is a “Springar”. The
last movement is entitled “Tussedans”, translating to Gnome’s dance, and
charms with is folky rhythms.
I was still looking for another chamber music piece and that was when I
found Brustad’s Capricci for violin and viola. In this composition, too,
one can find Folk Music influences, especially in the lyrical second
movement and the very rhythmical third movement.
I noticed as well that Brustad used some technical specialities in both
pieces – it has to be said that they were composed in more or less the
same period, there lie only five years in between. For example, he uses
several times a lying note, often an open string, as a sort of bourdon,
something which is also very common in Folk tunes. Or he uses sometimes
left hand pizzicato, but this is more likely an influence of the
classical side.
The last composer I discovered was Sven Nyhus. I was looking for a
Hardanger fiddle piece and that is how I found his collection of three
works for Hardanger fiddle solo in the Norwegian Academy of Music’s
library. Sven Nyhus was born in 1932 and is a violist, fiddle player and
Hardanger fiddle player. I also learnt that he was the Hardanger fiddle
professor at the Academy before my current teacher Håkon Høgemo and that
one of the Hardanger fiddles I’m borrowing was his instrument.
Out of the three compositions I discovered in the library, I chose to
play the Rondo. Nyhus himself writes about it that it is written in the
style of Viennese classic, but I also think it shows the possibilities
one has when playing the Hardanger fiddle very well.
As a conclusion I can say that during this work I was lucky enough to discover exciting pieces and composers. I had the possibility to expand my knowledge about Norwegian Folk Music and profiting from this knowledge, I was able to analyse the pieces I was working on and to discover some influences and traits which come from Folk Music.
Finally, I would like to thank my teachers, especially my main instrument professor Lars Anders Tomter and my Hardanger fiddle professor Håkon Høgemo, for their patience, their help and their support.
Repertoire
Johan Kvandal (1919-1999):
Sonata for viola and piano op. 81 “Elgsonaten”
Quintet for Hardanger fiddle and string quartet op. 50
Bjarne Brustad (1895-1978):
Norwegian Suite for viola and piano
Capricci for violin and viola
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907):
Sonata for cello and piano op. 36, arranged for viola and piano by Lars
Anders Tomter
Sven Nyhus (*1932):
3 Works for Hardanger fiddle solo, 1. Rondo
Recordings