Scandinavia has been termed the " Brow of the Universe." It is a land of sharp contrasts, and the mere mention of the name brings to mind " midnight days and sunbright nights," dancing northern lights, fjords and fjelds, and old songs and sagas which tell of the mighty deeds of the bold Vikings done here on earth and of their flight into Valhalla, carried thence by Odin's waiting valkyries.
Under the general heading of Scandinavian music, will be included here that of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. These countries comprise the old Norseland, and while physically they are closely related, they show marked differences in their topography. Denmark is a comparatively level, pastoral country; Sweden is of sterner mould with mountains and valleys ; Norway is wild and rugged through-out ; and Finland has been called the " Land of the thousand lakes." All of these topographical and resultant climatic conditions are reflected in the people of each country. And as the people are, so their songs will be.
The earliest songs of which anything is known are those which deal with the characters from the old Norse mythology. Among the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians, Odin, the All-father, was the personage who was supposed to possess the most wonderful musical gifts. It is related of him that " he could sing airs so tender and melodious that the rocks would expand with delight, while the spirits of the infernal regions would stand motionless around him, attracted by the sweetness of his strains." The " Kalevala," the national epic of the Finns, tells of Wainamoinen, the inspired bard and ideal musician, who out of the jawbone of a big fish had made himself an uncommonly lovely instrument, which he called a kantele. For strings he took some hairs from the mane of the bad spirit's (Hiisi's) horse, which gave it a mysterious, bewitching sound. When singing to its accompaniment he, by his soul-compelling, mighty melodies, awakened the sympathy of all beings, charming and ruling the powers of nature around him. The sun, the moon and the stars descended from heaven to listen to the songster who was himself touched to tears by the power of his own song. The old skald, Telemarke, told of Sigurd and his fight with the dragon. Of such sort were the songs sung by the bards at the feasts held in the great halls of the kings and nobles.
By a gradual process of development the bards substituted for the mythical heroes of their songs, the mighty men of their time, or the jarls on whose bounty they lived. As these men lived and died by the practise of heroic deeds on sea and land, by war and by the chase, such subjects are found to predominate in the early songs and sagas. Typical songs of the time are " Tord of Haffsgaard " (" Thor of Asgaard "), " Dagmar and Bengard," " Marsk Stig," " Axel and Valborg " and " The Svendal Song."
At a still later period, the song of the skald was so fashioned that it had first, the leading action of the song, followed by the moral pointed out by the general sentiment expressed ; then the omquad or chorus, in which all listeners would join. And here lies the true foundation of the folk-music of Scandinavia. It must be remembered that the old tunes, passing from mouth to mouth, and from fiddle to fiddle, were constantly undergoing changes, and were not noted down until a comparatively recent date.
In Scandinavian folk-music is found reflected the spirit of Scandinavia. In it is pictured the love of the land, of the rugged shores, the stiff sea-breeze, the long dark nights, and the short bright days. There is heard the sound of the waterfall and the song of the spirit which inhabits it. There we meet trolls, and elfs, and hobgoblins, all the " little people " with which the lonely peasant was wont to commune, according to his picturesque superstitions.
Music with such a background cannot but be interesting. First of all, there were the improvisations of the old skalds. Out of these grew the music of the people at large. In it are discovered the traits characteristic of the nations of the Northland. A certain sturdy vigor makes itself felt. There is no sense of languor about these people, but there is often noticeable a tender melancholy and a contrastingly rough, grotesque humor. Not much passion or defiance of fate is shown, but rather a sense of resignation, of regret more than overpowering desire. As is usual in the northern zones, the minor mode prevails, this being the outcome, to a great extent, of geographic and climatic conditions, also perhaps of the fact that humanity is most inclined to make music when sad. Even some of the dance tunes are in minor, and these express a certain grotesque humor which suggests the dancing of dwarfs and the people of the underworld. " Every-where in the North," writes Von Ravn, " we find among the people tunes that are ascribed to the devil, the Nix, or the subterranean spirits. The player offered up a lamb to the river and thus induced the Nix to teach him such tunes. But when he subsequently played them, he was unable to stop, but played on and on like a madman, until someone could come to the rescue by cutting his fiddle strings."
The prevalence of the minor mode in the old Norse folk-music may be due also to the old church modes, introduced with the advent of Christianity into the North; or, going further back, it may find its source in the primitive five-tone scale, common to so many of the earlier peoples. This is a disputed point, however, and authorities differ. The compass of these early songs is commonly within the compass of the fifth, and some of the tunes are in mixed modes, starting in the major and ending in the minor. Others end with a note of interrogation, plainly showing the psychology of the people, a yearning for what they believe to be impossible. The rhythms are firm and vigorous. There often is shown a tendency to repeat the same melody, each time doubling the tempo. For instance; the tune is given out first in quarter notes, then in eighths, the third repetition being in sixteenths. Grace notes are freely used, being added at the caprice of the singer or player.
Dancing is a most popular amusement among the north-ern peasants. There is no dance without music; and the kind of music will depend on the kind of dance. The dancing is done in most solemn manner, the dancers taking their places with serious mien. But, notwithstanding this outward show of gloominess, the sport is enjoyed to the utmost. The popular and characteristic dances are the polska, the hailing, the springdans, the reel, and amagertanz or syvspring (in Denmark). The polska partakes at first of the character of the mazurka, by degrees growing more lively until it becomes similar to the Scotch reel. The springdans is not, as one might suppose, a dance of the springtime, but it is so called from the manner of performance. It is full of sparkle and motion. The. hailing is the characteristic Norwegian dance. The tunes are usually in the major mode, though we sometimes find them in the minor. The dances seem to express in pantomime the character of the people. They start with little, clumsy, indolent hops. Gradually the music grows more lively, the eyes brighten and the blood courses faster through the veins. The dancers get " worked up ; " they become more and more vehement and show great strength and dexterity. Finally the climax comes, and then little by little the dance relapses into its original manner.
In accompanying these dances, the hardangerfele or fiddle was used. It was a sort of viola-da-gamba and had four metal strings under the gut strings, which vibrated sympathetically with them. This gave the effect of the drone bass, which is so characteristic of Scandinavian music. An-other instrument of even earlier date was the long harp (longspel or longhörpe). The lur, a long wooden horn, was used by the herders and huntsmen. All of these instruments are now practically obsolete.
All Scandinavian folk are great music lovers. They sing to cheer their loneliness indoors and without. No social gathering is complete without its music and dancing. There is music on the hills and in the valleys. There are wedding songs and death songs. In Iceland, Lapland, and in the Faroe Islands, the old songs and dances are still performed in their original manner. And these old folk-tunes date back many hundreds of years, most of them from the Fourteenth Century. From 1150 to 1300 was the most prolific period. Such songs are " Wolfmaiden," a witchery song; the heroic song " Holger Danske " (" Holger the Dane ") ; a song of the knighthood days, such as " Gundelil and Sir Palle." A song of the Laplanders runs :
Accursed wolf! far hence away!
Make in these woods no longer stay:
Fly hence! and seek earth's utmost bounds,
Or perish by the hunter's wounds.
Edward Grieg has said " The national characteristics of the three peoples, the Norwegians, the Swedes, and the Danes, and, we may add, the Finns, are wholly different, and their music differs just as much." In the same strain writes Dr. Niemann, " The coloring which is so finely pictured by these northern tone painters is always tinged with different shades of melancholy." What a difference between the deep melancholy of so many Norwegian folk-songs, such as " Holger Danske," the shepherd songs and the ballads, compared with the mild melancholy coloring of the Swedish " Värmeland du sköna," " Per Svinaherde " and the Danish in " Edmund and Benedikt," " Röselille," and even the merry "Amagertanz."
DENMARK
The music of Denmark is the least characteristic of that of any of the Scandinavian nations. On account of its geographical position, Denmark has come more under the influence of the outside world, this being true not only in music but in all its art. Even in the Seventeenth Century, the Danish folk-song stood in danger of extinction, owing to the wave of French and Italian song which swept the country, and later Germany also threw her influence to the northward. At the present time, the old manners and customs are practically extinct in the most outlying districts of Jutland.
In the old days, Denmark sent her Vikings to the south-ward, where they did many bold deeds, and afterward these deeds were celebrated in song by the skalds. The words of these songs have come down to us in the runes, which were engraved on the swords and spears. Many an old tale tells how the sword, when drawn from its scabbard would, on occasion, sing the runes which were engraved upon it. The word rune gradually has come to mean either the characters themselves, or the story they told.
The older Danish folk-music is allied closely to the Swedish, these two countries having much in common both in the origin of the people and in language and customs. Similarity also is distinctly traceable between Danish and Celtic folk-tunes. This, doubtless, is owing to the inter-mingling of the two races at the time of the Danish invasion of northern Britain. Again, in the dance we find the reel to be common to both peoples.
In the older Danish songs is found a certain grandeur which is lacking in those of later times, and the underlying melancholy which is common to all Scandinavian folk-music is of a much milder type than that of the other northern countries. The Danish folk-song suggests the German volkslied, being pastoral in style, light and pleasing, having simple melody and harmony. It is more often in the major than in the minor mode, and is usually of a gay character with a firm rhythm.
The folk-music of Denmark impresses also as being more modern than that of any of the northern countries. It has less of characteristic color, and the words of the songs relate to the chase, the sea, bold deeds, and sometimes to love. Among the best songs are " De vare syv og syvsindstyve," " Axel and Valborg," " Valravnen," " Röselille," " Edmund and Benedikt," " Oluf Strangesen and Jung Havburd."
There were many festivals in the old times, most of which are now forgotten. Different seasons of the year had their appropriate songs, particularly that of Host Gilde or harvest, which was a gay time. A festival which brought many old songs was Valborg Eve, similar to the English May-day. Also, at a later date, the Sunday and Monday before Lent were festival occasions.
Since the year 1536, the Lutheran has been the state church of Denmark. The service is similar to the Episcopal but is not on such an elaborate scale. There is less music used and the choirs (usually of mixed voices) consequently are not brought forward to the same extent as in the Episcopal service. There are, however, many fine Lutheran hymns and chorals. It was the custom from the Seventeenth up to the early part of the Nineteenth Century for the state to appoint official organists. These men occupied prominent positions in the musical life of the towns in which they lived and did much to further the cause of music in the country.
As is the case in all the northern countries of Europe, in Denmark the first efforts in the line of art-music came from French and Italian sources. The court summoned foreign musicians to Copenhagen and opera was given in the then popular style. Later came the Germans Schulz, Kunzen, Kuhlau and Weyse; and they were the forerunners of the Danish national composers. Berggren (1801-1880) was the first native composer. Following him came Hartmann (1805-1900), who may be regarded as the founder of the Danish school. His song " Kong Christian stod ved hojen mast " (" King Christian stood beside the mast "), with words by Ewald, has become the Danish national anthem. It is a sea-song of four verses and commemorates King Christian IV., the favorite king of the Danes. Gade (1817-1890) was the first Danish composer to win world renown. It was he who, in his overture " Nachklange an Ossian," first brought out a distinct local color both in melody and harmony, suggesting the old sagas. Probably the best vocal work from the pen of a Danish composer is Hartmann's " Wolwen's Prophecy," for male chorus and orchestra. It is said to be " the most important musical embodiment of the Viking race which has yet been heard."
Denmark has produced few composers of dramatic works, most of them writing songs or in purely instrumental forms. August Enna (1860) is the only living Danish composer who has achieved fame in the field of opera. He has composed settings to some of the fairy tales of his country-man, Hans Christian Andersen, and has succeeded beautifully in depicting his characters.
Danish art-music is founded on the folk-song. It exhales a mild melancholy such as exists in so many of these old tunes. It is the most classic of all the Scandinavian schools and has followed more the lines laid down by Mendelssohn and Schumann. The influence of Berlioz with his orchestral tone-pictures and fantasies never has obtained a hold in Den-mark. In the matter of subjects for composition, the Danes, especially the new school, have chosen those of a purely national character, thus making their art national rather than individual. The titles are taken, in many cases, from the old folk-lore such as deal with fairies, war tales, love tales, the old dances and festivals.
As regards general musical conditions in Denmark, the people as a whole are not as musically inclined as those of the northern countries. Many fine choruses exist, however, this branch of the musical art having taken a great hold everywhere throughout Scandinavia. In Copenhagen there is the Conservatory, founded in 1866, and the Royal Opera, both of which are subsidized by the state. In addition to these aids to musical culture, there are orchestral concerts and band music, both of which are very popular.
Danish musical art is as yet on a small scale but every-thing points to a steady advancement. From present indications it appears that the men who comprise the Danish national school would continue on nationalistic rather than individualistic lines, but it is impossible to tell when or where a genius may spring up, who will cut a new path for himself, following the impulses of his own individuality.
FINLAND
In order to form a proper judgment of the music of Finland it is necessary to look first into the origin of the people. They came of a different stock from the other Scandinavian nations. They sprang from the same race as the Hungarians, settling in the Seventh Century in what is known as Finland. About five centuries later, they came under Swedish influence, when, in 1157, King Erik Yedwardson led his first crusade to Finland. The inhabitants gradually became converts to Christianity and Sweden became master. For the next five hundred years, there were intermittent wars between Sweden and Russia, the latter country being finally victorious in 1809, when the Czar Alexander I. became Grand Duke of Finland.
It is an amazing fact that under such unsettled and adverse conditions, the Finns could exist as a distinct people. In this, however, they resemble the Magyars and the Jews, and possess the same tenacity in retaining their language and customs. First under Swedish, and later under Russian yoke, the Finns have been still able to preserve their identity.
" Years of hard schooling " writes Rosa Newmarch, " have made them (the Finns) a serious-minded, self-reliant race ; not to be compared with the Russians for receptivity or exuberance of temperament, but more laborious, steadier of purpose, and possessed of a latent energy which once aroused is not easily diverted or checked."
That the Finns are an imaginative people is plainly shown in their wonderful national epic, " Kalevala." This is a collection of ancient runes, arranged by the Finnish scholar, Elias Lonnret, and first published in 1835. It tells in beautiful fashion of the legends, of the many noble qualities, and of the pantheistic religion of the ancient Finnish people. Max Müller has placed it on a level with " The Nibelung " and the Iliad. Then there are the shorter songs, or " Kanteletar," so called from being sung to the accompaniment of the kantele, the instrument attributed to the god Wainamoinen. These songs deal with a wide range of subjects from witchery to love and war. Here is a verse of the passionate love-song of a Finnish maiden:
If my well-known should come,
My often-seen should appear,
I would snatch a kiss from his mouth,
If it were tainted with wolf's blood;
I would seize and press his hand,
If a serpent were at the end of it.
The folk-music of Finland has, from the earliest times, been tinged with deep melancholy. In it are seen depicted the origin of the people and their long struggle against the rigors of climate, the difficulties of tilling the soil, and the oppressions by both Sweden and Russia. They have been and are ground, so to speak, between two stones, that of Russia on the one side and Sweden on the other.
The folk-tunes are simple melodies of small compass, many of them lying within the fifth. In tonality the tendency is toward the minor and the old church modes. Odd rhythms are employed, as are also sudden changes of rhythm, thus showing a marked similarity to Russian folk-music. In common with the folk-song of all countries, antiphonal singing between solo and chorus was practised in Finland. The whole spirit of Finnish folk-music may be summed up in the words " hope on, hope ever."
Musical culture in Finland may be said to date from the year 1790, when, under the leadership of K. V. Salge, the first musical society was founded by members of the University of Helsingfors. It was not, however, until 1835 that art music came to be seriously cultivated. In that year, Pacius (1809-1891), a pupil of Spohr's, settled in the capital city, having been appointed to the newly founded chair of music in the University. Pacius has been called " the father of Finnish music " and, although a German by birth, he did much to further the cause of music in the country. His musical setting of the words of Runeburg's poem " Wort-land " has become the Finnish national anthem. It was first sung at the May festival held at Helsingfors in 1848, on which occasion it was received with tremendous enthusiasm. There are eleven verses in all. Two verses, the first and the tenth, follow :
Our land, our land, our fatherland,
Thou glorious word ring forth!
No mountain rises proud and grand,
Nor slopes a vale, nor sweeps a strand,
More dear than thou, land of the north,
Our father's native earth.
O land! thou land of thousand lakes,
Of song and constancy;
Against whose strand life's ocean breaks,
Where dreams the past; the future wakes;
O blush not for thy poverty,
Be hopeful, bold and free!
Richard Falten (born 1835), who succeeded Pacius at the University, founded the Helsingfors Choral Union; and about the year 1885, the Musical Institute was founded by Wegelius (born 1846). Both of these institutions have done much in the advancement of music throughout the country. Kajanus (born 1856) and Jarnefelt (born 1869) were the first composers to show national proclivities, Kajanus especially using folk-tunes as themes for his orchestral works. His symphonic poems " Aino " and " Kullervo's Funeral March " are based on themes taken from the " Kalevala."
The only composer of international reputation Finland has produced is Jean Sibelius (born 1865). He is steadily climbing up the musical ladder and is taking his place among the greatest living composers. He now is under pension from the government and is devoting himself to composition. In him, Finland has her first really great spokesman in musical art. His music shows strong individuality and originality, being due to the fact that he has made use of the peculiar rhythmical and tonal characteristics of the folk-music and of the old runes. In a pamphlet on Sibelius, Rosa Newmarch says : " The epic and lyric runes," says Comparetti, " are sung to a musical phrase which is the same for every line, only the key is varied every second line; or, in the epic runes, at every repetition of the line by the second voice. The phrase is sweet, simple, without emphasis, with as many notes as there are syllables."
Finland has many fine male choruses, thus following the habits of the other Scandinavian nations. The singing of these choirs is very popular everywhere throughout the North. The churches (Lutheran) have choirs of mixed voices, and many of them have horn septets, which are used for accompanying the chorals and hymns.
SWEDEN
In Victor Nilsson's " Sweden," he writes : "Among the Scandinavian nationalities, the Swede has been characterized as the nobleman or aristocrat, on account of his love of luxury and the joys of life, his dignity, diplomatic talent, and lyrico-rhetorical temperament. Under a quiet surface he conceals a rapid comprehension and an almost morbid sensitiveness, sometimes causing people of other nationalities to judge him slow of intellect when he is only slow of action or indisposed to show his feelings. He possesses great musical and improvisatorial gifts which complete his lyrico-rhetorical temperament."
Sweden is a land of song, and a nation of singers. While its music is not of as great depth as that of its sister country, Norway, still there is in it a finely lyric quality which makes its appeal strong, and, like all Scandinavian folk-music, it voices a worship of nature. The Swedish folk-songs are among the world's best. They usually are in a happy vein, although the melancholy color occasionally shows through, and some of them remind one of the Tyrolean with their trills and quirks. They lie midway between the Danish and the Norwegian. Many of them are founded on fairy tales, and the older songs are built on the church modes, this fact lending them an archaic flavor. It is noticeable that many of the tunes begin with the unaccented beat and ascend the interval of the fourth, and the majority are in even time. The best and most characteristic among them date from about the year 1300.
In the polska we find the most beautiful and popular of the national dances. As the name implies, it came originally from Poland and is similar to the Polish mazurka. It is a combination of song and dance, the dancers singing in time with their steps. There are tunes both in the major and minor modes, although the major predominates, and the dance, which is in triple time, is taken at a fiery pace and is aglow with life and sparkle. Many of the polska tunes have a drone bass of an open fifth, due to the old instruments, such as longhörpe or long harp, and the fele or fiddle, used in accompanying the dance. The period of these tunes is from the end of the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century.
The advent of Christianity left its mark in Sweden as elsewhere. The plain-song melodies of the Roman Catholic Church, and later the Lutheran chorals, became grafted into the song of the people, adding new features to the older songs. The influence of Lutheranism even shows itself in the dance, for until the early part of the Nineteenth Century it was the custom of the Protestant clergyman to lead off in the bridal dance which usually followed the wedding ceremony. The tunes for such dances, consequently, were made of a more pompous character as befitting the churchly dignity.
From earliest times, the Swedish kings have been patrons of the musical art. Gustavus Vasa, who lived in the Sixteenth Century, is said to have been a good lute player, and an opera founded on the story of his life was, about 1783, one of the national favorites. Prince Gustavus of the Nineteenth Century is well known as a composer of men's choruses and student-songs. King Oscar II. of Sweden and Norway, an earnest patron and serious student of music, has said : " Our folk-songs are simple echoes from the deep forests, the high mountains, the lakes watered by many streams, the rushing and roaring waterfalls. They seem to belong to the cold long winter evenings with the crackling fire of pine wood; they seem to be heard best of all far from man's abode, in the wan northern summer light." From such material have sprung into existence the works of the Swedish national composers. The following is a translation of the Swedish National Anthem " Ur Svenska Hjertans " (" Our Swedish Feelings ") :
Our Swedish feelings for our King,
In voices patriotic sing.
God bless our land and King.
In cheerfulness and sweet content,
In happiness our lives are spent.
So sing with voices eloquent,
God bless our land and King.
It was the German Haffner (1759-1833) who first struck the national note. Having settled in Stockholm in 1780, he was impressed by the beauty of the folk-music, and it is to him that we are indebted for the Svensk Choralbok, a collection of about five hundred folk-songs. Other collections have been made by Ohlstrom, Geijer, and an especially good one by Erik Drake, in which he has followed the folk-harmonization.
A special feature of Swedish music is the student-song. This was originated by Otto Lindblad (1809-1878) at the University at Lund, where he organized the Choral Union, a chorus of students, and wrote for them many fine songs especially adapted for men's voices. The idea of students' choruses spread rapidly, and was eagerly taken up at other centers, especially at the University of Upsala, and the choruses of these two institutions now are world renowned for their exquisite singing. A large part of their repertory is made up of folk-songs.
There has been opera in Sweden since 1783, first derived from French and Italian sources and later from the Germans. The first Swedish opera in a truly national vein was Hallstrom's " Den Bergtagna," which had its initial performance in 1874. This opera treats of the olden times, as do " The ing " and " The Gnome's Bride " by the same composer. The music is founded on folk-tunes and thus possesses a national color. Halistrom occupies much the same place in Swedish musical history as does Glinka in Russia.
The composers of the new Swedish school are showing distinctly national tendencies, which is only natural, since they have taken the folk-song as the basis of their art. But in marked contrast to the Danes, the Swedish writers are turning to dramatic rather than to purely instrumental works. The melodic gift apparently is inherent in them and shows plainly in all they do. As song writers, therefore, they are especially successful. In the scoring of operatic works, the influence of Wagner and Liszt, and to some extent of Berlioz, makes itself felt, while Grieg, the Norwegian, also has been emulated and even outdone in boldness of modulation and bizarre effects. But in spite of all these extraneous influences, there is seen back of it all, the effort to produce music of national character, with its peculiar rhythms, harmonies and melodic contour; also the somber coloring peculiar to the music of the North. The striving for nationalism is again discoverable in the titles of many musical works, such as Hallen's operas " Harold the Viking," " Walborgsmassa," his symphonic poem "Aus der Gustav-Vasa-Saga," and his " Swedish Rhapsodies ; " Peterson Berger's " Sveagaldrai," Akerberg's " Törnrosas Saga," and Stenhammer's " Prinsessen och Svennen."
Among the sources which have helped to develop and uplift Swedish music in a general way are the Gothic Society, which was organized in the early part of the Nineteenth Century and did much to further Swedish art in all its branches; the Harmonic Society, which was established in 1820, and which was the first of the many fine choral societies which now are scattered throughout the country ; and in Stockholm, the Royal opera and the Conservatory, both of which receive government grants. Swedish music, more especially song, was made known to the world at large by Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson, and also by the Swedish male and female quartets and choirs which have toured Europe and America. The repertory of these singers is composed largely of folk and national songs, in which are seen reflected the national characteristics, prominent among which is the love of the fatherland, for Sweden ever has sought and still seeks to echo back in her music the hush of the mountain scenery, and of the waterfall in the North; the picturesqueness and loveliness of her great central plateaux, and the song of the nightingale in the South.
NORWAY
" Bright and fierce and fickle is the South, and dark and true and tender is the North."
Here Tennyson is found breathing out the spirit of Norwegian music; for it is dark and true and tender. Even the word Norwegian has a melancholy sound, not the quasi-dreamy melancholy of the " bright and fierce and fickle " South, but rather the overpowering melancholy induced by the fantastic garb which nature assumes in rugged Norway. Norwegian music — Grieg — the two can scarcely be separated, because Grieg has voiced the strange and alluring cry of the Northland. His music suggests a gray background with patches of vivid color here and there. And as it is with his music, so it is with that of the whole Norwegian folk. In the background are always rugged shores, the dismal darkness of the forests, and the lofty snow-capped mountains; but through this shade and gray the sun strikes, and is reflected back with piercing brilliance.
Then, too, , the wind in the olden days played queer tricks and apparently created inhabitants for the dreariest and most inaccessible spots. Along came the lonely, superstitious peasant and made friends with these " little people." In time he learned their weird songs and dances, and these he grafted into his own brooding music, and thus produced the rich store of folk-tunes found in Norway.
For four hundred years Norway was under foreign rule and oppression, and during that time her people were learning nature's music. " For four hundred years the national spirit slumbered and dreamed, wove its weird romances and sang its rare underground melodies."
Geographical and climatic conditions made the Norwegians the hardiest of all the northern nations, and it is in this country that are found the sharpest physical contrasts. The short nightless summer is made only the more intensely brilliant by the ensuing long, dark, and somber winter. The highest mountains edge the deepest fjords; a wealth of foliage and of blossoms follows the long reign of snows. And all these contrasts are faithfully reflected in the folk-music of the country. These, however, are only the physical conditions suggested. On the other hand, the soul-life of the people themselves also is disclosed. And their songs are found to be singularly forceful ; primitive in structure but in spirit exceedingly complex. They are bizarre, sometimes plaintive and brooding, and again almost boisterously gay. And through them all is seen clearly the highly imaginative superstitions of the peasant.
From the musical side the Norwegian folk-tune is, in melodic contour, the most erratic and jagged of any found in Europe. There is a certain waywardness about it which contrasts strangely with the curves and undulations of the Swedish songs, or with the recitative style with cadences, peculiar to those of the Russian. The rhythms, too, are distinctive. They are suggestive of the energetic and agile step of the peasant in his rough dances, or of the weird antics of the underground people.
Who first originated these songs it is impossible to tell. It is probable, however, that they were improvised by the peasants themselves, or by the strolling musicians who passed from house to house and from village to village. If the song were well liked when first heard, it would be taken up by the hearers and would be passed from mouth to mouth. These songs gradually took shape, no one knows how, and came to express the inner life of the people. The Norway Music Album contains many of the best Norwegian folk-songs. Prominent among them are the rugged and energetic " Fjeldbyggen" (" The Mountaineer "), "Dalebu Johnson," " Torkjell han va Bygdis bestis Kar san " (" Torkel Had of All the Strongest Arm, Sir ") ; the melancholy "Aagot's Fjeldsang" (" Aagot's Mountain Song "), and "Aa Ola, Ola, min eigen Onge " (" Oh, Ole, 01e, I Loved You Dearly ") ; the love duet "Astri ; " and the merry tunes showing an undercurrent of sadness, such as " Paal paa Hongje " (" Paul on the Hillside ") ; "Aa Kjöre Vatten aa kjöre Ve " (" Come, Haul the Water and Haul the Wood ") ; and " Mass aa'n Lass " (" Mass and Lass "). In Dr. Niemann's Die Musik Skandinave, he mentions the songs of the chalet girls, of the herdboys, of fishermen and hardy tillers of the soil, devil's marches, underground melodies, hulder calls, love songs, wedding marches, lullabies, and dances in infinite variety. The most popular dances are the hailing and springdans.
In the rural districts in the olden times, music looked out for itself, but in the towns the government took charge of the matter. Official organists and town musicians were appointed with their guilds of apprentices. It is not known when this custom started, but it lasted until the early part of the Nineteenth Century. The first record relative to such appointments has been found in Christiania. It bears the date of 1637. The fiddlers scattered throughout the country districts at this time had no special standing, but the official organists and cantors were men of prominence.
There are records of concerts in Christiania from the Seventeenth Century, and during the latter part of the Eighteenth Century music became popular in social life. About this time, amateur string quartets and small orchestras were organized purely for purposes of enjoyment; and from such sources sprang the musical societies. One of the first of these societies was the Musical Lyceum, established in 1807 by F. C. Groth, who, by the way, was the last city musician of the old régime. In 1825, Waldemar Thrane first introduced folk-tunes in a public concert. They at once became popular and the young composers, Lindermann (of which there were many of the same family, similar to the Bachs in Germany) and Kjerulf, realizing the possibilities of the folk-tunes as a source to be drawn from for a national art, wove them into their compositions and thus laid the foundation for the Norwegian school.
Ludwig Matthias Lindermann (1812-1887) made an excellent collection of over five hundred folk-tunes, which he published under the heading Fjeldmelodier (Mountain Melodies), and Ole Bull, the famed violinist, also did noble work in making known the Norwegian melodies to the peoples of the world at large.
Among the musical societies which have done pioneer work are the Philharmonic Society, founded in 1847; the subscription concerts started by Conradi and Kjerulf in 1860; and the Musical Union, founded in 1871, of which Svendsen and Grieg have been leaders. All of these organizations have made a specialty of producing works dealing with national subjects by native composers, and ,the government has encouraged musical art by the granting of scholarships and pensions and by the subsidizing of the opera.
The man who has contributed most to the general public's knowledge of Norwegian music is Grieg. His writings have traveled all over the world, and he is the man who of all others best has expressed the spirit of Norway. Grieg has been called the " Chopin of the North " but the comparison is not apt. There is a certain rugged, out-of-doors air about his music, which is entirely absent in that of Chopin. Chopin is the aristocrat; Grieg, the democrat. Chopin's dances are those of the ballroom; Grieg's of the country festival ; the noble on the one hand, the peasant freeman on the other ; champagne for the one, brandy for the other. Like Chopin, Grieg has written mostly in the smaller forms. He is a miniature painter of great skill, working from the dictates of both head and heart, but he never has the aristocratic elegance and refinement of the great Pole.
Writing of Grieg, Mr. Edward Dickinson says: " He cultivates a peculiarly weird and vague kind of harmony and tonality, adapts the forms and rhythms of popular dances, and knows how to spread over his work an atmosphere of mystery and melancholy which serves to bring up associations with gloomy fjords, lonely shores and mountains, with their attendant legends of strange spirits of earth and sea." And of such kind is the music of Norway.
Art music has been developed on national lines in central and southern Europe for over three hundred years, while in Scandinavia it is a matter of the last half century. Time moves more slowly in the North. The northern people, though possibly no slower of thought, are decidedly slower of action. It doubtless is on this account that the Scandinavian composers have adhered to classical lines longer than any other of the new schools. The influence of the German Romanticists, Mendelssohn, Schumann and Chopin, has been most pronounced among them, while, on the other hand, the makers of program music, the musical picture painters, never have achieved the vogue nor received the emulation which has been theirs in Russia. Whether such developments will follow remains to be seen. The folk-song, which has become the fountain-head of Scandinavian art-music, would lend itself easily to such treatment and the result would be both picturesque and of vital interest.
In using the treasure store of folk-tunes as the chief source of material for their works, the composers of the Scandinavian school have become more national than individual. While this has been a help to the school at large, it is likely that it has hindered the growth of the individual. Probably, however, strong individuality will in time make itself felt, as it has in the case of Grieg, and latterly of Sibelius, both of whom are stamped indelibly with the mark of the North, but who show strong and distinct individual traits.
The chief charm of the Scandinavian music-makers lies in the fact of the simplicity and spontaneity with which they have voiced the cry of the Northland. In their music is reflected, not so much their own individuality, which has been in a way suppressed, but rather the breeziness of the open air with its attendant variety. At one time is expressed the deepest melancholy, and anon unwonted exuberance of spirit. The languor of the southern climes is entirely wanting, as is also the lavish embroidery found in the music of the Russian composers, but the lyric quality is uppermost so that there echoes back all of the songs of the Scandinavian peoples as from some giant aeolian harp, which plays of itself the melodies and harmonies which the gods breathe forth upon it, making a mighty music, that causes listening mortals to stand enraptured and entranced.
