SONG (S) of NORWAY !
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Edvard Grieg in 1860
In my blog Rudolf Schock was many times central as a singer of art songs.
However, it can be surprising that Schock also sang songs by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. But that is not so strange. The songs of Grieg, music student in Leipzig (Germany), are rooted in (late) German 'Romanticism', albeit sometimes more modern: impressionistic and liberal. He composed not only on Norwegian, but also on German texts. This makes it understandable that in the 20th century German-speaking singers like Richard Tauber and Rudolf Schock incorporated 'Songs of Norway' into their repertoire.
The musical creative talent of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) from Bergen, Norway, was not so much in the monumental. His impressive opus 16, the early piano concerto in a-mol, is the lone exception. Because more grand piano concerts were not realized and Grieg's attempts to compose an opera and a symphony failed.
Edvard Grieg's great art lay in the small: lyrical valuables for piano (Grieg was also an excellent pianist!), atmospheric songs and effective theater music. He later transformed the music for the theater into suites for orchestra: compositions for the concert hall, which reproduce a plot instrumentally, so without stage acts, in a visual way. Especially the two Peer-Gynt-Suites, opus 46 and 55, which Grieg originally wrote for Henrik Ibsens's play 'Peer (= Peter) Gynt', became audience favorites. A second important merit of Edvard Grieg was that he succeeded in making Norwegian folk music in Europe 'acceptable'. The "scales have fallen from (his) eyes" when in 1864 he became friends with Rikard Nordraak, composer of the Norwegian national anthem and generation companion. Via Nordraak (who was to die of TB in 1866 at the early age of 23) Grieg learned to know the folk songs of the North "and (his) own identity".
From that moment on Grieg devoted himself to Scandinavian music. As ambassador of the "School of the North", Grieg traveled all over Europe, which earned him a double honorary doctorate in Cambridge and Oxford "as a by-catch".
Note: The plot of the American musical 'Song of Norway' from 1944 (Robert Wright & George Forrest wrote together the text and adapted Edward Grieg's music) is loosely about the period of friendship between Edvard Grieg, Rikard Nordraak and Grieg's later wife, the soprano Nina Hagerup.
In 1970 the filming was published, which was much more freely related to the historical facts. A year later, Anno Moffo & Rudolf Schock recorded the - English sung - duet 'Strange Music'!. Moffo sang Nina Hagerup and Schock Edvard Grieg.
RUDOLF SCHOCK sings SONGS BY EDVARD GRIEG:
'Oh Mother, ah, I love you so
The art song (Norwegian title: 'Til Norge') is composed in 1893. The poet John Paulsen and Edvard Grieg explain their love to 'Mother Earth Norway'. The eloquence is achieved by omission. Rudolf Schock touches in the final line: 'Mehr kann ich dir nicht sagen/There's nothing more to say...'.
> 6.2.1968: Love songs 'Ich liebe dich (I Love You) and 'Ein Traum (A Dream)'. Conductor: Werner Eisbrenner.
The contents of 'Ich liebe dich' (opus 5-3) - from one of Grieg's earliest songs (1866) - can be summarized in the following lines: 'Du mein Gedanke, du mein Sein und Werden, ich liebe dich in Zeit und Ewigkeit!/You are my thoughts, my present and my future, I love you now and for eternity!'.
The poem - translated from Danish - is from none other than the famous fairy tale-teller Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).
'Ein Traum' (opus 48-6) wrote Grieg around 1888 on a text by Friedrich von Bodenstedt.
> 9.6.1973: 'Im Kahne (In the Boat/Norsk: Mens jeg venter = On the Water)'. Opus 60-3. Conductor: Werner Eisbrenner.
The song from 1894 goes back to an old national anthem. The Norwegian text is from Vilhelm Krag. The ever-repeated 'Wo-wo-wille' does not exist as word or phrase. 'Wo-wo-wille' only imitates the rocking of the boat in sounds.
Is written for male choir, baritone solo (!) and orchestra. Rudolf Schock sings his verses about 2/3 of the piece, when King Olav Trygva(e)son raises a heroic prayer.
Content is based on true
events at the end of the 11th century. The Norwegian king Olav Trygvason
(964-1000), banished at a very young age, sails back to his homeland after 30
years to bring Christianity there.
When he looms the inaccessible, dark coast of Norway, he threatens to lose all courage. But suddenly, on the instruction of "one of the people", he recognizes snow-white domes and gray temple walls, which rise above everything else, and he oversees regions that unfold themselves with waterfalls and forests in spring. He hears bells and organ play, and as if by magic a deep desire takes over from him. He praises the Supreme Being, of whom he is completely fulfilled and prays for a lasting, strong faith. His troops repeat the prayer of their king.
Krijn de Lege, 18.6.2013 / 26.7.2015 / 26.11. 2018/23.7.2021
LINK>NEDERLANDS
Edvard Grieg in 1860
In my blog Rudolf Schock was many times central as a singer of art songs.
However, it can be surprising that Schock also sang songs by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. But that is not so strange. The songs of Grieg, music student in Leipzig (Germany), are rooted in (late) German 'Romanticism', albeit sometimes more modern: impressionistic and liberal. He composed not only on Norwegian, but also on German texts. This makes it understandable that in the 20th century German-speaking singers like Richard Tauber and Rudolf Schock incorporated 'Songs of Norway' into their repertoire.
The musical creative talent of Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) from Bergen, Norway, was not so much in the monumental. His impressive opus 16, the early piano concerto in a-mol, is the lone exception. Because more grand piano concerts were not realized and Grieg's attempts to compose an opera and a symphony failed.
Edvard Grieg's great art lay in the small: lyrical valuables for piano (Grieg was also an excellent pianist!), atmospheric songs and effective theater music. He later transformed the music for the theater into suites for orchestra: compositions for the concert hall, which reproduce a plot instrumentally, so without stage acts, in a visual way. Especially the two Peer-Gynt-Suites, opus 46 and 55, which Grieg originally wrote for Henrik Ibsens's play 'Peer (= Peter) Gynt', became audience favorites. A second important merit of Edvard Grieg was that he succeeded in making Norwegian folk music in Europe 'acceptable'. The "scales have fallen from (his) eyes" when in 1864 he became friends with Rikard Nordraak, composer of the Norwegian national anthem and generation companion. Via Nordraak (who was to die of TB in 1866 at the early age of 23) Grieg learned to know the folk songs of the North "and (his) own identity".
 |
| Rikard Nordraak 1843-1866 |
From that moment on Grieg devoted himself to Scandinavian music. As ambassador of the "School of the North", Grieg traveled all over Europe, which earned him a double honorary doctorate in Cambridge and Oxford "as a by-catch".
Note: The plot of the American musical 'Song of Norway' from 1944 (Robert Wright & George Forrest wrote together the text and adapted Edward Grieg's music) is loosely about the period of friendship between Edvard Grieg, Rikard Nordraak and Grieg's later wife, the soprano Nina Hagerup.
In 1970 the filming was published, which was much more freely related to the historical facts. A year later, Anno Moffo & Rudolf Schock recorded the - English sung - duet 'Strange Music'!. Moffo sang Nina Hagerup and Schock Edvard Grieg.
RUDOLF SCHOCK sings SONGS BY EDVARD GRIEG:
> 24.1.1965: 'O Mutter du, ich liebe dich' (opus 58-2). Conductor: Frank Fox.
There's nothing more to say
You too love me, you care for me,
since ever I've been born.
'Oh Mother, yes I love you so.
There's nothing more to say..."
The recording got lost on an LP with 'mother songs', a genre, the mention of which alone in many people brings the musical courage to the shoes. But on the LP the songs are mostly respectable 'entertainment songs' by respected composers such as Werner Richard Heymann, Werner Bochmann, Norbert Schultze, Gerhard Winkler, Frank Fox and the Italian Cesare Andrea Bixio, of whom, for example, Beniamino Gigli made 'Mamma' famous. Some 'mother songs' remind of the late-19th century salon songs (read also: 'RS sings Carl Bohm') and can safely be seen as a continuation of it for the living rooms of the 20th century: 'Music for the Millions', naive, sensitive but loved.By the way, why should you sing the seasons, nature, past, present and future, big loves, babies in the cradle and not your own mother, from whom you were born?You too love me, you care for me,
since ever I've been born.
'Oh Mother, yes I love you so.
There's nothing more to say..."
The art song (Norwegian title: 'Til Norge') is composed in 1893. The poet John Paulsen and Edvard Grieg explain their love to 'Mother Earth Norway'. The eloquence is achieved by omission. Rudolf Schock touches in the final line: 'Mehr kann ich dir nicht sagen/There's nothing more to say...'.
> 6.2.1968: Love songs 'Ich liebe dich (I Love You) and 'Ein Traum (A Dream)'. Conductor: Werner Eisbrenner.
The poem - translated from Danish - is from none other than the famous fairy tale-teller Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875).
'Ein Traum' (opus 48-6) wrote Grieg around 1888 on a text by Friedrich von Bodenstedt.
The song from 1894 goes back to an old national anthem. The Norwegian text is from Vilhelm Krag. The ever-repeated 'Wo-wo-wille' does not exist as word or phrase. 'Wo-wo-wille' only imitates the rocking of the boat in sounds.
> October 1976: epic choral work 'Landerkennung (Land Recognition). Opus 31 (1872).
Is written for male choir, baritone solo (!) and orchestra. Rudolf Schock sings his verses about 2/3 of the piece, when King Olav Trygva(e)son raises a heroic prayer.
When he looms the inaccessible, dark coast of Norway, he threatens to lose all courage. But suddenly, on the instruction of "one of the people", he recognizes snow-white domes and gray temple walls, which rise above everything else, and he oversees regions that unfold themselves with waterfalls and forests in spring. He hears bells and organ play, and as if by magic a deep desire takes over from him. He praises the Supreme Being, of whom he is completely fulfilled and prays for a lasting, strong faith. His troops repeat the prayer of their king.
Krijn de Lege, 18.6.2013 / 26.7.2015 / 26.11. 2018/23.7.2021
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