Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Musical Examples
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 National Contexts: Grieg and Folklorism in Nineteenth-Century Norway
- 2 Landscape as Ideology: Nature, Nostalgia and Grieg's ‘Culture of Sound’
- 3 Grieg, Landscape and the Haugtussa Project
- 4 Modernism and Norwegian Musical Style: The Politics of Identity in the Slåtter, op. 72
- 5 Distant Landscapes: The Influence of Grieg's Folk-Music Arrangements
- Conclusion
- Appendix Haugtussa Texts (Songs 1, 2 and 8)
- Bibliography
- List of Grieg's Works Mentioned in the Text
- Index
3 - Grieg, Landscape and the Haugtussa Project
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Musical Examples
- List of Illustrations
- Preface
- Introduction
- 1 National Contexts: Grieg and Folklorism in Nineteenth-Century Norway
- 2 Landscape as Ideology: Nature, Nostalgia and Grieg's ‘Culture of Sound’
- 3 Grieg, Landscape and the Haugtussa Project
- 4 Modernism and Norwegian Musical Style: The Politics of Identity in the Slåtter, op. 72
- 5 Distant Landscapes: The Influence of Grieg's Folk-Music Arrangements
- Conclusion
- Appendix Haugtussa Texts (Songs 1, 2 and 8)
- Bibliography
- List of Grieg's Works Mentioned in the Text
- Index
Summary
The previous two chapters have argued that landscape is both an abstract and representational function of Grieg's music. Landscape can be constructed through purely musical means, such as particular harmonic progressions and the prolongation of diatonically dissonant sonorities (Klangfläche) to create the impression of temporal suspension, a musical effect which suggests depth and perspective, or it can be evoked through the innovative use of conventional musical signifiers such as herding calls and echo effects to suggest space and distance. Landscape is also a strong element in the contemporary critical reception of Grieg's work. For example, a biography by the Norwegian composer Gerhard Schjelderup published in Leipzig in 1908, a year after Grieg's death, opens with a panoramic celebration of the Norwegian natural world:
In the east, endless forests and deep blue glittering lakes, – in the west, from the stormy North Sea's wild jagged coastline – a desolate waste with a few pitiful fishermen's huts, the sea birds' nests clinging to the cliffs amid the crashing waves; – and then the numerous fantastically formed bays and islands, the charming and yet deeply solemn fjords, finally the lofty, immense mountain world! It hears the roar of the waves, which brings a message from the World Sea, from Niflheimr's icy realm resting in darkness, which only shines in the dazzling glare of the brief summertime. What mysterious animal life: at the coast, where millions of fish swarm in zest for life, on the lonely bird-cliffs in the magical light of the midnight sun, – in the deeps, where colossal monster shoals of herring and cod pursue each other into the distant ocean!
These innumerable wonders of Nature must of course awaken the richest folk art, and thereby was the foundation for serious, profound art actually laid. The enchanting songs, which express the whole of nature in this legend-rich land, find their voice in a thousand ways, and thus the Norwegian national soul finds its most eloquent expression in music. Edvard Grieg’s art was entirely rooted in this magical national spirit; and if he, like many others, was obliged by unfavourable artistic circumstances to spend time abroad, he was never more individual or greater than when his mood was one of fervent longing for the far north.
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- Information
- GriegMusic, Landscape and Norwegian Identity, pp. 109 - 146Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2006