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mezzo-soprano, clarinet and
piano
Oratorium
alto (or mezzo-soprano) and
piano
Three
Icelandic Folk Songs
soprano and cello
Four
Songs from Old Icelandic Manuscripts
("Lysting er sæt að söng")
soprano and chamber
orchestra
The
Drift of Melancholy
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soprano and organ
Jesú
Kriste þig kalla eg á
Banvænn
til dauða borinn er
baritone and piano
Vier
Rübnerlieder
soprano , clarinet, 2
violas, cello,
double bass and percussion (1)
The
Beauty of the World Will Vanish
("Fegurð veraldar mun hverfa")
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The Drift of
Melancholy
(see
here)
Oratorium
This piece was
composed in 1981 at the request of the Music Department of
the Swedish Radio Kerstin Ståhl (mezzo-soprano),
Kjell-Inge Stevensson (clarinet) and Mats Persson (piano)
who gave the first performance in the Nordic House in
Reykjavik. The Icelandic
text is an
old refrain published in a collection of folk poetry
("Fagrar heyrdi ég raddirnar") which was
published in 1942 by Einar Ólafur Sveinsson..
An English translation:
It is dark on
earth, my Lord
the day begins to draw in.
A beautiful day decorates the entire world
Oratorium was revised in 1982 and is currently (2003)
being revised further.
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Three
Icelandic Folk
Songs
for alto (or
mezzo-soprano) and piano
1.
Hlýði þeir sem henda gaman að
kvæðum
2. Kom og próf, kom og próf
3. Fögnuður lífsins
Three
Icelandic Folk Songs - the score
(pdf)
These three
melodies can be found in Bjarni Thorsteinsson's Collection
of Icelandic Folk Songs (Copenhagen 1906-1909) pages 534,
244 and 551.
They were
arranged in 1997 for Sigridur Adalsteinsdóttir at the
request of Gunnar B. Valdimarsson. Adalsteinsdóttir
gave the first performance of these arrangements in
Reykjavik on November 30th 1997. The piano part was played
by the composer.
The first melody is sung to a text ("Hlýði
þeir sem henda gaman að
kvæðum")
which is extracted from a long poem by Einar Sigurðsson
(1539-1626). The Poem, Kvæðið af Naaman
sýrlenska, was first printed in a book
(Vísnabók Guðbrands) which Bishop
Gudbrandur Thorláksson published in 1612.
The second song was copied by Bjarni Thorsteinsson from an
old manuscript (c.1650) which is called Melodia. The
text ("Kom
og próf, kom og
próf")
is by an unknown poet.
The third song is sung to a poem by Frankenau which was
tranlated into Icelandic by Jón Espólín
(1769-1836). The poem is called "Fögnuður
lífsins"
("The Joy of Living").
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Four Songs
from Old Icelandic
Manuscripts
"Lysting er
sæt að söng"
(for soprano and cello)
1. In Praise
of Music (Músículof)
2. Psalm (Sálmur)
3. Whitsun Poem (Hvítasunnukvæði)
4. Vocalise
(Vókalísa)
The songs in this suite come from 17th century manuscripts,
which are preserved in in the National Library of Iceland.
The melodies are almost unchanged in these arrangements but
with an added cello-part. The first three movements have
Icelandic texts ("Músículof",
"Sálmur"
and "Hvítasunnukvæði")
but the last movement is a vocalise. The piece was written
in 1998 at the request of Collegium Musicum, Musical
Association in Skálholt and the first performance
took place in the National Library of Iceland on May 30th
1998 with Hallveig Rúnarsdóttir as
soprano-soloist and Nora Kornblueh playing the cello-part.
Later in the summer the songs were performed at
Skálholt.
Four
Songs from Old Icelandic Manuscripts - The score
(pdf).
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Jesú
Kriste þig kalla eg
á
(soprano and
organ)
This melody is preserved in a manuscript (Hymnodia
Sacra, page 216) at the National Library of Iceland. It
was arranged in 1998 for soprano and organ at the request of
Collegium Musicum, musical association in
Skálholt. It was first performed on July 5th the
same year in Skálholt Cathedral. Hallveig
Rúnarsdóttir was soprano-soloist and Hilmar
Örn Agnarsson played the organ.
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Banvænn
til dauða borinn
er
(soprano and
organ)
This melody is preserved in a manuscript (JS 329 8vo) at the
National Library of Iceland. It was arranged in 1998 for
soprano and organ at the request of Collegium Musicum,
musical association in Skálholt. It was first
performed on July 12th the same year in Skálholt
Cathedral. Hallveig Rúnarsdóttir was
soprano-soloist and Hilmar Örn Agnarsson played the
organ.
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Vier
Rübnerlieder
(baritone and
piano)
The following four poems of Tuvia
Rübner
(b. 1924) were set to music in 2002 and 2003:
1. Du bist
2. Komm doch
3. Wie ein Baum
4. Da die Wörter blind sind
Vier
Rübnerlieder - score
(pdf)
The text of the poems is as follows:
Du
bist
Du bist kleiner geworden,
dein Haar schütterer,
viel mehr Falten im Gesicht
und das Fleisch locker.
Doch blick ich auf dich, länger als sonst
und die Augen gehen mir auf,
Mädchen mit flachsenem Haar,
zweizoepfig
quer durch das Feld
kommst auf mich zu
ein wenig scheu,
schau, wie klein,
wie immer kleiner
und faltig all die Jahre doch sind!
Komm Doch
Komm
doch
sei mit mir
wie die Finken zwischen den Disteln.
Ist das Liebe?
zweimal sein
einmal in jedem deiner Augen.
Keiner weiß wo wir sind.
Auch wir nicht.
Wie ein
Baum
Wie ein
Baum, er steigt hinab
vom Wipfel zur Wurzel
ein Vogel, er faltet die Flügel
im Flug
wie ein Fluß, er kehrt
zur Quelle heim
wie Licht dem Dunkel zugewandt
vergrab ich mein Gesicht in deine Hand.
Da die
Wörter blind sind
Da die
Wörter blind sind
und hilflos
sagen: Tag und Nacht
Ich und Du –
bleibt uns nichts übrig
als Aug in Aug, Mund auf Mund, Leib an Leib
namenlos, schmucklos
zu sein
von allem bloß.
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The Beauty of
the World Will
Vanish
("Fegurð
veraldar mun hverfa")
for soprano, clarinet, 2 violas, cello, double bass and
percussion* (1) was composed in 1999 at the request of
Collegium Musicum, Musical Association in
Skálholt. Funds were made available by the
Composers' Fund of the Icelandic National Broadcasting
Service. The piece was first performed on July 24th 1999
at Skálholt Cathedral under the direction of the
composer. Soprano-soloist was Hallveig
Rúnarsdóttir and instrumentalists were:
Óskar Ingólfsson (clarinet), Steef van
Oosterhout (percussion), Thórunn Ósk
Marinósdóttir (viola), Herdís
Jónsdóttir (viola), Nora Kornblueh (cello) and
Hávardur Tryggvason (double bass).
*Percussion instruments: marimba, vibraphone, crotales.
The music is set to a poem
by Hallgrímur
Pétursson
(1614-1674) who was the greatest Icelandic poet of his time.
His Hymns of the Passion are still very close to the
hearts of Icelanders almost 350 years after they were
written. They have been printed more than eighty times and
every year they are broadcast during Lent on the national
radio.
In addition to his Hymns of the Passion and other
religious poetry, Hallgrimur Petursson also wrote in a
secular vein. He attacked vanity, greed and the abuse of
power. In many of his poems the mutability of life is a
central theme and Fegurd veraldar mun hverfa ("The
Beauty of the World Will Vanish") is an example of such
a poem. It consists of 10 stanzas. The first is an
introduction of sorts, followed by 3 stanzas describing the
beauty of nature; but from then on, darker tones are
introduced and the poet is powerless when faced with the
transitory nature of life.
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