Portrayals of Identity in the Romanser and Reception of Ture Rangström
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Portrayals of Identity in the Romanser and reception of Ture Rangström Anne Macgregor Thesis submitted to University of Nottingham School of Humanities Department of Music for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2017 Abstract This thesis offers the first in-depth study of the Swedish composer Ture Rangström (1884-1947) in English-language scholarship. Although Rangström is well known in Sweden, particularly for his sizable contribution to the art-song genre, his music is still unfamiliar on the international stage. This thesis considers the composer and his songs in their immediate context of early twentieth-century Stockholm, but also in relation to broader trends in pan-European musical developments, with a particular focus on issues of nationalism and modernism and the distinctive ways in which these were articulated in Swedish culture. In a series of case studies, songs drawn from across Rangström’s career are examined as musical expressions of Sweden’s literature, language, and landscape, and as a means of forming and conveying the composer’s sense of self. This thesis also corrects misrepresentations that have dominated Rangström’s reception and explores strategies for approaching the writings both by and about him that have been shaped by his habit of deliberate self-presentation. Acknowledgements I am very grateful to my supervisors, Sarah Hibberd and Nanette Nielsen, for their cheerful encouragement and their ability to instil confidence when it was most required. I would also like to thank the Music Department staff at the University of Nottingham and my fellow post-graduates there, whose friendship, support, and humour have been invaluable over the last few years. My thanks also go to Julia Reinholdsson for her help in proof-reading my translations of Swedish, and to the staff at Musik- och Teaterbiblioteket in Stockholm. To my family, friends, and the folk at Beeston Free Church: thank you to those of you who have maintained (or feigned) interest in Ture Rangström for four years, and thank you to all of you for reminding me that life goes on beyond the world of Swedish song. Contents List of figures and tables xi A note on translation and terminology xii Introduction 1 Three surveys of Nordic music 2 One biography of Ture Rangström 6 The main threads: Literature, Identity, Nationalism, Landscape 8 Sources and strategies 19 Chapter One: Presenting a Swedish artist 28 Johan Lindegren: the Oracle 29 Julius Hey: the Meistersinger 35 Hans Pfitzner: the Conservative 40 Ferruccio Busoni: the Visionary 42 August Strindberg: the Genius 49 Lisa Hollender: the Beloved 65 ‘A manifold of reflexes…’ 67 Chapter Two: Expressing national identity 74 Inward-looking and outward-looking nationalism 76 Inward-looking and outward-looking nationalism in ‘Pan’ 82 Manifestations of speech-melody outwith Sweden 86 The reception of Rangström’s romanser 90 Manifestations of speech-melody within Rangström’s romanser 97 ‘Pan’ – introducing Rangström’s speech-melody 98 ‘Melodi’ – inner and outer rhythm 102 ‘Den enda stunden’ – the psychological and timbral balance 105 ‘En gammal dansrytm’ – rendering the poem’s meaning 108 Speech-melody and Swedishness 111 Chapter Three: Singing a seascape 117 At home in Stockholm; at home on Törnsholmen 119 Music and landscape in Rangström’s reception 123 The reception and context of Sång under stjärnorna 126 Landscape tropes in Rangström’s romanser 131 The night songs 131 The sea songs 133 The pre-symphony star songs 139 The post-symphony star songs 145 Summary of the surveys 149 ‘Bön till natten’ and the idea of Adagio 151 Chapter Four: Facing the Inexorable 163 Rangström’s self-analysis: Dömd 165 Rangström’s self-identification: the Vaux-hall suite and the role of Tristan 169 The half-truths of ‘Tristans död’ 172 Rangström’s re-identification of Karin Boye in his setting of ‘Sköldmön’ 176 Rangström’s romanser as re-expressed experience of the text 182 Facing the Inexorable 190 Conclusion 194 The last word 198 Bibliography 202 Articles written under pseudonyms or initials 211 Anonymous articles 212 Appendices 213 Appendix A: Catalogue of Rangström’s romanser 214 Appendix B: Patterns and preferences in the composition of Rangström’s romanser 215 Appendix C: Case study scores 222 Appendix D: Rangström’s sea texts and their translations 247 Appendix E: Rangström’s Dömd and its translation 254 vi FIGURES Figure 1. Selected Swedish composers of the early twentieth century 26 Figure 2. Timeline of Rangström’s most frequently-set poets 27 Figure 3. Study locations of Swedish composers in Rangström’s lifetime 69 Figure 4. Carl Eldh’s statue of Strindberg 70 Figure 5. Posts held by Rangström 71 Figure 6. ‘The bloody music critics’ 72 Figure 7. Rangström and his collar through the years 73 Figure 8. Programme for the Dortmund Festival of Swedish Music 113 Figure 9. Regional characteristics and composers 114 Figure 10. The song-speech spectrum 115 Figure 11. Annotated sketch of ‘Pan’ 116 Figure 12. Rangström in Stockholm and Östergötland 156 Figure 13. 30 Bastugatan in its landscape 157 Figure 14. Contemporary understandings of Rangström’s music in relation to landscape 158 Figure 15. Rangström’s night songs categorized by theme 159 Figure 16. The night songs excluding Rangström’s texts 160 Figure 17. The compositional chronology of Rangström’s sea songs 161 Figure 18. The compositional chronology of Rangström’s star songs 162 Figure 19. The rededication of ‘Tristans död’ 192 Figure 20. Karin Boye’s painting ‘Valkyrian’ 193 Figure 21. Programme for Rangström’s memorial service 201 TABLES Table 1. The climax of ‘Pan’ 100 Table 2. Structure and time-signatures in ‘Melodi’ 103 Table 3. Rhythmic variation in ‘Melodi’ 104 Table 4. Summary of Rangström’s sea texts 137 vii A note on translation and terminology In Swedish there are two common terms for song besides the generic word sång. Rangström’s songs fall into the category of the romans (plural romanser), which essentially designates an art-song, the equivalent of the German Lied. In contrast, visa (plural visor) often refers to a folk-song or a children’s song, and carries connotations of simplicity. Some of Rangström’s pieces that have historical or folk themes thus include the word visor in their title, despite belonging to the romans genre. For the sake of clarity, I have retained the Swedish terms for romanser and visor, and have translated only sång as ‘song’. A fourth term, lyrik, is more rarely used, and can refer either to lyric poetry or to a song setting of the same; I have used ‘lyric poetry’ and ‘lyric song’ respectively. There are also three different terms used in Swedish for poet (besides the borrowed English word): dikter, lyriker and skald. The first I have simply translated as ‘poet’, the second as ‘lyric poet’, and the third I have retained due to the long history and distinctively Nordic nature of the skaldic tradition. The term is not used of twentieth-century poets in a technically accurate sense, but rather as a way of acknowledging their exceptional talent and connecting them to the country’s Viking heritage; I did not want to lose this associated meaning by using the closest English equivalent, ‘bard’. I have translated Rangström’s term språkmelodi (which he borrowed in turn from the German Sprachmelodie) as ‘speech-melody’, to avoid it being confused with the existing definition of språkmelodi as the spoken intonation of the Scandinavian languages. However, it is worth noting that although the English word ‘speech’ is a cognate of språk, it does not encompass the same meaning, for we also use the etymologically and semantically separate word ‘language’. The Swedish word språk incorporates both concepts, giving them an inherent intimacy that is lacking in English. In Swedish, the definite article (en or et) is placed at the end of the noun and so is often incorporated into the names of concert venues or newspapers e.g. Stockholm Tidningen (The Stockholm Times). Where such titles are mentioned in the text, there is therefore no definite article in English. Many of the Swedish source materials for this thesis feature spellings that were outdated by the orthography reform of 1906 but continued to be used by Rangström and his generation. (For example, hvarje, hafvet, af and godt are now spelt varje, havet, av and gott.) I have retained the original spellings where the Swedish for translated quotes is given in footnotes, but have modernized them in poem texts or piece titles which occur within the main body of the text. All translations from Swedish are my own and I have occasionally taken liberties with the original punctuation in order to clarify the meaning. Musical pitch is indicated according to the Helmholtz system: Cˌ-Bˌ, C-B, c-b, cˈ-bˈ, cˈˈ-bˈˈ etc. where cˈ is middle C. 1 INTRODUCTION Ture Rangström was not really a musician. Not, at least, according to the composer Wilhelm Stenhammar, writing in the autumn of 1917. Carl Nielsen had written to Stenhammar asking for suggestions of Swedish music to include in a Copenhagen Music Society concert programme, and in his reply Stenhammar discussed three names in particular. Rangström was one of these three, but Stenhammar had a caveat: none of them was really a professional musician. As I understand it, there are only three who could come into question: Atterberg, Rangström and Natanael Berg… Of the three, Rangström is definitely the one who interests me most. Certainly the most originally gifted. But perhaps, also, the most unbelievable dilettante. Many of his songs with piano are real pearls and full of great poetry. He is a poet. Unfortunately he is not a musician. He has not got control over the larger forms.