Cg 2011 by Cathrine Blom. All Rights Reserved
c 2011 by Cathrine Blom. All rights reserved. KJERULF AND WELHAVEN: THE ADVENT OF ROMANTIC LIEDER AND POETRY IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY NORWAY BY CATHRINE BLOM DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Musicology in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Professor William Kinderman, Chair and Director of Research Professor Christina Bashford Professor Gayle Sherwood Magee Professor Rochelle Wright Abstract This thesis traces the development of the romantic Lied and poetry in Norway in the first half of the nineteenth century, a development driven by by two closely intertwined figures, the composer Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868) and the poet Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (1807-1873). Welhaven was Norway’s first Romantic poet in the Heidelberg tra- dition, a trend which took its inspiration from folklore, folk music, and medieval myths. His probing nationalistic depiction of nature, interwoven with supernatural folkloristic elements, and his elegiac-erotic and lyrical poetry inspired Kjerulf to create the Norwegian romance, Den norske romanse, modeling it initially on the German Lied. During the years from 1840 to 1868, Kjerulf set 43 Welhaven poems to music – 24 for solo voice and piano – and with his more than 130 songs established the Norwegian art-song that Edvard Grieg would build on during the decades following Kjerulf’s death. After presenting the cultural and political background in Norway, the intertwined lives of the poet and composer and their European cultural heritage, this thesis turns to a detailed analysis of the complete Welhaven romances for one voice, and demonstrates how Kjerulf and Welhaven, initially oriented towards Denmark and Europe, the Danish language and the German Lied, developed a growing appreciation for national traits and language.
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