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Post-crash Iceland: opportunity, risk and reform Perspectives on Business and Economics
1-1-2011 Writing Lilja: A Glance at Icelandic Music and Spirit J. Casey Rule Lehigh University
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This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Perspectives on Business and Economics at Lehigh Preserve. It has been accepted for inclusion in Post-crash Iceland: opportunity, risk and reform by an authorized administrator of Lehigh Preserve. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WRITING LILJA: A GLANCE AT ICELANDIC MUSIC AND SPIRIT J. Casey Rule
My contribution to this journal is rather aesthetic that is in no way singularly or sim - out of the ordinary: instead of writing a tradi - ply defined. More importantly, the product tional article, I was asked to compose a piece would be inescapably inauthentic. Taking this of music. As an aspiring composer, this was an approach would be like standing in a forest opportunity I could not turn down; however, and explaining to someone what a tree is by it presented some immediate challenges. Prob - drawing a picture of it. Naturally, the pieces that ably the most important and certainly the most are most informative of Icelandic music are vexing of these was deciding how I could actual pieces of Icelandic music. Trying to sum - approach this project in a way that was appro - marize a country’s musical tradition in a 15- priate for this particular publication. While I minute composition would be artistically mean - certainly believe in the expressive power of ingless. music, I do not pretend that there is no differ - As I spent more and more time studying ence between an orchestral piece and an aca - this tradition and writing this orchestra piece, demic article. My goal, therefore, was to cre - my direction changed considerably. Initially, I ate a composition that was richly informed by saw this project primarily as a challenge to pro - my study of the Icelandic musical tradition. duce a composition that was as informative My initial instinct was to compose a piece about my study of Icelandic music as if I were that was illustrative of Icelandic music, using writing an article. In the end, however, I real - traditional Icelandic techniques and conven - ized that I had been given the opportunity to tions to demonstrate a distilled representation express what I cannot necessarily say in words. of “Icelandic style.” It did not take long for As such, this composition is not intended to me to realize that this was a senseless aim. To be a survey of Icelandic music nor is it intended attempt to write in the style of Icelandic music to be a representation of Icelandic style. It is, would require a vast over-simplification of an simply, one student’s reaction to one short
125 year of learning about this largely unknown and After the Reformation in the sixteenth cen - underappreciated tradition. tury, Iceland was converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism. This ushered in a new musical Iceland’s Musical Tradition style: the German protestant hymn. At first, the hymns sung in Iceland were simply translated My first goal for this piece was to express German hymns, but the style was later devel - something about Icelandic music itself; how - oped by Icelanders who gave it a uniquely Ice - ever, I did not want to simply mimic the music landic sound, often implementing the Lydian I heard. Instead, I strove to identify what makes mode and unusual voicing in parallel fifths Icelandic music “Icelandic” and find a new and augmented fourths. (Cronshaw, p. 168) way to harness these aesthetics in my own piece. Hallgrímur Pétursson, a seventeenth-century For me, the quality that most identifies Ice - minister after whom the iconic Reykjavík chapel landic music and, in many ways, Icelandic Hallgrímskirkja is named, is probably the most culture on the whole, is the combination of well known contributor to the Icelandic seemingly incongruent and often anachronistic hymnody. traditions. Of course, this is not unique to Ice - In the late nineteenth century, Iceland land; the history of every culture includes not began to experience a new style of music: Euro - only the gradual evolution of practices but pean Romanticism. At this time, Iceland was also the synthesis at the interfaces of distinct also starting to produce its first professional customs. However, this phenomenon is partic - composers, many of whom studied composition ularly pronounced in Icelandic music. abroad and brought the styles and techniques The reason for this is largely geographical. they learned back to their native country. Svein - Iceland is an island hundreds of miles from björn Sveinbjörnsson was the first Icelander mainland Europe and was, for most of its his - to seek an international career as a composer. tory, relatively poor, sparsely inhabited, and (White, p. 303) While studying divinity, he comparatively free from outside influence. For was persuaded by the Norwegian composer-vio - most of the last millennium, it was not linist Johan Svendsen to study music in Copen - immersed in European culture to the extent the hagen and later in Leipzig with Carl Reinecke. countries of mainland Europe were but, instead, Sveinbjörn went on to compose Lofsöngur , Ice - was exposed to discrete cross-sections of the cul - land’s national anthem, and was the first com - tural development occurring in Europe. poser to be given a pension for composition Because of this, Iceland saw the interaction of by the Icelandic parliament. musical styles that were separated by cen - The early twentieth century in Iceland saw turies in mainland Europe. an increasing number of Icelandic composers, such as Þórarinn Jónsson and Páll Ísólfsson, the A Brief History first rector of the Reykjavík Conservatory of Music, founded in 1930. Probably the best- When the Norse people arrived in Ice - known and arguably the first internationally sig - land in the ninth century, they brought with nificant Icelandic composer is Jon Leifs, who in them slaves, mainly of Celtic origin. While few 1928 helped found the Union of Icelandic Artists sources exist regarding this first music of Ice - and founded the Icelandic Composers Union land, it seems likely that this early music had in 1945. He is known for incorporating folk both Celtic and Scandinavian influences. music and elements of other early Icelandic In 1000 A.D., Althingi, Iceland’s parlia - music into his compositions. ment, officially adopted Christianity as the Throughout the beginning of the twenti - national religion. With Christianity came the eth century, as Iceland became less and less cul - tradition of Gregorian chant. In addition, turally isolated, the music of Iceland began to organum , an early form of polyphony that devel - conform more and more to external aesthet - oped out of Gregorian chant, was introduced ics. When the radio arrived in 1930, the influ - to Iceland no more than a century after it ence of outside music was no longer inhibited. appeared in mainland Europe in the ninth and With the radio came access to pop and rock, tenth centuries. styles that fused with indigenous music to 126 evolve into the vibrant Icelandic music scene of Recently, rímur has found its way into the today. mainstream Icelandic music scene as well. Preservation of Folk Tradition Steindór Andersen, a fishing boat captain, has become one of the most well-known perform - Icelandic culture is known for its preser - ers of rímur. In 2001, he collaborated with vation of tradition, in contrast to the relative popular Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós in dynamism of mainland European culture. One an album called Rímur , which features Steindór of the most cited examples of this is the devel - Andersen singing these traditional chants. 1 opment of the Icelandic language. This language Another intriguing example of a preserved is of particular interest to linguists in that it has Icelandic form is tvísöngur , which translates undergone remarkably little change in hundreds as “twin-song.” Tvísöngur is a derivate of of years; it is, in fact, the closest spoken lan - medieval organum, the first step in Western guage to the Old Norse of the Vikings. (Bern - music from unison to polyphony to, eventually, harðsson) In the same way, Iceland has pre - the harmony that modern ears now hear as served many of the musical traditions that have intrinsic to all tonal music. Today, this medieval influenced the country throughout its history. polyphony lives on in Icelandic tvísöngur, which As a result, Icelandic music now has clearly continues to be taught in contemporary class - traceable qualities of musical traditions that rooms. As a result, present-day Icelanders are span a millennium in their origin. still familiar with this medieval aesthetic, which Probably the best example of the preserva - the rest of Western music has since assigned tion of Icelandic musical technique is rímur to antiquity. For this reason, tvísöngur is of par - (rhymes)—Iceland’s traditional epic poetry that ticular interest to musicologists studying the was musically chanted and one of the most well- development of early organum. (White, p. 297) known and most iconic musical forms of Ice - land. Rímur is unique in that it had gone rela - Expressing History in Music tively unchanged and unchallenged as the dom - inant musical form in Iceland from as early as After examining Iceland’s musical history, the fourteenth century through the nineteenth there were two aspects of Icelandic music that century, when poets such as Jónas Hallgríms - I felt were necessary to represent in my piece: son introduced foreign meters to Icelandic the initial stasis and later persistence of early poetry, ushering in a new style of Icelandic Icelandic musical forms and the fusion of var - Romanticism. Even so, many of the most pop - ious musical traditions throughout Iceland’s ular nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ice - history. landic poets continued to compose and perform The first of these concepts is expressed rímur. While the tradition has a modest ori - in multiple ways. For one, it is portrayed explic - gin, having evolved from the strophic setting of itly in the first section of the piece, in the con - epic chants to short, well-known melodies, stant recurrence of melodic and motivic mate - rímur developed into a very specific and com - rial and the general harmonic stasis of the plex form. As a result, rímnakveðskapur , the passage. It is also shown on a larger level over composition of rímur, is an intricate and eso - the course of the entire piece in the repetition teric tradition, making it even more remarkable of the main theme, a medieval Icelandic chant that the form has been so well preserved for cen - tune. turies. (“Iceland”) The second of these concepts proved to The tradition has its roots in the be more of a challenge. To illustrate how Ice - impoverished agrarian Iceland of centuries ago. landic music and culture is the product of the At informal family gatherings, called kvöldvaka interaction and preservation of different tradi - (evening-awakening), rímur would be per - tions throughout time, I decided to draw from formed at length by a kvaeðamaður (chant-mas - several distinct styles that have played an impor - ter). Although its predominance has faded since 1While only 1000 copies of the album were ever the nineteenth century with the adoption of for - printed, a live performance of "Hugann seiða svalli frá" with eign musical forms, rímur remains the iconic Steindór later appeared on the band's 2007 DVD release indigenous Icelandic musical art form. Heima, with the title, "Á Ferð Til Breiðafjarðar Vorið 1922.”
127 tant role in Icelandic music history, including ence Party Member of Parliament Ásbjörn Scandinavian chant, Catholic organum, Óttarsson during the discussion of Iceland’s Lutheran hymnody, nineteenth-century Roman - 2011 budget bill. In his controversial comments ticism, and twentieth-century techniques such to Parliament, Ásbjörn expressed his confu - as minimalism and serialism. sion as to why the Icelandic government was For example, the modern, ambiguously continuing to set aside funds to support Ice - tonal language of the opening against the landic artists. medieval chant theme is one of many instances According to the Reykjavík Grapevine , a in this piece where two distinct traditions popular English-language Icelandic magazine from very different times are made to interact. based in the capital city, these comments incited In addition, this modern language actually a “virtual maelstrom” as artists from around the strengthens the medieval aesthetic, as the tonal country expressed their dissent. (Nikolov) Many ambiguity of this section allows the melody to Icelandic artists found creative ways to respond be heard outside the context of traditional West - to Ásbjörn’s inquiry. Icelandic alternative musi - ern harmony, which did not exist at this cian Úlfur Eldjárn published an open letter to melody’s inception. Vísir , a Reykjavík newspaper, pointing out that Ásbjörn has received significantly higher wages The Continuing Tradition from the state than what are estimated to be suf - ficient to support artists and asking why Ásb - Toward the end of the twentieth century, jörn cannot get a job like normal people. Guð - Iceland experienced a period of intense eco - mundur Kristinn Oddsson, an Icelandic nomic and cultural expansion, raising its pro - playwright, composed an open letter to Ásbjörn file significantly in the international music on Facebook, claiming that he now realized scene. During this time, Iceland produced he had wasted his life in the arts and asking Ásb - famous performing artists, including Björk and jörn to help him find a real job. Baldvin Esra Sigur Rós; started Iceland Airwaves, a now glob - Einarsson, producer of Kimi Records, one of Ice - ally renowned annual music festival in Reyk - land’s most active labels, jokingly proposed in javík; and founded the Iceland Music Export an open letter to the Federation of Icelandic (IMX), a government-sponsored initiative to Artists (BÍL) that Icelandic artists participate in promote Icelandic music internationally. This a one-day ban of all use of their work to remind period of Icelandic prosperity, however, soon people of the importance of art in Iceland. came to a sudden end. I spoke with Baldvin about his and the rest In October 2008, Iceland experienced a of the country’s reaction to Ásbjörn Óttars - devastating banking system collapse. It is imme - son’s comments to Parliament. Although his diately clear when talking to Icelanders that this letter to BÍL was spurred by Ásbjörn’s com - financial crisis has become an incredibly signif - ments, Baldvin says that the views of this single icant milestone in their history and their lives. Member of Parliament were not the true reason The aftermath of major events in the history for his letter. “The statement he made is under - of a society can help illuminate the value of cer - standable,” he pointed out. The reason that peo - tain aspects of a culture. For this reason, I felt ple were so bothered by this comment, he that a study of the Icelandic musical tradition explained, was not because it was unreason - would be incomplete without examining this able but because the discussion of cutting down newest chapter in Icelandic music history, when funding for the arts comes up every year. “Gov - Icelanders were faced with a difficult question: ernment support of arts is necessary to sus - is stimulating music and art worth the focus tain a small society like ours,” he said. “We of a country that is already preoccupied with a shouldn’t have to defend this every year.” severe financial crisis? I spoke with Anna Hildur Hildibrands - dóttir, managing director of IMX, about the pub - Music in Crisis? lic perception of the significance of music after the crisis. “The lack of research and eco - “Why can’t they get a job like everyone nomic facts has created the misunderstanding else?” This was the question asked by Independ -
128 that Ásbjörn represents,” she said. “I am a proud Needless to say, the building is a signifi - representative of those that don‘t do normal cant investment for the city of Reykjavík, and jobs!” Anna explained that the economic signif - public opinion has been mixed. In his contro - icance of the cultural sector in Iceland is largely versial comments to Parliament, Ásbjörn Óttars - underestimated. “Mapping of the economic son also expressed his disgust toward the build - effect of culture and creative industries which ing of Harpa, for which ISK 500 million ($4.2 is taking place now gives us an indication that million) was allocated in the 2011 budget. (“Ice - this is the second biggest sector in Iceland,“ she landic MP...”) Construction for Harpa began said. in January 2007, shortly before the 2008 finan - In the wake of the crisis, many budget cuts cial crisis, after which construction of the build - inevitably had to be made for cities and towns ing was indefinitely abandoned and the struc - across the country. In response to capital city ture was left to stand for years unfinished. Reykjavík’s proposal to cut back funding to Ásbjörn believed that in addition to a waste of music schools, including discontinuing all fund - money, the building had become a monument ing to students over the age of 16, hundreds to the confusion that had occurred after the cri - of citizens gathered around City Hall in protest, sis. (“Listamenn...”) waving signs and singing traditional Icelandic Many others, however, feel it is a power - folk songs, such as “Hver á sér fegra föður - ful statement about Iceland’s indestructible land” and “Ísland ögrum skorið.” (Andersen) So appreciation for the country’s art and culture. passionate was the atmosphere of the protest The first summer of Harpa’s opening featured that when Mayor Jón Gnarr attempted to works by Icelandic composers and folk music, address the crowd, he was booed into silence. including rímur and tvísöngur. One of the fea - (Farrell) tured series consisted of concerts performed by young Icelandic musicians designed to edu - Continued Dedication to the Arts cate listeners on Iceland music; the programs included “A Journey Through Icelandic Music Despite these controversial cutbacks, History,” “Pearls of Icelandic Music,” and Reykjavík has by no means abandoned its invest - “Women in Icelandic Music.” ment in Icelandic culture. The city recently I asked Harpa’s musical director, Steinunn made one of its most substantial cultural invest - Birna Ragnarsdóttir, about what this investment ments in Harpa, the new concert hall and con - means for Iceland. “It is indeed quite remark - ference center and home to the Icelandic Sym - able that the Icelandic politicians…decided to phony Orchestra and the Iceland Opera. continue with building Harpa despite the eco - Designed by Henning Larsen Architects, an nomical landscape that surrounded us at the international architecture firm based in Copen - time,” she said. “In my mind it was a very coura - hagen, the building stands in the Reykjavík Har - geous decision that will hopefully set an exam - bor between the city center and the Atlantic ple for other nations to invest in their culture Ocean and has become one of the city’s defining and be aware of its value.” landmarks. Its elaborate, multifaceted glass According to Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the vice- façade was conceived by Danish-Icelandic artist chairman of the Left-Green Movement and Olafur Eliasson 2 and features a system of LED Iceland’s Minister of Education, Science and lights that causes the building to glow in the Culture, Harpa has drawn great international evenings. The interior acoustics were designed attention to the music life in Iceland. “I think by Artec Consultants Inc., a leading firm in we have a great variety in Icelandic music— the field, and the hall is furnished with state-of- which is really remarkable in a country with the-art sound, staging, and other presentation only 330,000 inhabitants,” she observed, and equipment. (“Harpa...”) continued, “Maybe that shows us that small nations can achieve great things in culture.” Katrín also told me that despite the decisions of 2Olafur Eliasson received the “Order of the Falcon” cities and communities such as Reykjavík to from Iceland’s president in 2008 for his contribution to make dramatic cuts to music education, the Ice - his country’s culture. (Davis) landic government recently increased funding 129 to music education, so that now both secondary Thematic Inspiration and university education in music are supported by the state. I asked Katrín if the 2008 crisis had I knew from the beginning that I wanted had any significant effect on music in Iceland, to feature a traditional Icelandic folk tune in this expecting to hear about the difficulties of main - piece; I have always believed that folk music is taining public interest in the arts. “Actually,” particularly powerful in its ability to communi - she said, “the music scene in Iceland has blos - cate. I quickly discovered, however, that finding somed since the crisis…after the crisis, there authentic Icelandic folk music as a non-Ice - was an increase in all sorts of concerts in Ice - landic speaker was much more difficult than I land and an increase in the Icelandic audience had anticipated. Luckily, I had help from Dr. coming to concerts.” Guðru ́n Ingimundardo ́ttir, or Rúna, as she Guðmundur Steinn Gunnarsson is an Ice - prefers to be called, an Icelandic composer landic composer and a founding member of and ethnomusicologist who works for the Ice - S.L.Á.T.U.R., an experimental arts organiza - landic Folk Music Center in Siglufjörður. Rúna tion in Reykjavík. When I asked how he felt was not surprised to find that I had been having about the effects of the economic crisis on trouble finding authentic pieces of folk music. Icelandic music, his observations were similar. “It’s not easy, if you don’t speak Icelandic, to find “People care more about art in general after the information on Icelandic folk music,” she crisis,” he said. “It’s all opposite to what you explained. According to Rúna, the study of would think.” As Guðmundur explained, for Icelandic folk music has been seriously neg - him and many others the value of money is arbi - lected since the beginning of the twentieth cen - trary and artificial, but the value of art and tury. She describes her country’s traditional culture is intrinsic. When an economic crisis of music as “a national wealth that has yet to be this scale occurs, it illuminates the imperma - harvested and recognized for its sustainability.” nence of monetary wealth. In response, people’s (Sturman, p. 7) focus shifts to more inalienable assets, such as However, Rúna also notes that there seems musical tradition and other forms of cultural to have been a renewed interest in traditional wealth. Culture, unlike currency, is a national Icelandic music in recent years. “More [Ice - asset that cannot be devalued by financial irre - landers] have come to visit the folk music cen - sponsibility and corporate greed. ter this summer than ever before,” 3 she said. This echoes an observation that I actu - “Nowadays you can hear the old chanting on the ally heard in many different forms from the Ice - radio that you couldn’t hear before.” landers who spoke to me about the effects of the I eventually chose as the thematic mate - economic crisis on music in their country: in rial for the piece two Icelandic folk tunes that the wake of the crisis, there seemed to be a Rúna introduced to me. 4 The first and most renewed and strengthened interest in Ice - prominently featured of these is from one of the landic music. best-known and most intriguing chants of In the end, this became the most signifi - medieval Iceland. The chant is a setting of Lilja , cant inspiration for Lilja . The piece is intended a poem by fourteenth-century Icelandic monk to be, among other things, a reflection of Ice - Eysteinn Ásgrímsson. Writing in a variation of landic spirit. While not strictly programmatic, the pagan tradition, Eysteinn employed an it is, in a sense, the story of a song that could unusually sophisticated structure and metri - not be drowned out but rather grows and adapts, cal technique in his 100-stanza poem, which weathers storms, and invariably persists to summarizes the story of Christianity from return even stronger and more triumphant than before. It was this idea that drove the compo - 3I spoke to Rúna in November of 2010, so she is sition of the piece. referring to the summer of 2010. 4The Lilja chant is not really a “folk song” in the strictest sense of the term but rather a setting of a reli - gious poem. However, given the tune’s ubiquity among Icelanders, the unknown origin of the melody, and the oral tradition through which it has survived, I think it is justifiable to call this melody a “folk tune.”
130 Creation to the Final Judgment, ending with a a man who is on his way to visit his mother prayer to the Virgin Mary. Lilja was almost when he meets four elven women. When he immediately recognized as a masterpiece of reli - refuses to stay with them and abandon his gious poetry and remains one of the most well- Christian faith for their pagan life, one of the known pieces of Icelandic literature. This work elf-maidens asks him for a kiss and, when he had a significant influence on subsequent approaches, thrusts a sword under his shoulder skaldic poetry, so much so that the hrynhent blade and into his heart. Fatally wounded, meter that Eysteinn used was later often Ólafur manages to ride to his mother’s house referred to as Liljulag or “Lilja’s measure.” (Óla - before he dies in her care. (Ólason, p. 112) This son and Tømasson, p. 51) text is particularly interesting as it represents The chant tune (Figure 1) to which this the seemingly contradictory juxtaposition of poem was later set is of unknown origin; how - Christianity and pre-Christian tradition, which ever, it is believed to be one of the oldest indige - is still a significant part of the Icelandic cul - nous Icelandic chants, passed down by oral ture today. tradition. (“Eysteinn Ásgrímsson”) One of the most fascinating qualities about Use of the Thematic Material in Lilja this chant is its tonal ambiguity. As Rúna explained when she showed me this chant, “This One of my primary challenges in com - song is very curious because… it doesn’t seem posing this piece was to create a work that to be any recognizable mode or any tonality that was academically and artistically stimulating we recognize at all.” This mysterious quality without shedding the musical accessibility of was one of the things that attracted me most the original folk songs. In other words, while I to this melody for use in my orchestra piece. naturally strove to maintain a high level of com - The second folk song used in this piece positional integrity, my hope is that most listen - is a popular dance tune called Ólafur Liljurós . ers will be too busy enjoying the music to care This fourteenth-century ballad tells the story of about the academic intricacies. To write a
Figure 1
Lilja: One of the Oldest Indigenous Icelandic Chants
Source: A transcription of " Lilja " from La Borde (p. 406). Notes: The transcription of the melody was published in 1780 in Paris by Jean Benjamin de La Borde, a for - mer student of Baroque composer and music theorist Jean-Phillipe Rameau. La Borde printed this along with four other songs from Denmark, Norway, and Iceland, which had been printed earlier by Johann Ernst in Copenhagen. Ernst had transcribed them himself from an Icelander named Jón Ólafsson. (White, p. 300)
131 piece that is more enjoyable to analyze than Figure 2 to hear would be to go against the spirit of the folk songs themselves. Brass in Measure 213 of Lilja That said, I wanted to be sure that I treated the thematic material in a unique and meaning - ful way. One of the most important composi - tional devices of this piece is the transformation of the Lilja chant melody. My intention was to take this melody, which for many listeners will sound strange and unfamiliar, and continue to find new ways to present it until, by the end of the piece, the melody should no longer sound so strange and unfamiliar. This trans - formation from foreign to familiar is meant to sible and straightforward tonality. This represent, among other things, my own expe - dichotomy is established to reinforce the mys - rience in learning about this country and its cul - terious and unfamiliar nature of the Lilja chant ture. melody. The piece is organized into four short, con - The third movement takes the Lilja chant tinuous movements. In my mind, these move - melody, pulls it apart, and puts it back together ments came to be called “The Thawing Ice,” in a stormy, Romantic setting. For example, the “The Dance,” “The Storm,” and “The Hymn”; first brass fanfare in the beginning of the third however, in the score they are simply numbered movement (Figure 2) is a variation on the first I through IV. The first movement is based on the two notes of the main theme, an ascending Lilja chant and reinforces the mysterious qual - whole step, while the following melody in the ity of the melody. The musical vocabulary of this violins (Figure 3) is an augmentation of the movement is distinctly twentieth-century third and fourth notes of this theme, the inspired, in contrast to its medieval thematic descending half step. material. The first time it is presented, the The next passage re-establishes a back - theme is tonally and temporally ambiguous. The ground texture similar to the opening, but only unifying component of the texture is a sus - this time, the cellos and basses play the theme tained A harmonic in the strings, a note that in inversion (Figure 4). After this, the inverted does not double any tone in the melody as it is theme is featured again, this time heavily obfuscated played. With each iteration, the music becomes by the instrumentation and rhythm (Figure 5). more complex and dissonant, overlaying har - The final movement begins with a flute monies and rhythms to throw off any inferred presenting an abbreviated and initially unac - tonal center for the melody. The stark, icy tex - companied version of the tune. Gradually, the ture of the opening thaws and unravels over the texture thickens and the melody returns in course of the movement, until the tension full and is harmonized, unexpectedly, in C breaks, and the dance begins. major, as a chorale (Figure 6). As more motives In contrast to the tonally ambiguous lan - from the first two movements are brought back, guage of the opening, the second movement is the texture builds into a final climax, after which set as a traditional theme and variations on the piece ends with a brief recapitulation of the folk song, Ólafur Liljurós , using more acces - the opening material. Figure 3
Violin I in Measure 216 of Lilja
132 Figure 4
Cello in Measure 225 of Lilja
Figure 5
Harmonization of the Inverted Theme in Measure 230 of Lilja
This piece is intended to simultaneously experience seeing Iceland and learning about represent several layers of ideas; for me, the the musical tradition and Icelandic people. I piece is an observation of Icelandic aesthetics, hope listeners will hear the ice, wind, waterfalls, an outline of Iceland’s musical history, and a oceans, cliffs, mountains, geysers, volcanoes, reflection of the Icelandic spirit. However, while and other exceptional sites I had the privilege of I used this piece as a vehicle for expressing experiencing. But more importantly, I hope specific concepts about Icelandic music, the listeners can feel my excitement of discover - subject and inspiration of the piece is largely ing the beauty in what was previously strange personal. Lilja is meant to represent my own and foreign.
Figure 6 Main Theme as Revisited in the Chorale, Measures 317-24
Note: Reduction of full orchestral score.
133 REFERENCES
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