Cg 2011 by Cathrine Blom. All Rights Reserved
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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. These features became visible in their works from the 1850s onward through Kjerulf’s development of art songs infused with elements drawn from Norwegian folk music, and Welhaven’s in- clusion of folk myths and folklore in his poetry, accompanied by a gradual replacement of Danish words with the Norwegian vernacular. This work is based primarily on archival material: Kjerulf’s extensive collection of dairies and letters, as well as Welhaven’s large correspondence, travel sketches, polemical writings, and literary research; and the biographical works of Nils Grinde, Børre Qvamme, Ingard Hauge, Arne Løcken, and Anne-Lise Seip. ii To my loving family, both in Norway and the United States iii Acknowledgments I am forever grateful to my parents for giving me a love of music. My mother’s family introduced me as a child to Halfdan Kjerulf, whose wonderful romances were performed as Hausmusik in our home, as well as in other family members’ homes, throughout my youth. Our admiration for Kjerulf was twofold: we treasured his music and felt a particular affection towards the composer as my maternal grandfather’s grandmother’s uncle. It has been a special pleasure to work with my adviser Professor William Kinderman, who wholeheartedly supported me in this project, beginning with my Master’s thesis, and who constantly gave me valuable guidance; his critical reading of this thesis very much improved it. I am grateful to the other members of my dissertation committee, Professors Christina Bashford, Gayle Magee, and Rochelle Wright; their thoughtful advice significantly expanded the perspective of this thesis. I also wish to thank my external adviser Professor Emeritus Nils Grinde of the University of Oslo, the leading expert on Kjerulf, who carefully improved my analysis of the Welhaven songs. He also very kindly shared with me his material on Welhaven, transcribed the romance Ved Havet for this thesis, and provided information that was difficult to obtain from other sources. I spent a wonderful afternoon in Oslo with the great Kjerulf curator, Dr. Halfdan Kierulf, a direct descendent of the composer’s uncle; I thank him in particular for sharing his Kjerulf scores, pictures and other memorabilia with me. I would also like to thank the archivists at the National Library in Oslo for their help with finding letters and other material relating to Kjerulf, the National Library in Copenhagen for greatly expediting my research, and most of all, the members of the staff of the Music Library at the University of Illinois, including Marlys Scarbrough, Christopher Pawlicki, William Buss, and John Wagstaff, who have been truly remarkable in helping me when I most needed it. Finally I would like to thank my husband Gordon Baym for his unending encouragement, patience, cooking, and technical help during my writing of this thesis. iv Table of Contents Preface........................................ 3 Chapter1 TheComposerandthePoet. 16 Upbringingandeducation ............................... 18 Women ......................................... 27 Poetryandmusic.................................... 33 Lateryears ....................................... 49 Chapter 2 The European Heritage of Kjerulf and Welhaven . 55 Aestheticinfluences................................... 55 The aesthetic legacy of Sagen, Oehlenschl¨ager, Heiberg, and Schiller . 57 Romanticpoetry .................................... 63 Romanticsong ..................................... 65 TheNorwegianartsong ................................ 66 Chapter 3 The Early Welhaven Romances: 1841-1849 . 71 1.Nøkken[TheWaterSprite]HK13 . 72 2.BernartafVentadourHK21 ............................ 80 3. Elveløbet [The River’s Run] HK 22 . 90 4. Veiviseren synger [The Mountain Wanderer sings] HK 23 . 99 5.VedHavet[BytheSea]HK29 ........................... 107 6. Stille Liv [Quiet Life] HK 32 . 111 7. Aftenstemning[EveningMood]HK35. 115 8.Buesnoren[TheBowString]HK39 . 126 9.PaaFjeldet[IntheMountain]HK43 . 130 10. Af “Alfernes Hvisken” [From “The Elves’ Whisper”] HK 42 . 135 Chapter 4 The Late Welhaven Romances: 1850-1868 . 142 11.EnVaarnat[ASpringNight]HK58 . 144 12. Min Elskte, jeg er bunden [My Beloved, I am spellbound] HK 65 . 152 13. Foraarsdigt[SpringPoem]HK69,HK154 . 160 14. Aftenkvad i Maaneskin [Evening song in the Moonlight] HK 79 . 171 15. LokkendeToner[AlluringStrains]HK101 . 181 16. HvileiSkoven[RestintheWoods]HK110 . 187 17.Alfeland[LandofElves]HK113 . 192 v 18. Sangens Væld [The Poetic Well] HK 142 . 198 19. TaushedogSang[SilenceandPoetry]HK147 . 202 20. Hjemfart[HomewardJourney]HK152 . 208 21.VedSundet[BytheStrait]HK165 . 215 22. EnSommersang[ASummerSong]HK200. 219 23. DenfriskeSang[TheFriskySong]HK213 . 228 24. Bergens Stift [Bergen Diocese] HK 216 . 232 Postlude: Reception, Influence, and Legacy . 244 Afterword ........................................ 256 Appendix: The Kjerulf Welhaven Romances for One Voice . 259 Bibliography..................................... 262 Primarysources..................................... 262 Secondarysources.................................... 265 vi Halfdan Kjerulf, 1815-1868 “I still would sincerely hope that he never will become a Norwegian musician. He might, like me, end up singing about the happiness of love, but himself have to do without it. (Kjerulf’s letter to a friend congratulating him on the birth of a son.) [“Fremdeles vil jeg inderlig ønske ham, at han aldrig maa vorde norsk Musikus. Det kunde da gaae ham som mig at synge om Kærligheds Lykke og selv at maatte undvære den.” ] 1 Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven, 1807-1873 “Besides, I will now as before leave my poetics to itself. I have so far quietly followed its destiny and no obstruction has been able to draw me away from the considerable gratification I have experienced and achieved on this path.” (Welhaven on his poetics.) [Iøvrigt vil jeg nu som før overlade min Digtning til sig selv. Dens Skjæbner har jeg hidtil fulgt med Rolighed, og ingen Mistydning har kunnet bringe mig til at se bort fra det meget Glædelige, jeg paa den Vei har oplevet og vundet.] 2 Preface Romantic song and poetry blossomed in Norway in the mid-1840s, some twenty years after the Romantic literary movement – rooted above all in Weimar and Jena and mediated to Scandinavia through Copenhagen – had faded in Europe, and a shift toward realism or idealism had taken its place.1 This evolution was driven by two closely intertwined figures, the composer Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868), the creator of the Norwegian Romantic Lied, and the poet Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (1807-1873), notably the first Norwegian poet to blend Classical and Romantic currents, bringing National Romanticism into poetry.2 Neither had Norwegian models to build on. Instead they looked south to mainland Europe for musical and poetic inspiration. In addition, they developed and nurtured each other through admiration, love, and family bonds. Kjerulf matured as a composer through the setting of Welhaven’s poems, which he cherished and chose because they ”always brought out the music” in him; Welhaven, who was strongly influenced by the philologist Lyder Sagen, the poet Adam Oehlenschl¨ager, the poet and critic Johan Ludvig Heiberg, and the dramatist, poet, and literary theorist Friedrich Schiller, fused Danish and German romanticism and aesthetics with Norwegian naturalism and mysticism. He matured as a poet through his undying love for Kjerulf’s only sister Ida, all the more so after her untimely death at age 22, immediately after their engagement. Kjerulf and Welhaven shared similar cultural backgrounds, early life experiences, and conservative political views. They