Harald Sæverud (1897-1992)
Complete Piano Edition, Volume 6
Throughout his life, Harald Sæverud was one of the
most distinctive figures on the Norwegian music
scene. His desire to express himself and his will to seek
unique solutions to the artistic challenges presented by
each new work gave rise to a personal musical idiom,
easily recognisable as ¡¥Sæverudian'. The English
conductor Sir John Barbirolli, closely acquainted with
Sæverud's orchestral music, expressed his uniqueness
thus: "Whether you like the music of Sæverud or not
there is no mistaking who wrote it, and this can be said
of few composers of the present day."
The neglect, or even contempt, with which
Sæverud often appeared to treat conventions and
inherited ¡¥truths' should not be seen as a
disparagement of the historical music tradition. It was
within this tradition that he found support for his own
preferences, often indicating Mozart and Haydn as his
most important influences. His formal music education
was somewhat fragmentary; in 1915 he entered the
Music Academy in Bergen where he studied piano,
supplemented by lessons in music theory taught by
Borghild Holmsen, an accomplished pianist and
composer with a degree from the music conservatory
in Leipzig. After having completed the course at the
Bergen Music Academy, Sæverud undertook further
periods of study in Berlin (1920¡V21) and Paris (1925).
The support he received from his older,
distinguished colleagues at the outset of his career was
particularly important to Sæverud. Certain members of
this group of colleagues, such as Christian Sinding,
had difficulty in grasping Sæverud's musical
intentions, but were nonetheless positive towards his
achievements. Sæverud's spirited style and power of
expression bore witness to his unique talent. The
support and encouragement offered by Gerhard
Schjelderup in Norway and Carl Nielsen in Denmark
were no less influential, just as was Sæverud's
friendship with the composer and conductor, the
younger Johan Ludwig Mowinckel. It was thanks to
Mowinckel that excerpts from Sæverud's Symphony
No. 1 were performed in Berlin in 1921.
Slowly but surely, Sæverud gained a prominent
position in the musical life of Norway, subsequently
attracting international interest, particularly during the
1950s and 1960s. In addition to being one of Norway's
most distinctive and unique composers, he was also
able to find time for administrative work and held
honorary positions in organizations such as Ny Musikk
(the Norwegian section of the ISCM) and
Musikselskabet Harmonien (the Bergen Philharmonic
Orchestra). In the course of his career he received a
number of awards both in Norway and abroad, and
from 1953 was a recipient of the annual State grant to
artists.
Harald Sæverud's output falls into two main
categories, works for orchestra and works for piano.
The works for orchestra include nine symphonies, and
solo concertos for oboe, violin, piano and bassoon, in
addition to a number of single movement works. It is,
therefore, no coincidence that his Opus 1 is Five
capricci for piano (1919), while Opus 2 is the
Symphony No. 1 in G minor (1920). At a relatively late
stage in his career he also made a considerable
contribution to the chamber music repertoire. It is also
interesting to note that his meagre production of
theatre music had a substantial impact in Norway's
cultural circles; this is particularly true of his music to
Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1947), which became an ¡¥antiromantic'
opposite to Edvard Grieg's music to the
same play.
Many of the characteristic traits which make
Sæverud's music so easily recognisable are ubiquitous
in his music, and not least in the works for solo piano.
It is not so easy, however, to categorize Sæverud's
music in any one particular style. His music has been
labelled in a variety of ways, atonal (though much of
his music is clearly tonal), barbaric (though many works
are inclined towards lyrical-romantic moods), dissonant
(though just as frequently we encounter consonant
triads), thematically ¡¥short of breath' (though many
themes are given generous space in which to unfold).
Common to most of the piano pieces is an apparently
simple form and texture, often two-part, with detailed
dynamics and pedalling. Frequently we find highly
individual development of each part, giving the music a
distinctive dissonant quality, and when the rhythmic
element in each part is treated similarly freely, the end
result is that tonal quality referred to above as
¡¥Sæverudian'.
Fabula gratulatorum, Op.51, was written in 1973 to
mark the sixtieth birthday of the Hungarian-American
pianist Andor Foldes, who for years was an ardent
advocate of Sæverud's piano music, especially his
Piano Concerto, Op.31, which he played several times
from the early 1950s on. In Fabula gratulatorum
Sæverud has used Andor Foldes' name as the basis for
the thematic material and the composition is a large-size
fable that in many ways continues the style of the Suite,
Op.6.
Sæverud wrote the Bryllupsmarsj, Op.46, (also with
the title Marcia solenne) for the wedding of his oldest
son Sveinung in 1966. In the version for orchestra it was
performed for the first time by the Bergen Philharmonic
Orchestra in April 1967. With its steady rhythm and a
sound which recalls that of the Norwegian folk
hardanger fiddle the piece turns into a wedding march
with the characteristic free dissonances so recognizably
¡¥Sæverudian'.
In 1935 Sæverud wrote music for the play Vold mot
Lucretia, a play by André Obey, Le viol de Lucrèce,
based on Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucretia.
From this music Sæverud in 1936 extracted a suite for
orchestra in six movements. There also exist, however,
some excerpts for piano, mainly drawn from the
Spinning Scene.
In Sveinungs sang and Li-tone-fantasi we find
motivic similarities with the Li-tone from Op.14, while
Digitalis and Digitalis-fantasi may be regarded as early
sketches for Revebjølle (Digitalis purpurea) from
Op.22.
Of the other pieces here included Lolita
(Appassionato molto) is a declaration of love to his wife
Marie, whose second name was Lolita. The two pieces
Dulgt kjærlighet and Takk for det gamle, are humorous
dedications to his friend Sigmund Torsteinson, who
from 1955 to 1978 was the curator of Edvard Grieg's
home, Troldhaugen.
Øyvind Norheim
First Performances of Harald Sæverud
It was most exciting investigating Sæverud's forgotten and hidden (posthumous) manuscripts. They were in total
disorder and had to be examined with the greatest care. The manuscripts were kept in Siljustøl, the composer's
house, and in Bergen off. bibliotek, Musikkavdelingen (the Bergen Public Library, Music Department). Every
composition and every note in this recording, however, is original, with nothing added, nothing changed.
Among the pieces from Sæverud's posthumous manuscripts here included, Con moto energico ma molto
grazioso and Solskyedriv are good examples of Sæverud's mature, dissonant style, while many of the others are
in a more romantic language. Let the rest of the pieces speak for themselves and for the most exciting and
sparkling musical personality of Harald Sæverud.
Sæverud's Musical World
"All my music has grown out of a vague and supernatural sound. As a fourteen-year-old boy I heard the invisible
fluttering of owls' wings in the summer night. This made the starting-point for all my music."
So much for Sæverud's own words. Motifs came to his mind almost like wild flowers and weeds, he said. He
let them grow freely while he, the composer, could only be their guiding gardener. Evidently he could not decide
for their growth and development, just lead them along. As much as Sæverud loved plants he even cared for stones.
"There is also much stone in my music!" he said.
Sæverud does not often describe the grand Norwegian scenery of mountains and fjords. He rather gives focus
to fragments of nature and human moods; he describes ancient legends and myths or tales from valleys and islands.
Throughout his life Sæverud consciously suffered from being born on the site of a former churchyard, a place of
execution from Viking times. He kept talking about the sadness, sorrow and the dissonances this fact gave to his
art. "There are reflections of murder and death in me as well as in my music." Those were his words. This provides,
therefore, an underlying sombre quality to his otherwise cheerful music.
Einar Steen-Nøkleberg
The Sæverud Edition has been supported by Grieg-Forsk
and the Edvard Grieg Museum, Bergen, Norway
