GENERAL PREFACE
Johan Svendsen (1840–1911) was a leading figure in late nineteenth-century Scandinavian music, celebrated as both a composer and a conductor. His works occupy a central position in the musical history of Norway and Scandinavia in general, yet his printed music has become notoriously difficult to obtain. Older editions are often inadequate, and many are out of print or abandoned by defunct publishing houses. More than half of his works never appeared in print and only survive in manuscript. A new complete edition of Johan Svendsen’s music has therefore been long anticipated, and the present edition, part of the Johan Svendsen’s Works project, wishes to meet this demand.
Johan Svendsen’s Works is a subproject under the umbrella of the Norwegian Musical Heritage project and represents a collaboration between the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Academy of Music and the National Library of Norway. The project was launched in 2011, one hundred years after the composer’s death.
In preparing these editions, many new sources of Svendsen’s music were uncovered. Manuscripts of entirely unknown works have surfaced among the archives, and new biographical knowledge has come to light as well. The result is a richer picture of Svendsen himself, as well as the musical life of his time.
This new edition of Svendsen’s collected works not only provides performance material that greatly improves the basis for new interpretations of well-known works, but also offers the opportunity to become familiar with pieces that have not been played since the composer’s lifetime. Alongside Svendsen’s output of chamber music, symphonies, symphonic poems and concertos—in itself an impressive corpus in the great nineteenth-century European tradition—we find other, lesser-known works, including the unpublished dances and orchestra marches written for the mid-century concertgoers of Christiania (Oslo), the celebratory cantatas and marches commissioned for public events in both Norway and Denmark, and Svendsen’s masterful orchestrations of iconic pieces from the international Romantic repertoire
JOHAN SVENDSEN’S WORKS
Johan Svendsen’s Works is a comprehensive edition optimized for performance and study. It is available online as well as in print, designed to meet the needs of anyone interested in any aspect of Svendsen’s music.
JSW features new editions of all known works by Svend-
Svendsens kjente verker. Også tidlige versjoner av enkelte verker er inkludert. Ufullstendige og fragmentariske verker, lengre variantpartier og skisser gjengis i faksimile og/eller transkripsjon. Klaveruttog til verker for solist og orkester blir gjort tilgjengelige til bruk i innstudering.
Johan Svendsens Verker omfatter også en vitenskapelig verkfortegnelse som beskriver kildesituasjonen i detalj. Her har alle verker fått et unikt JSV-nummer. Alle relevante kilder er gjengitt i faksimile på internettsidene.
Alle de nye utgavene er utstyrt med et forord som beskriver komposisjonens tilblivelses- og resepsjonshistorie samt dens plass i Johan Svendsens samlede produksjon.
GENERELLE EDISJONSPRINSIPPER
Johan Svendsens Verker er basert på kritiske edisjonsprinsipper. Det betyr at den bygger på et vitenskapelig studium av alle tilgjengelige kilder, både notemanuskripter og tidligere trykte utgaver samt andre kilder av betydning for forståelsen av verket og for edisjonen av notebildet, for eksempel brev og dagbokopptegnelser.
Det er et viktig prinsipp å få frem de seneste dokumenterte intensjonene til komponisten. Samtidig skal også mangfoldet i kildesituasjonen formidles. Utgavene er utstyrt med en kildebeskrivelse hvor også forholdet mellom kildene blir grundig evaluert og vurdert.
Utgavene av hvert enkelt verk bygger også på en samlet analyse av Johan Svendsens notasjonsstil. Artikulasjon, dynamikk, buer, spilletekniske anvisninger og foredragsbetegnelser har i mange tilfeller blitt tilpasset slik at det er samsvar mellom analoge partier. Der det foreligger en sterk nok mulighet for at komponisten bevisst har gitt analoge partier ulik utforming, er tilpasning likevel unngått.
For hvert verk er det valgt en hovedkilde som er lagt til grunn for den nye utgaven. For utgitte verker er dette normalt en trykt utgave. Imidlertid leste Svendsen trolig ikke alltid grundig korrektur på de trykte utgavene. De egenhendige manuskriptene er derfor også blitt tillagt stor vekt.
Alle avvik fra hovedkilden i den nye utgaven dokumenteres og begrunnes takt for takt i en kommentarliste, der det også redegjøres for alle varianter i de andre kildene. Med vesentlige varianter menes varianter som vil kunne ha innflytelse på fremføringsmåten. Negative varianter («mangler») i andre kilder er som hovedregel ikke kommentert.
Selve notebildet gjengis uten typografisk markering av redaksjonelle tilføyelser eller endringer.
sen. Early versions of some of the works are also available in edited scores. Incomplete and fragmentary works, sketches and variant passages of a certain length are presented as facsimiles and/or transcriptions. Piano scores of works for soloist and orchestra are provided for use in rehearsal.
Additionally, Johan Svendsen’s Works includes a critical catalogue of the composer’s oeuvre with detailed descriptions of all the sources and a unique JSW number assigned to each work. The sources themselves are reproduced in their entirety and available as online facsimiles.
Each edition offers a preface describing the genesis and reception history of the work in question, as well as its position in the context of Svendsen’s total output.
GENERAL EDITORIAL PRINCIPLES
Johan Svendsen’s Works is based on a critical examination of all the available sources: music manuscripts, early printed editions and other sources relevant to a comprehensive understanding of each individual work and its musical notation, such as letters and diary entries.
Throughout JSW, one of our key editorial principles has been to realize the composer’s last documented intentions while at the same time demonstrating the diversity of the source material. Each edition is therefore accompanied by a description of all the available the sources, including a review of the relationship between them.
A comprehensive analysis of Svendsen’s style of musical notation has also informed the editing process. Articulation and dynamics, playing instructions and performance markings have been standardized across analogous passages except where the composer seemed to intend those passages to differ.
For each work, a single primary source was chosen, i.e. the source believed to be closest to the composer’s final intentions. This source formed the starting point for the editing process. For works published during the composer’s lifetime, the primary source is generally the printed edition, but since Svendsen may not always have read the publisher’s proofs all that carefully, the autograph manuscripts often contain variants of particular interest.
Deviations from the primary source as well as variants found in other sources are documented and discussed measure by measure at the end of the edition. As a rule, the editors do not discuss primary source elements missing in other sources (so-called negative variants).
Editorial additions or revisions are not marked as such in the score.
Følgende generelle valg er ikke omtalt i de kritiske kommentarene til det enkelte verket:
• Typografi, partituroppsett og instrumentnavn er til en viss grad normalisert i samsvar med moderne praksis.
• Når to stemmer deler notehals, gjelder fraseringsbuer, artikulasjonstegn og dynamikk begge stemmer.
• Notasjonen av kombinasjoner mellom legatobuer og bindebuer er modernisert.
• Markeringer som «I.», «II.», «a 2» kan være redaksjonelle, men er i overensstemmelse med hovedkildens stemmefordeling så sant ikke annet er anmerket i den kritiske kommentaren.
• Nøkler og orienteringsbokstaver er gjengitt som i hovedkilden. Når orienteringsbokstaver ikke finnes i hovedkilden, har vi lagt til slike.
• Svendsens påminnelsesfortegn er beholdt, men i noen få tilfeller har vi funnet det hensiktsmessig å legge til slike fortegn. Dette er det i så fall redegjort for.
• Svendsen knyttet så godt som alltid forslagsnoter til hovednoten(e) med en bue og gav dem en gjennomgående strek gjennom halsen. Når slike buer eller streker likevel mangler i hovedkilden, er de føyd til i de nye utgavene.
• Svendsen brukte ganske ofte streksymboler ved gjentakelse av takter eller notefigurer. I de nye utgavene er slike partier skrevet fullt ut i noteskrift.
• Abbreviaturer ved tonegjentakelse som bare representerer to eller tre noter, er skrevet ut i de nye utgavene. Abbreviaturer som representerer flere enn tre noter, er også skrevet ut i kortere passasjer, normalt 1–3 takter. I lengre passasjer er slike abbreviaturer beholdt.
• I lengre passasjer med trioler skrev Svendsen gjerne siffer bare over den første triolen. Svendsen-utgavene fra forlaget E.W. Fritzsch har derimot som oftest siffer over de to første triolene. De nye utgavene har siffer over alle triolene i hele første takt i slike passasjer.
• Stiplede linjer i crescendo- og/eller diminuendoforløp som finnes i hovedkilden, er beholdt. Slike linjer er også noen ganger føyd til ut fra analogiargument, særlig i forløp over flere takter. Dette gjelder så lenge sluttpunktet for den dynamiske endringen likevel er angitt med et dynamisk tegn.
• Svendsen brukte flere skrivemåter i termer som div., cresc., og rit. Han noterte for eksempel crescendo ofte slik: cresc (uten punktum). I tidlige manuskripter skrev han cres. I de nye utgavene er skrivemåten normalisert for disse og andre standarduttrykk.
The following general editorial choices are not included in the critical comments for each individual work:
• Typography, score layout, and instrument names have largely been standardized in keeping with modern practice.
• Where two notes share a stem, slurs, articulation markings and dynamics apply to both parts.
• The notation of slurs and ties in combination has been modernized.
• Markings such as ‘I.’, ‘II.’, and ‘a 2’ are sometimes editorial, but always comply with the general distribution of parts in the primary source, unless otherwise indicated in the critical comments.
• Clefs and rehearsal letters are generally reproduced as they appear in the primary source. Where rehearsal letters are missing in the primary source, they have been added in the new edition.
• Svendsen’s cautionary accidentals have been preserved. In a few cases, such accidentals have been added for the sake of convenience (specified in the critical comments).
• Svendsen nearly always marked grace notes with a slash through the note stem and a slur to the main note. In cases where such slurs and slashes are lacking in the primary source, they have been added in the new edition.
• Svendsen frequently used slanted strokes to indicate the repetition of measures or musical patterns. Such passages have been notated in full in the new edition.
• Measured tremolos consisting of no more than two or three notes have been written out in full, and those consisting of more than three notes have also been written out in short passages of one to three measures. In longer passages, measured tremolos of more than three notes have usually been retained.
• In longer triplet passages, the composer typically notated the triplet number above the first group of triplets only. Svendsen editions published by E.W. Fritzsch generally indicated numerals above the first two groups of triplets. The new edition includes numerals above all the triplet groups in the first measure of a given passage.
• Dotted lines indicating the continuation of a crescendo or diminuendo in the primary source have been retained. Moreover, such lines have occasionally been added by analogy, especially in passages lasting several measures, as long as the end point of the dynamic change has also been marked in the source.
• Svendsen employed several spellings of terms such as div., cresc. and rit. The spelling of these and similar terms has been standardized in the new edition.
Utgaven er disponert på følgende måte:
SERIE I: Orkesterverker
1. Symfoni nr. 1 i D-dur, op. 4
2. Symfoni nr. 2 i B-dur, op. 15
3. Norske rapsodier
4. Orkesterverker I
5. Orkesterverker II
6. Orkesterverker III
7. Tidlige danser og marsjer I
8. Tidlige danser og marsjer II
9. Arrangementer for orkester I
10. Arrangementer for orkester II
11. Arrangementer for orkester III
SERIE II: Verker for soloinstrument og orkester
1. Verker for fiolin og orkester
2. Cellokonsert i D-dur, op. 7
SERIE III: Verker for strykeorkester
SERIE IV: Kammermusikk
1. Strykekvartett, strykeoktett og strykekvintett
2. Annen kammermusikk
3. Arrangementer for strykekvartett I
4. Arrangementer for strykekvartett II
SERIE V: Klaververker
SERIE VI: Vokalverker
1. Kantater og korverker
2. Sanger
SERIE VII: Ballett
Foraaret kommer, op. 33
SERIE VIII: Skisser og varia
The editon is organized as follows:
SERIES I: Orchestral Works
1. Symphony no. 1 in D major, Op. 4
2. Symphony no. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 15
3. Norwegian Rhapsodies
4. Orchestral Works I
5. Orchestral Works II
6. Orchestral Works III
7. Early Dances and Marches I
8. Early Dances and Marches II
9. Arrangements for Orchestra I
10. Arrangements for Orchestra II
11. Arrangements for Orchestra III
SERIES II: Works for Soloist and Orchestra
1. Works for Violin and Orchestra
2. Cello Concerto in D major, Op. 7
SERIES III: Works for String Orchestra
SERIES IV: Chamber Music
1. String Quartet, String Octet and String Quintet
2. Miscellaneous Chamber Works
3. Arrangements for String Quartet I
4. Arrangements for String Quartet II
SERIES V: Piano Works
SERIES VI: Vocal Works
1. Cantatas and Choral Works
2. Songs
SERIES VII: Ballet
Spring Is Coming, Op. 33
SERIES VIII: Sketches and Varia
PREFACE
Johan Svendsen’s (1840–1911) Persian Dance has long been believed to be an original work by Svendsen, while actually it is an orchestration of La Brise, a song composed in 1870 by Svendsen’s good friend Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921). It is the first of four songs in Saint-Saëns’ collection Mélodies Persanes, Op. 26, published in 1872 by G. Hartmann in Paris. The lyrics of all the four songs are taken from Armand Renaud’s (1836–1895) collection of poems Les nuits persanes (1870). La Brise depicts the beautiful harem girls of Zaboulistan (a historic region in southern Afghanistan), dancing for the sultan, each with a sistrum in her hand. Svendsen has included some rare guests in the orchestra to produce a ‘breeze’ of oriental sounds: glockenspiel, tambourine and two piccolo flutes, along with cymbals and the usual classical symphonic forces.
Svendsen dated his orchestration ‘February 1883’, the last year of his final period in Christiania5 (Oslo). Norwegian musicologists Benestad and Schjelderup-Ebbe believe the work ‘may have been written for a theatrical performance in Oslo.’6 The score shows a number of pencilled revisions to the orchestration. These were made by Georg Carl Bohlmann (1838–1920), a composer and orchestrator who worked for Svendsen’s publisher Wilhelm Hansen Musik-Forlag as a music arranger and proofreader. A sheet with the heading ‘To the copyist’ and signed ‘Bohlmann 11/12 11’ accompanies the score and includes printing instructions for the work. This may be one of the scores that were found among the composer’s posthumous papers, which Svendsen’s student Hakon Børresen (1876–1954), among others, helped tidy up.
In 1911, Eyvind Alnæs (1872–1932) arranged the work for piano under the tile Danse Persane, and late that year, the arrangement was also published in a collection of pieces by Svendsen. Two years later, it was released in a version for salon orchestra in the Heimdal series (1913). On 23 December 1911, the Danish daily Berlingske Tidende reviewed the piano version of Persian Dance:
‘Danse persane’ is also a posthumous work and moreover one that shows a new side of Joh. Svendsen. This because in his older days, he eagerly studied foreign folk music, particularly oriental [music], and had acquired a rather substantial collection with which he was quite preoccupied. Evidently, he wished to find new sources for his abundant skills which, following his appointment at our Opera, had
ind paa noget nyt, der vilde kunne have ført ham videre, dersom Forholdene havde tiladt det. «Danse persane» er et orientalskfarvet, fastbygget Orkesterstykke, der ogsaa i Hr. Alnæs’ Klaveromskrivning er særdeles virkningsfuldt.
Svendsens interesse for orientalsk musikk er blant annet dokumentert gjennom sju arabiske melodier med tekst, i tillegg til en tyrkisk instrumentalmelodi, som Svendsen samlet i en liten notisbok. 3 Men Persisk dans er altså ikke en originalkomposisjon som uttrykker Svendsens orientalske interesse.
Svendsen ble kjent med Saint-Saëns allerede under sin første periode i Paris. På en privat soaré i 1869 spilte de to Griegs Fiolinsonate nr. 2 i G-dur, op. 13, et verk som var dedisert til Svendsen. Da Svendsen kom tilbake til Paris høsten 1878, besøkte han straks Saint-Saëns. Senere bodde de like i nærheten av hverandre i den franske hovedstaden og hadde mye kontakt. Svendsen dirigerte ofte verker av Saint-Saëns i perioden han var ansatt som kapellmester ved Det Kongelige Teater i København. Blant annet ledet han 18. mars 1900 førstefremføringen i Danmark av Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson et Dalila, op. 47.
Bjarte Engeset
NOTER
1 Christiania var navnet på Oslo fra 1624. Fra 1877 ble navnet skrevet Kristiania i matrikkel og statskalender og fra 1897 også av byens kommunale etater. Oslo ble igjen offisielt navn 1. januar 1925. I Johan Svendsens Verker bruker vi skrivemåten Christiania i omtalen av hendelser som skjedde i løpet av Svendsens liv.
2 Finn Benestad og Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe: Johan Svendsen. Mennesket og kunstneren Oslo 1990, s. 170.
3 Johan Svendsen: Nedtegnelser av folkemelodier, avskrifter, skisser. Nasjonalbiblioteket, Mus.ms. 1615..
considerably dried out. The present result is not great, but shows that here he has entered new territory that could have led him further if circumstances had allowed. ‘Danse persane’ is an oriental-coloured, solidly constructed orchestral piece that is extremely effective, also in in Mr Alnæs’ piano transcription.
Svendsen’s interest in oriental music is documented, among other things, by a notebook in which he has jotted down seven Arabic melodies with texts, in addition to an instrumental melody from Turkey.7 But Persian Dance is, in fact, an orchestration of a song by Saint-Saëns, rather than an original composition attesting to Svendsen’s interest in oriental music.
Svendsen’s acquaintance with Saint-Saëns goes all the way back to his first period in Paris. At a private soirée in 1869, the two composers played Grieg’s Sonata for Violin No. 2 in G major, Op. 13, a work dedicated to Svendsen. When the composer returned to Paris in the autumn of 1878, he immediately visited Saint-Saëns on 1 September. Later, they lived close to each other in Paris and had regular contact. In his position as music director of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen (from 1883) Svendsen frequently performed works by SaintSaëns, and on 18 March 1900 conducted the Danish premiere of Saint-Saëns’ opera Samson and Delilah, Op. 47.
Bjarte Engeset
English translation: Thilo Reinhard
Notes
5 Christiania was the name of today’s Oslo from 1624 until 1924. In 1877, the spelling Kristiania was adopted in land registers and government documents, and from 1897 also by the city’s municipal agencies. On 1 January 1925, the official name was once again changed to Oslo. In Johan Svendsen’s Works, we use the spelling Christiania in connection with events that occurred during Svendsen’s lifetime.
6 Finn Benestad and Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe, William H. Halverson (transl.): Johan Svendsen: The Man, the Maestro, the Music, Columbus, Ohio 1995, p. 206.
7 Johan Svendsen: Nedtegnelser av folkemelodier, avskrifter, skisser. National Library of Norway, Mus.ms. 1615.
PERSIAN DANCE (LA BRISE BY CAMILLE SAINT–SAËNS), JSV 83, AUTOGRAPH SCORE, COVER, SOURCE A . THE SCORE IS KEPT AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF NORWAY, MUS.MS. 7875
PERSIAN DANCE (LA BRISE BY CAMILLE SAINT–SAËNS), JSV 83, AUTOGRAPH SCORE, FIRST PAGE, SOURCE A THE SCORE IS KEPT AT THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF NORWAY, MUS.MS. 7875
