2024 will mark the 36th annual Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Theatre troupes from all over the word will descend on Winnipeg, to present non- juried, artistically innovative, and free theatre, with 100% of the proceeds from the productions going directly to the artists.
In honor of this iconic Winnipeg Summer event, we here at Classic 107 will be featuring music for the theatre written by Scandanavian composers.
Monday, July 15: Carl Nielsen--Aladdin Suite (1919)
Written to accompany a production of Adam Oehlenschlager’s “dramatic fairy tale” of the same name, Aladdin was premiered in 1919 by the Royal Theater in Copenhagen.
Nielsen composed most of the music in northern Denmark in the town of Skagen.
The production was a flop. The director Johannes Poulsen used the room provided for the orchestra pit to extend the stage, and the orchestra was crammed off to the side of the stage. When Poulsen re-arranged the order of dances Nielsen had written, Nielsen demanded that his name be taken off the posters and program out of sheer disgust for the project.
Nielsen considered the music he had written to be some of his best, and he regularly conducted excerpts from the score both in Denmark and abroad, finally compiling the Aladdin Suite in 1940.
Tuesday, July 16: Johann Halvorsen—Frossegrimen Suite (1904)
Written to accompany the play Frossegrimen by Sigurd Eldegard, this is music full of delightful Norwegian folk music flavor.
Frossegrimen centers around the character of the water spirit Fossegrim who is found in Scandanavian folklore. He plays the Norwegian folk instrument known as the Hardanger fiddle, and it is said that the sound of the forest, wind and water play over his fiddle strings.
Halvorsen in the music makes prominent use of a Hardanger fiddle soloist to depict Fossegrim. He also makes use of Norwegian folk music to help move the story along.
This is music full of folksy charm that proved to be an enormous success when it was first performed in 1909.
Wednesday, July 17: Jean Sibelius—The Tempest Suite no. 1 (1925)
This is music written for Danish audiences. The Danish theater producer Johannes Poulsen approached Sibelius about the possibility of comping music for a production of Shakespeare’s play for the Royal Danish Theatre.
By the time the commission for the music for The Tempest came round, Sibelius had composed his seven symphonies. He was looking for an outlet to compose music for orchestra that did not have to be tied down to traditional orchestral forms. The music for The Tempest allowed him to set free his compositional imagination when converting into sound the themes of Shakespeare’s magical world and its natural elements.
The music is said to display an astounding richness of imagination and inventive capacity and is considered by some as one of Sibelius's greatest achievements.
From the incidental music Sibelius created two orchestral suites.
Thursday, July 18: Johann Halvorsen—Masquerade Suite (1922)
In 1922 a production of the play Masquerade by the Norwegian-Danish playwright Ludvig Holberg was being planned for the Norwegian National Theatre.
First performed in 1724, Masquerade proved to be immensely popular with Scandinavian audiences.
Due to financial restraints Halvorsen was given the task of composing music for a small orchestra of just 15 players. When he created the suites, he expanded the orchestration to add depth and color to the music.
What Halvorsen supplied was a pastiche of 18th century dance music, with current harmonies and orchestral colors for the time. Cotillon, Gavotte and Passpied dances are heard in addition to the grotesque Hanedansen (The Dance of the Cockerel) and in Kehras. (Bachanal) The play includes buffoonery, comedy and ballet, an ideal subject for Halvorsen who was known for his quick wit and profound sense of humor.
Friday, July 19: Edvard Grieg: --Peer Gynt Suites 1 and 2 (1875)
Written for a production of Henryk Ibsen’s 1867 play Peer Gynt, this is music that has gone on to become some of Grieg most well-known and beloved music.
But Grieg found the subject matter and constraints of the project daunting. He found that Ibsen’s play was unwieldy and the thought of composing music that would effectively depict the characters and move the narrative along quite difficult. The Swedish management of the theater also made limits on the duration of the numbers. As Greig said:
I was thus compelled to do patchwork... In no case had I opportunity to write as I wanted... Hence the brevity of the pieces.
When the music and the play was performed it was a triumphant success, and Grieg would adapt the music into two suites. Some of the music from these suites becoming very well known in popular culture.
Tune in all week to hear this amazing music written for theatre as we celebrate another Winnipeg Fringe Festival!
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