When in doubt about material you are working on, my philosophy directs me toward experts more knowledgeable than I, and for that reason, I contacted a fellow musician I had the good fortune of knowing and performing with during our undergraduate days in Illinois.
After reuniting on line with Dr. Nelson, I asked if he would critique this arrangement for it’s compositional elements which were not familiar to me. Jim listened to my first arrangement and not only made corrections and suggestions but also shared some history pertaining to the song itself.
As you listen to my arrangement, read through this wonderful presentation by the good doctor which follows.
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“The tonality of this second phrase gives a feeling of the violence, pain and loss of the struggle for (first) a sense of nationhood, born of war, and (second) the later struggle when Norway lost her independence to Denmark in 1397.
The third phrase gives a sense of the gradual rise out of strife and (later) bondage, increasing in intensity all the way to the final 2 measures.
The dotted rhythm in the bass line of the first 2 beats of measure 19 (next-to-last measure) is an integral part of the overall feeling of the song and its message. Actually, it is only in the lower line as the 1st and 2nd bass part of the 4-part choral arrangement. It accentuates the “marching” feeling, the “call to arms” feeling expressed in some of the text verses.
Text and translation:
1) Ja, vi elsker dette landet, som det stiger frem,
furet, over vannet, med de tusen hjem!
Elsker, elsker det og tenker på vår far og mor
|: og den saganatt som senker drømme på vår jord 😐
English:
Yes, we love this land, as it strides forward,
covered with pine forests, above the water, and “the thousands of homes”!
(Yes, we) love, love it and reflect on our father and mother
and the saga-night* (from) which dreams (of our ancient greatness)
drift down upon our soil.
2) Dette landet Harald bjerget med sin kjemperad
dette landet Håkon verget, medens Eyvind kvad.
På det landet Olav malte, korset med sitt blod,
Fra dets høye Sverre talte Roma midt imot! 😐
English:
This land king Harald Fairhair* forged, with his mighty army;
this land king Håkon (the 5th) protected while Eyvind wrote (epic poetry
in praise of the king and the country).
On this country, king Olav II (St. Olaf, killed in 1030) painted the cross
with his blood.
From its (high-seat / throne), king Sverre Sigurdsson challenged Rome.
(he was excommunicated, but Norway remained catholic until ca. 1530).
There are more verses, but you get the general idea.
The anthem’s text and melody came together in 1864, during the period of euphoric Pan-Scandinavianism in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. A sense of strong national identity came to the fore in Norway, as her first generation of home-educated Norwegian leaders, scholars and creative artists began researching Norway’s largely neglected past history and culture, and the contemporary treasury of rich rural culture that urban Norway was largely unaware of.
Norway was first unified in 872 AD by king Harald Hårfagre. A few kings tried to Christianize pagan Norway for at least 30 years, ending with the death of Olav II, who was canonized and became St. Olaf, Norway’s patron saint. Norway was declared to be officially Christian in 1030, but paganism died very slowly, and has been revived again in modern times.
Norway was absorbed by Denmark in 1397 and remained just a province of Denmark until 1814, when the Congress of Vienna declared Norway free, but under the king of Sweden until they could build a substantial domestic government and economy. That happened in 1905. Five years of German Nazi occupation 1940-45 was a horrible trial for the country, with thousands of civilians killed by the occupiers. I was in Norway when they voted to not join the European Union in 1972, fearing that Germany would once again dominate them.
Back to 1864, when mighty Prussia (the main part of Germany-to-be, when Germany came into being in 1870) invaded little Denmark, overrunning about 1/3 of the country. The Danish and Prussian armies were locked in trench warfare, when the Prussians, in an overnight switcheroo, replaced all their single-shot, muzzle-loading rifles and cannons with breech-loaders that fired 5 shots at a time. (Double purpose: they were testing these weapons before using them to attack France, which they did 6 years later!) They annexed part of Denmark and forcibly tried to Germanize the children. (Did the same thing with what is now, again, western Poland.)”
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Now, let me share with you some background on this outstanding musician and good friend, Dr James Nelson.
Education:
- Education degree from Augustana College- Rock Island, Illinois
MA in Scandinavian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin
Ph.D in Scandinavian Languages & Literature, Univ of Washington
Postgraduate studies, University of Oslo and the University of Iowa.
Positions Held:
Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Studies at Camrose Lutheran College, Camrose Alberta, now the Augustana Campus of the Univ. of Alberta.
Assistant Professor of Scandinavian Studies at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota.
Adjunct faculty, Scandinavian Studies Dept., Univ. of Washington.
Program Leader and lecturer, University of Oslo.
Professor Nelson also taught public school music and languages (English, Norwegian and German) in the Norwegian public school system for 15 years and lived in Norway for nearly 19 years. He has additionally sung with a Norwegian male chorus for 10 years in Norway, directed one in the US for 3 years and has been singing Scandinavian folk and popular music professionally for over 40 years.
