Hej!
Not many pictures, though there are some, mostly music though. That is, after all, my pretext for being in Europe.
6/20:
My day began with a time-crunch; I had to schedule laundry sometime between 11 AM and 2 PM (I was wearing the only clothes I had left after London!), I had a lesson with Björn-Tryggve at the MHS from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM. I usually get back from these lessons around 1 PM, because of the way the bus schedule works, and I needed to leave for Helsingør before 2 PM if I were to get to the concert that I missed last week at 4 PM. Thankfully, for some strange reason, all of the rooms’ doors were open, so I threw my laundry in the washing machine in the room I reserved, and ran off to the bus-stop to get to the MHS.
My lesson was good; shrill, but good. That day technicians were testing the school’s newly updated fire-alarm system. The fire alarm must have gone off at least 6 times during the course of our lesson, each time lasting about a minute, it was close to maddening!
Björn-Tryggve’s specialty is counterpoint. I believe he is writing a book on the subject. Since I have already studied 16th century counterpoint with Carl Smith (one of my favorite classes at Blair!), we discussed 18th century counterpoint (the Fugue), or Baroque counterpoint, as it is also called. A concise definition of either kind of counterpoint would be difficult, both kinds of counterpoint have some overlapping principles as well as some rules which are individual to each. Both kinds of counterpoint, however, primarily rely on the principle of imitation: one ‘voice’ or line does one thing, another voice does something highly related to that (often the same shape, starting on a different note). Both 16th century counterpoint and fugal counterpoint are built around a call and response where the first voice doesn’t stop ‘calling’ after the ‘response’ has started.
Many composers have written fugues. J. S. Bach is the most famous composer of fugues for Klavier (keyboard, or harpsichord, though plenty of people perform Bach fugues on piano), but also Mozart, Beethoven, and later composers such as Maurice Ravel, Samuel Barber, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Bach is the bedrock, though, so we looked at some of the principles underlying Bach’s fugues. One of the reasons Bach is difficult to analyze is that there is a delicate balance between vertical functions (the lines’ intersections functioning as harmonies in a progression) and linear functions (the lines functioning with more regard for their horizontal direction than their vertical intersection), which makes it difficult to tell the importance of notes. Every note can be justified as being important in some way, it seems, those ‘non-chord tones’ are necessary melodic figures, and just which melodic note is part of the chord is another difficult question.
Björn-Tryggve took me through the method he teaches to students beginning to write their own Bach-style fugues. It was very succinct, and it seemed like he had really mastered how to convey the material to students.
Of course, while all of this discussion was going on, there were the intermittent blarings of the fire-alarm. Thankfully, it stopped for a large portion of our session, only resuming as we were wrapping up.
Then I dashed home! I wasn’t going to miss this concert a second time!
My clothes were obviously washed by now, so I got back into my reserved room, threw the clothes into the dryer, then went back to my room for a hasty lunch. It seems like the dryer was pretty powerful, my clothes were warm and toasty after only 35 minutes - I decided that things could air-dry in my room rather than have to miss the concert or be locked out from my clothes because I was in Denmark. That was fortunate, it afforded me the time I needed to get Malmö Central Station and get on the train to Helsingør.
I’ve been feeling a little under the weather (even more so today than 6/20). When I got on the train, a wave of exhaustion came over me, so I slept for the first hour of the train ride out. I arrived in Helsingør Central with 16 minutes before the concert started. I hoofed it the distance to Kronborg Slot and arrived just in time for the start of the concert in the Kronborg Slotskirke.
The concert was absolutely wonderful! The Slotskirke was an intimate environment with an excellent acoustic. We began and ended the concert with a sing-along of sorts, entitled Fællessang. Fortunately there were words printed on the back of the program.
The soprano whom I met on the train the weekend I went to Copenhagen was performing: Hanna Kappelin, as well as the violinist Julie Meile, and the organist/harpsichordist Søren Gleerup Hansen. They performed pieces I had never heard before. Two arias by Handel, two songs from Peer Gynt by Grieg, and a Telemann Cantata (the baroque kind of cantata, meaning a song with contrasting sections of recitative and aria). The performance was exceptional! The blend of the space, the acoustic, and the quality of the performance was wonderful! I’m sorry I missed last week’s concert, though Hanna assured me that this week’s was better. If I have nothing to do next Wednesday, I’ll certainly be going back for another performance!
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| I suppose this is where the duke of Kronborg would sit during services |
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| The main stage. Interestingly enough, at least half of the concert was performed from the back of the chapel, with all of us facing forward. The organ was in the back of the chapel, so the other performers were back there too. |
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| The organ pipes. It was a beautiful organ, though the pedals were a little clanky, but it's an old instrument, no doubt. |
I also took a few more pictures of Helsingør before I left. A beautiful castle! Just to be in the castle courtyard is very dramatic, surrounded on all sides by high and beautiful walls and windows... the train-ride back was uneventful (thankfully), and I got back home, had dinner, worked on part-making, and went to bed.
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| Shakespeare! I knew that something was rotten! |
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| A swan! I took a video (which it would take forever to upload) of someone feeding the swan, as well as its mate, and at least 6 cygnets. There were pretty adorable, making little peeping noises! |
6/21:
Today was my first lesson back with Staffan since my trip to England. I had sent Staffan an e-mail (which he hadn’t received, maybe he hadn’t checked his inbox yet today, since I sent it last night articulating my new lesson plan for the rest of my stay, unless inspiration knocks very firmly on my door. I’d like to focus on listening to music while I’m over here, learning as much music as possible, opening my ears and horizons. It’s easier to listen to music than it is to write it in this sort of environment. My current living situation is not very conducive to composing, so I figure I’ll focus on something that will prove productive, rather than try to roll a boulder up a hill that I don’t have the strength to roll to the top.
Since I don’t (and I don’t know many people outside of Sweden who do) know much Swedish classical music, our lesson today focused on Swedish composers of note. So far, just from today’s session I’ve added at least a cursory listen of the works of Allan Pettersson, Bo Linde, Lars-Erik Larsson, Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Ingvar Lidholm, Gösta Nystroem, Hilding Rosenberg, and Bo Nilsson to my list of composers I know. Maybe after I’ve done a little more listening (or as part of a final blog entry) I’ll give some sort of sum up of my favorite Swedish composers to you all, along with an excerpt or two. Even giving only a cursory listen to these composers, as you could imagine, would take a while. 3 hours of listening! And it seemed like Staffan showed no signs of slowing down - I was astounded at the sheer volume of music he knows, in addition to the standard repertoire that most everyone gets through a music education knowing. Of course, then, one of the things I’ve learned about musicians is that many of them have specialty areas which, if you tap those wells, can increase your own musical knowledge immensely. I already mentioned feeling under the weather, and 3 hours of steady listening did not help matters. As good as the music was, I was getting a headache, so I called it a day, and will be meeting with Staffan again after the weekend.
It’s strange to think of how much time as elapsed, and how little time remains. I fly back to America on July 2nd, only 11 days from now! It’s been a lot of fun, and a huge adventure. My first excursion into the ‘real world.’ I know by the time I get home I’ll be fully ready for a really summer break. The kind I’m used to, in hot, muggy Ohio!
Godnatt!
-Trey
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