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Stenhammar's symphony in G minor and the quest for a pure Nordic style.

Article Excerpt
Too OFTEN MUSIC HISTORIANS consider a Nordic style a forgone conclusion when they study the works of Scandinavian composers. Yet actually pinning down what constitutes Nordic style is more illusive, especially during the late romantic period when Wagnerism was sweeping over the musical landscape. Even the nationalistic works of Hugo Alfven and Wilhelm Peterson-Berger that employed Swedish folk music and polka rhythms looked to Wagner as their model. Aflven's fourth symphony employs the delirious chromatic style of Tristan und Isolde's third act. Peterson-Berger's shared Wagner's love of Norse mythology, and his Arnljot was one of the last Viking operas popular among Swedish opera-goers. Stenammar fell under spell of Wagnerism and nationalism as well. The rhapsody Midvinter served as an answer to Alfven's Midsommarvaka, and Tifing represented Stenhammar's attempt at a Viking opera. And personal crises following the opera's failure caused him to reorient his style. Even during this early national period Stenhammar's works revealed a search for a unique Nordic style beyond post-Wagnerian nationalism. While Stenhammar used Swedish folk melodies and chorales, he never abandoned his classical models. His devotion to the Austrian and German masters took priority over the folk styles. Stenhammar, however, was not making any value judgment by classicizing Swedish folk music. For Stenhammar, the inclusion of Swedish folk music in a classical framework reflected an attempt to ennoble the reference. Perhaps the greatest example of Stenhammar's Nordic classicism occurred in the Symphony in G minor.

The Symphony in G minor was not the first experience Stenhammar had with the genre. He had composed an earlier symphony in F major following the Tirfing disaster but later abandoned it. The F Major Symphony showed a subtle contrast to his earlier style. Nowhere do we find the epic use of folk melodies that appear so common in the national music of the time. Rather the symphony contains a cool and restrained distillation of melodic structure and tonality. After the F Major Symphony's premier in December 1903, Stenhammar, considering the symphony more of an experiment than a certifiable addition to his corpus, withdrew the work from public exposure. While the reasons remain unknown, Stenhammar's attendance at a performance of Sibelius's second symphony seemed to have caused Stenhammar to second guess his symphonic style. In a letter to Sibelius following the Stockholm concert, Stenhammar wrote:

Du skall veta att Du ar i min tanke dagligen alltsedan jag horde symfonin. Du harliga manniska, det ar ju hela stora fang av under du hamtat upp ur det omedvetnas och outsagligas djup. Det som jag anade har besannats: Du star i denna stund for mig som den framste, den ende, den outgrundlige.... Jag har ocksa skrivit en symfoni nu. Den kallas atminstone for symfoni och enligt ett avtal som Du kanske glomt skulle den tillagnas Dig. Darav blir emellertid ingenting. Den ar ganska god, men gar pa ytan. Jag langtar in i mig sjalv. Och Du far vanta tills jag...

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