Piano part of Robert Schumann’s

man wonders where the brook is leading him. But the rippling semi-quavers in the right hand still construct the journey full of excitement and anticipation. With little dynamic changes in the piano part, but pp at the beginning, the only “cresc.” in m. 26 and “” in m. 29 becomes significant. The pianist should give the full effect on the mill. The rising and falling also represents the first time, of many that the man questions his future.

The journey motive has altered in song 5 as the first song in this cycle in a minor form, implying miller’s frustration. In m. 45, a moment where the tonality and dynamics completely different is inferred as miller’s joy and peace when he is sitting by the fire and others. He has deeply fallen love with the maiden.

The journey has not recurred until the middle section of song 11 “Mein”. The B flat major hints the happy journey of the man and re-evokes the mill wheels and the pure joy has shown in song 1 “Das Wandern”. This returning seems that Schubert intends to remind the listeners that the man is still on his journey!

The motive has disappeared for a while until song 17. The “Die böse Farbe” opens with the journey motive as saying the man desire the journey outside the world of green, however, it disappears in first two stanzas. In the beginning of the third stanza, ironically, the piano parts review the single-note motive from the previous song “Die Liebe Farbe” to mock himself still thinking about her. The journey motive finally returns in the fourth verse and somewhat continues the journey in the storm

and snow and rain.

The last time that the journey motive appears is the sections of “Der Bach” and “Der Müller” in song 19 “Der Müller und der Bach”. In the text, there is nothing about the journey. But Schubert still chose the journey motive for these two characters. In my interpretation, it is the recurring to the pure joy, the mystery, curiosity, and the innocently beautiful love in the beginning of the journey. After all happened, nearing the end of the journey, people always think of the beginning how they start the journey and how they got up to whatever it is now. The music then modulates very gently to G major, the fundamental tonic key of the cycle, which is sounded for the first time since the hero reached the mill, in other words, since “Danksagung an den Bach” (song 4). In the latter song, he thanked the brook for guiding him to love. Now he thanks it for guiding him to death!

Edvard Grieg – Haugtussa

With the publication of Garborg’s novel Haugtussa in 1895, Grieg composed a song cycle based on the novel. (Matthew - Walker, 2008). However, Grieg emphasizes the love stories from the narrative for this song cycle and these become the principal theme. Grieg does include occasional textual references to a sense of grievance and darkness as a minor topic and transition lead of the song cycle, such as in “Det Synge” but they are brief and infrequent. The primary effort of the song cycle is love—more particularly, love and loss.

Melodic Motive

The use of melodic motives, perhaps, is Grieg’s most important device for generating a consistent line throughout the cycle and

for serving interpretation of the poetic narrative and the effect on different protagonist’s gender. The melodic motives dramatize and unify the entire song cycle.

There is a motive which I have named it “the maid motive”. It is a simple ascending arpeggiated tonic triad melodic motive that displays its symbolic meaning throughout the Haugtussa song cycle in different variations (Example 2.1). This melodic figure is usual in tonal music, but it attains power as a motive as it appears again and again in similar contexts. The maid Veslemøy is meant to represent innocence and to serve as a symbol of all humanity—a universal symbol, as Henry’s blue flower. It may also represent Grieg’s fantasy for love, as it should be as pure and innocent as Veslemøy’s eyes. There could be no more appropriate musical representation of her than a simple triad. The arpeggiated triad serves as a consistent musical representation of the protagonist.

This motive is altered and varied at times, reflecting Veslemøy’s experiences, and it occurs at the opening melodic gesture or the beginning of some stanzas in the middle in five of the eight songs of Op. 67 closely associated with Veslemøy (No. 1 “Det sing”, No. 2 “Veslemøy”, No. 3 “Blåbær-Li”, No. 5 “Elsk”, and No. 7 “Vond Dag”). This strengthens the statement that this triad motive does serve as a primary melodic motive in the song cycle. Some of the altered motive’s rising third motions remind me that Schumann’s Dichterlieber has similar rising-third motive throughout the whole song cycle. This can somewhat explain the influences from Schumann Grieg’s art songs. (Matthew - Walker, 2008).

The original, unaltered motive, as seen in the opening of

“Det Synge” (The Enticement) is a f-minor tonic triad. The combination of the arpeggiated triad and the minor mode is appropriate for Veslemøy. The vocal line creates a melodic arch at the beginning as a symbol of the blue mountain. The triad, simple and plain, yet somewhat clouded or darkened by a minor third, is a fitting representation of a girl who, though young and innocent, sees otherworldly things and is vulnerable to those dark influences. In order to reserve the simplicity, the piano part consists of rolling chords to and only to provide the background setting for the entire first song.

The second song “Veslemøy” apparently contains the maid motive, which appears seven times from measure 19 to the end. The motive and its variations are mostly found in minor and augmented forms; the augmented motive happens twice in mm. 14 and 18, the second half of the strophic verse. In the second verse, the text “trembles around the mouth” (bivrar um Munnen) is attached to the augmented triad. Only the last occurrence of the augmented triad, with the text “she is pretty” (ho er ven), is less specific about there being something wrong with Veslemøy. This is also a great example to illustrate how Grieg paints the text with musical motives.

In song No. 7 “Vand Dag”, the piano opens the maid motive with the f-minor triad and the vocal line immediately imitate the triad motive. The two verses feature in similar melodic lines; however, Grieg changes the pattern in the second stanza. The first word, “No” (Now) is on the downbeat rather than treating it as an upbeat as he had at the identical

place in the first verse. Grieg also places an accent on the word “døy” (die) in m. 26. This can serve as a great example of how carefully and delicately Grieg paints the text along with the music. At the ending of the first stanza and second, the piano picks up from the vocal line descending-third motion and goes all the way end at f-minor chord. The maid motive is associated with the protagonist, and remains constant throughout Haugtussa in that it consistently refers to Veslemøy.

Melodic Rhyme

Grieg creates the innocent character of the maid Veslemøy with well-chosen harmonies and simplicity of structure. He economizes his melodic material, building the song from just a few phrases that are frequently repeated—a procedure borrowed from Norwegian folksong and used plentifully in the entire song cycle. His short phrases, however, are almost always repeated at a different pitch level in a compositional technique known as “melodic rhyme.”

In the song of “Det sing”, the next vocal phrase employs melodic rhyme and simply repeats the opening phrase a perfect fourth higher. In the second song, melodic rhyme is, again, an important device for generating the overall melodic shape. It is used in the first two phrases and also within the first phrase. The vocal line opens with the maid motive on the tonic, E minor, then moves to the median where the motive repeats. The next phrase begins with the motive again, this time on the submediant—a transposition of the opening phrase. Grieg also utilizes melodic rhyme in the song “Møte”, and the phrase from mm. 5-6 is immediately repeated a whole step higher. The repetition and chromatism intensifies the sense

of anticipation as Veslemøy sits waiting anxiously for Jon. The repetition through melodic rhyme also makes the motive that much more convincing.

Path of the Narrative Voice Changing

One of the most valuable tools for text painting in this cycle is the constantly changing narrative voice throughout. From the narrator to the protagon isttself, the voice changing associates with the Veslemøy’s love in different stages, from joy, to questioning, to obsession, and finally to sorrow.

The cycle begins with joy, which represents in song 1 to 3 as the positive aspect of love. The opening song “Det sing” addresses Veslemøy, but it also gives the listener insight into Veslemøy’s gifts and challenges. A blue mountain ogre sings to Veslemøy, leading her to come dwell with him and the creatures of the Blue-hill. The second song of the cycle is a physical description of the protagonist, appropriately entitled “Veslemøy.” In “Blåbær-Li,” Veslemøy has discovered a patch of beautiful, ripe blueberries, and she sings of what she will do with various animals. In mm. 45-6, the first mention of Jon, the young man that Veslemøy falls in love with. For the listeners, all the characters, including the background are represented under the mood of pure joyfulness.

Starting at song 4, the sense of questioning may appear after Veslemøy has lost Jon and begun to reconcile herself to his betrayal. The mood of the fourth song is anticipatory, excited, and nervous—all of the emotions one associates with new love are portrayed in the text. It still speaks as narrated.

Until the fifth song, the emotion has been conveyed as obsession, when Jon is all Veslemøy can think about, and she believes she would

do anything to be with him. It is the protagonist’s speaking and also the dramatic climax in the emotions of the cycle. “Ask” is one of only two songs in Haugtussa that departs from the strophic form, and this departure allows the music to better reflect the emotional instability of the protagonist.

The sixth song of the cycle, “Killingdans” (Kidlings’ Dance), is the only song in the cycle that is not clearly connected with Veslemøy in some way. While the kids portrayed in the song are most certainly from Veslemøy’s flock, and while it may well be assumed that Veslemøy is singing the song, she herself is not mentioned. The music itself is joyful and carefree, portraying the young goats hopping and playfully nipping at one another on a happy, sunny day. “Killingdans” departs from Veslemøy’s narrative, and it is, therefore, appropriate that the motive associated with her would not be present. This seems completely irrelevant to the love theme; however, the purely happy scene with beautiful nature characters imply that it may Veslemøy’s fantasy.

In song 7, the protagonist has progressed to another state of emotion with regard to her love for Jon. She now experiences sorrow. The harmony is ambiguous as previewing the finality of Veslemøy’s loss. Eventually to the loss of love expresses in the song “Ved Gjætle-bekken” and also the only one depicts as in second person which gives the reader the sense of directness of her overwhelming loneliness, loss, and painful resignation. The piano accompaniment in this through-composed song simulates the sound of flowing water. There are two step-wise descents that accompany the text about Veslemøy’s loneliness, first in the piano right

hand (inner voice), beginning at m. 54 and then in the piano left hand, beginning at m. 56.

 Brief Comparison of Two Song Cycles and Conclusion

A particular type of lyric song characterized by its mainly strophic form, a straightforward melodic line, a rather formulated emotional content and the largely supportive role of the piano accompaniment. Haugtussa bears more than a passing resemblance in mood and story to Schubert’s Die schone Mullerin. Like the songs in Die schone Mullerin, the songs of Haugtussa are strophic in for, with the exception of No. 5 and 8. The two cycles share the similarities, such as most of the songs are in strophic form. Even two composers all put piano as an investable part in these two song cycles, Schubert applied major-minor contrasting, varied tempos, consistent pattern in the piano, producing the journey motives, characters, and story telling. Grieg comparatively gave the extreme freedom to the piano, as the narrator, serves perfectly to the text painting, the maid motive, and storytelling as well.

Bibliography

1. Matthew-Walker, Robert. The Recording of Edvard Grieg: A Tradition Captured. St. Austell: DGR, (1993).