Sinfonia austera
(1st Symphony)

By Jørgen Mortensen



    Composed 1953-55, revised 1956
    To Anelise
    First performance 19.8.1958 by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, on the radio: The Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Lamberto Gardelli. First concert performance, 11.2.1963 in the Tivoli Gardens Concert Hall: the Tivoli Gardens Concert Hall Orchestra, conducted by Eifred Eckert Hansen
    Length: 35 min.

NB  Due to the restrictive policy of the recording company Chandos note all music samples can be heard.


Per Nørgård wrote his First Symphony, Sinfonia austera, in 1953-55, and revised it in 1956. In other words this, his first extended work, took shape in his student years. Sinfonia austera means, literally, the 'austere' symphony, and austerity - severity - is indeed the theme of the young composer's first major work.

The work is in three movements, is written for a full symphonic ensemble, and lasts 35 minutes. Austerity is expressed in the very sombre tone of the work, which transmits a mood of darkness, melancholy, reserve and dramatic tension, though there are also lyrical passages. These passages can be strangely, even transparently beautiful, though the austere tone is maintained throughout.

Severity
 Severity is also revealed in the composition of the work itself: all the music would seem to trace its roots back to the same basic, melodic material presented at the beginning of the first movement. For long passages the music lives on in the melodic lines rather than the harmonics.

Since everything springs from the same basic material, it is definitely possible to experience the symphony as a unified whole, but immediately recognisable or ingratiating passages are not dealt out with a generous hand. Severity and seriousness are the order of the day.



Orchestration
It is remarkable that Nørgård had mastered the skills of orchestration at such an early stage. The severe tone reveals a firm will to express a message, which is transmitted very convincingly, not only in compositional terms, but in the orchestration, especially in the build-up to a major climax. The 'gestic', or compositional body language, is very convincing in these places.

But also the more reserved lyrical passages are very expressive precisely on account of the orchestration, which is exceedingly beautiful (cf. the examples below). There are stirring woodwind sections, sections where the brass is used to monumental effect, and passages in which the strings paint a broad and very beautiful canvas. The percussion is also used to great effect.

Holmboe


Models

One of the models for this symphony is provided by Nørgård's teacher, Vagn Holmboe. Holmboe's 7th and 8th Symphonies from 1950 and 1951 respectively, are equally severe in their expression and keep austerely to the basic material - which develops according to the metamorphosis technique. There is an especial likeness between Nørgård's symphony and the opening of Holmboe's 8th Symphony: like Holmboe, Nørgård also opens with a bass clarinet solo over a roll of kettledrums.


Sibelius

Holmboe's 8th Symphony is entitled Sinfonia boreale, the Nordic Symphony, and this is fully expressed in the special tone of the work. The fact that Nørgård's 1st Symphony is written in 'the universe of the Nordic mind' is also understandable in view of the fact that another of his models was Jean Sibelius (1865-1957). That Sibelius was such a model is clear from a conscious 'greeting' sent to him in 'Tapiola - the cry of the bird' (rapid woodwind figures), which is a kind of quotation from Sibelius' tone poem, Tapiola, opus 112. This work was composed in 1925, one of the last things Sibelius wrote. A short poem, Tapiola (the dwelling of the god of the forest), heads the score:


Far and wide spread the dark Norseland forests,
age-old, mysterious, in their secretive dreams;
within them dwells the mighty god of the forest (Tapio),
and the woodland elves work their secret magic in its dark groves.

Tapiola is built around a simple basic material that is presented in the beginning and passes through a series of changes - metamorphoses. The music becomes completely caught up in the Nordic mood of the poem.

The mood of Sibelius' 1st Symphony, too, seems to have inspired both Holmboe's Sinfonia boreale and Nørgård's 1st Symphony - in all three cases we see the roll of kettledrums and the clarinet solo with the small intervals (see later).

Bartok
One other possible model is Bela Bartok (1881-1945). In a work such as Music for string instruments, percussion and celeste, we experience a first movement which develops in an austere fashion the material presented at the start, a basic material which is relatively narrow and make use of small intervals.