by Finn Gravesen

The creation of the world and its destruction

Following the orders of Odin, the Gods create the earth out of the sea (Minor key. Mysterious piano, sombre mood, the double basses rise from the depths). Chaos is transformed into order. The sun rises and the first human beings arrive on the scene. (Theme in all four voices. Light key). Fight between the Gods and the giants, Odin slings his javelin and general strife breaks out. (March theme and hefty chords, full blast). The mighty meet (powerful trumpets). Lies poison the air giving rise to a storm of indignation (music grows, march in deeper strings). The Twilight of the Gods, the great battle, cleanses the world (hammering, sharp chords) and the good assemble in paradise (harp chords, beautiful piano melody). The powerful come down from the heavens to make their judgement and pronounce on what is to be made sacred on earth (Quiet ending. Peace and pianissimo).

190px_Odin og Vølven_Tegning af Lorenz Frølich fra Den ældre Eddas gudesaga_gendigtet af Karl Gjellerup 1895The Sibyl's prophesy
This is the vision of the creation of earth, its destruction and salvation according to the Old Norse Sibyl's Prophesy saga dating from around the year 900 AD - put to music by J.P.E. Hartmann in 1872.    
 
A "sibyl" is a soothsayer or prophet from Old Norse times. A mysterious figure, just the sort of thing which turned on romantic souls like Hartmann. The more mysterious, the more distant the subject matter, the better. And the music followed of its own accord. The public loved these exotic stories and were utterly moved by the music's dramatic expressiveness.

Industry and choral music
1872 was the year when the Nordic Industrial Exhibition was held in Copenhagen. Inside the industrial pavilion specially built for the occasion there was a large crystal palace, which was very well-suited as a concert hall for a very large symphony orchestra, the local Danish student singers and their colleagues from across the Sound in Lund, who were invited to take part in the grand première of the exhibition. Their participation underlined the "Nordic" aspect of the project. With industry as its backbone, the exhibition expressed a definite belief in the future.

Finn Gravesen is an author and editor, his latest work being "Who owns the music?" ("Hvem ejer musikken?") (2006) commissioned by the Ministry of Culture.

Drawing by Lorenz Froelich, 1895.