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DACOCD 567-568 [ADD]
Composer & Pianist, vol. 4
Vocal Music
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DACOCD 567-568 [ADD] |
Herman D. Koppel Composer & Pianist, vol. 4 Vocal Music |
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| Oversigt over de skriftsteder, der benyttes i de bibelske sange, findes her. Teksterne til de verdslige sange kan findes ud for hver enkelt sang. |
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DACOCD 567 (CD 1) |
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Herman D. Koppel (1908-1998)
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| Three Psalms for tenor solo, mixed choir, boys' choir and orchestra, Opus 48 (1949) |
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| [ 1 ] | First Movement |
14:30
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| [ 2 ] |
Second Movement (MP3 sample  )
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5:03
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| [ 3 ] |
Third Movement (MP3 sample )
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7:23
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Tenor soloist: Peter Lindroos The Danish National Symphony Orchestra The Danish National Choir Copenhagen Boys' Choir Conductor: John Frandsen Recorded by DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) 16.3.1978
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| Five biblical songs for tenor and piano, Opus 46 (1949) | |||
| [ 4 ] | Intonation |
1:22
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| [ 5 ] | 1. Fryd (Joy) |
1:36
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| [ 6 ] | 2. Kærlighed (Love) |
2:14
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| [ 7 ] | 3. Ekstase (Ecstasy) |
2:32
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| [ 8 ] | 4. Klagesang (Lamentation) |
3:38
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| [ 9 ] | 5. Hymne (Hymn) |
2:05
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Kurt Westi, tenor Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 25.2.1976
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| Four love songs on the Song of Songs for soprano and piano, Opus 47 (1949) (Dedicated to Karen and Gunnar Heerup) |
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| [10] | Kys mig (Let Him Kiss Me) |
2:16
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| [11] | På mit leje om natten (By Night on My Bed) |
2:04
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| [12] | Hvor er din ven gået hen? (Whither Is Thy Beloved Gone?) |
1:41
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| [13] | Hør! Der er min ven! (The Voice of My Beloved!) |
1:27
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Karen Heerup, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by Columbia DDX 27 1950
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| Four Old Testament songs for mezzo-soprano and piano, Opus 49 (1949) (Dedicated to Jolanda Rodio) |
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| [14] | Råb højt til Herren (Cry Out to the Lord) |
3:14
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| [15] | Jeg er Sarons rose (I Am the Rose of Sharon) |
2:12
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| [16] | Herre, lyt til min bøn (Hear My Prayer, O Lord) |
2:11
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| [17] | Halleluja! Lovsyng Herren (O Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations) |
1:50
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Gurli Plesner, mezzo-soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Private recording from radio broadcast 1969
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| Two Psalms for soprano and piano, Opus 55 (1951) | |||
| [18] | Psalm 121 |
2:56
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| [19] | Psalm 6 |
3:12
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 6.2.1965
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| Two biblical songs for soprano and piano, Opus 59 (1955) | |||
| [20] | Psalm 142 |
4:15
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| [21] | Psalm 100 |
1:33
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 6.2.1965
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| Psalm 42 for soprano and piano, Opus 68 (1960) (Dedicated to Lone) |
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| [22] | Psalm 42 |
8:23
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 17.7.1981
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DACOCD 568 (CD 2) |
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| Three songs on Psalm 142, the Song of Songs and Psalm 100, Opus 96 (1975-76) (Dedicated to my beloved wife) |
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| [ 1 ] |
Psalm 142 (Fear) (MP3 sample )
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3:32
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| [ 2 ] | From the Song of Songs (Love) |
3:36
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| [ 3 ] | Psalm 100 (Joy) |
1:52
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 17.7.1981
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| Two songs on poems by Johannes V. Jensen for tenor and piano, Opus 51 (1950) (Dedicated to Gerd Schiøtz) |
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| [ 4 ] | Majsangen (The May Song) |
4:09
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| [ 5 ] |
Naturens afsked (Nature's Leave) (MP3 sample )
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3:21
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Kurt Westi, tenor Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 6.6.1977
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| Six songs on poems by Paul la Cour for soprano and piano, Opus 54 (1951) |
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| [ 6 ] | Grønne guder (Green Gods) |
2:59
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| [ 7 ] | Glæde (Happiness) |
1:41
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| [ 8 ] | Stormen (The Tempest) |
2:40
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| [ 9 ] | Sommerfuglen (The Butterfly) |
2:11
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| [10] | Mellem bark og ved (Between Bark and Wood) |
1:21
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| [11] | Sendebude (The Messengers) |
2:04
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Private recording from radio broadcast 1963
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| Five songs on poems by Paul la Cour for soprano and piano, Opus 64 (1957) (Dedicated to Lone) |
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| [12] | Gry (Dawn) |
1:32
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| [13] | Middag (Noon) |
2:49
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| [14] | Angst (Anxiety) |
2:02
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| [15] |
Fuldmåne (Full Moon) (MP3 sample )
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1:33
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| [16] | Morgen (Morning) |
1:59
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Private recording from radio broadcast 1963
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| Three songs on poems by Nelly Sachs, Opus 84 (1971) (Dedicated to Lone) |
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| [17] | Abgewandt warte ich (Turned Away I Wait) |
2:58
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| [18] | Hier und da (Here and There) |
2:13
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| [19] | So steigt der Berg (Thus Rises the Mountain) |
3:09
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Lone Koppel, soprano Herman D. Koppel, piano Recorded by DR 17.7.1981
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| Three songs on poems by Tom Kristensen and Paul la Cour for soprano and piano, Opus 119 (1989) (Dedicated to Lone) |
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| [20] | Identitet ved fuldmåne (Identity by Full Moon) |
3:21
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| [21] | Før solopgang (Before Sunrise) |
3:39
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| [22] | Juni (June) |
3:28
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Lone Koppel, soprano Nikolaj Koppel, piano Recorded by DR live 1990
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| Three songs on poems by Verner von Heidenstam, Gustav Fröding and Erik Gustaf Geijer , Opus 121 (1990) (Dedicated to Björn) |
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| [23] | Paradisets timma (The Hour of Paradise) |
2:02
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| [24] | Ett grönt blad på marken (A Green Leaf) |
1:03
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| [25] | Natthimlen (The Night Sky) |
2:59
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Björn Asker, baryton Nikolaj Koppel, piano Recorded by SR (Radio Sweden) 15.6.1991
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| For the biography of Herman D. Koppel, see DACOCD 561-562 | |||
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The voice as a messenger HERMAN D. KOPPELs works for solo voice |
Noter på dansk: Klik på flaget |
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Koppel considered the Three Psalms opus
48 to be his chef doeuvre. It is the climax of his compositions on biblical
texts from 1949, and at the same time the first of his works for solo voices,
choir and orchestra, including Roman Psalm (Mortalis Immortalium on texts
by Seneca, 1954), the oratorio Moses (1964), Requiem (1966), Hymns
of Praise (1974) and The Seventh Day (Hexaemeron, 1984), to which
may be added the opera Macbeth (1970).
Koppel had read an eye witness account of a
massacre during World War II, depicting how soldiers hustle a group of starved
Jewish men, women and children into a van only to conduct the exhaustion gas
into the hold. The trapped people start singing, but their song dies away as
they gradually loose consciousness. To Koppel, this account was appalling, but
at the same time he considered the victims singing a token of an assured
conviction about providence, a higher power that would turn everything to the
good, even if this would happen only after death [1].
As a model for his work, Koppel mentioned
Igor Stravinskys Symphony of Psalms, which he heard for the first time
already in 1933 in Amsterdam, but the three movements of Koppels work form a
dramatic course of their own. Through threatening timpani and lamenting wind,
the choral voices make themselves heard, ascending in melodic motion accompanied
by shrill march rhythms and sombre brass motifs, turning into a polyphonic display
of a Slavic-tinged hymn phrase, eventually fainting and dying out into the
darkness of the beginning. Encircled by bright waving sounds, the tenor invokes
the Lord, assisted by increasingly imploring counter voices, until gentle violin
tones take over. The hallelujah of the last movement becomes more and more
triumphant in its character, the tempo increases, chimes and trumpets join in,
the rhythm turns into dancing, and with cymbals, trombones and bells, the music
culminates in one last, embracing hallelujah, interrupted by a soft major
chord.
On top of the score is written Dedicated
to my wife. The first performance took place in 1949 with the Danish National
Symphony Orchestra and Choir conducted by Erik Tuxen and with the Icelander
Einar Kristjansson as the soloist. To the writer of this note, the work has a
special perspective, as I was studying at the academy of music with Herman D.
Koppel, who in the subsequent lesson talked to my fellow student and me about
the music. When we mentioned the march of the enemies as one of the features
that had made impression, Koppel commented on the particular capacity of music
to depict evil. The following year, Koppels Three Psalms were performed during
the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in Frankfurt
am Main.
Biblical songs
The chronological list in the bottom of this page shows us that vocal solo works played no
prominent part in Herman D. Koppels production until 1949. Since 1939,
however, as accompanist for the renowned Danish singer Aksel Schiøtz, Koppel
had gained a thorough knowledge of the classical song repertoire, and Schiøtz
urged him to write for the human voice himself. When Koppel explained to him his
problems of connecting poems with music, Schiøtz suggested choosing texts from
the Bible.
This was in March 1949, and the very same
year Koppel composed four sets of songs, besides the Three Psalms opus 48 thirteen songs with piano in all. Schiøtz had opened his Bible on the Song of
Songs and had quoted the proclamation of love How beautiful you are, my
darling! which under the title Love in Five biblical songs opus
46 is framed by the exclamation I will awaken the dawn followed by a
hallelujah, and a lamentation followed by another song of praise. The character
of each song is distinct as a woodcut; in their mutual contrast they make a
whole. Aksel Schiøtz gave the first performance of the songs in September at
the BBC.
Fervour of love and passion marks the Four
love songs opus 47, poems from the Song of Songs rendered with melodic
sweetness and pianistic exuberance. They are dedicated to My friends Karen and
Gunnar Heerup. Karen Heerup, opera singer at the Royal Danish Theatre,
premiered them in September 1949.
Four Old Testament songs is the title of opus 49 which is built upon the same principles as
opus 46, but here the intense basic mood of the music reflects the texts: The
lamentation Cry Out to the Lord, the gentle declaration of love I Am the
Rose of Sharon from the Song of Songs, followed by Hear My Prayer, o
Lord from the Psalms, and a Hallelujah expressing a kind of
confidence more akin to the one of the Three Psalms than to the jubilation of
opus 48. The songs were dedicated to the singer Jolanda Rodio who gave the
first performance. In Lone Koppels copy the composer wrote, To my beloved
Lone with thanks for all the many marvellous performances you have given these
songs.
In Two Psalms opus 55 and in Two
biblical songs opus 59, the music accentuates the conflict in each of the
text pairs: In opus 55, the trustful melodic ascent and the firmness of the
chords in the first link against the stuttering vocal part of the second one
accompanied by unruly rhythms and shivering outbursts; in opus 59 in reverse,
the melodic and harmonic disorder from beginning to end of the first link
against the carefree dancing rhythm of the second one.
The single Psalm 42 opus 68 is two-piece
in itself, a struggle between doubt and belief, with the recurring outcry of
the deer and the soul, and a resigned rocking epilogue. The work was written to
his daughter Lone who performed it with the composer at her debut in 1961.
The first and the third of the Three
songs opus 96 return to the texts of opus 59. The growth of Koppels means
of expression in the twenty years between them, regarding harmony and metre,
intensifies the interpretation of the texts: The threatening and shrill
outbursts and rhythmical unrest of the piano in the first song, now carrying
the title Fear, is set off briefly by a quiet passage to the words "In
the way wherein I walked"; the third song entitled Joy is now
ecstatic, with changing rhythmical accents recalling one of Koppels favourite
works, Les Noces by Stravinsky, which resounded already in the opening
of opus 46. Also the middle song Love takes up a text used earlier,
melodically and harmonically deepened.
Dedicated to my beloved wife it says in
the score of opus 96 which came into existence during a stay in Australia.
Together, the three songs, with their subjects of fear, love, and joy (
) make
up the basic form of my music with a slow movement between two more excited
ones. In the love song, I took up once more the Song of Songs chapter 4, How
beautiful you are, my darling, and this time I included the wonderful words of
verse 4: Your neck is like the tower of David
In the strict sense of the word, Herman D.
Koppel declared himself not a believer: Any kind of orthodoxy is alien to me.
But the religious feeling, as it finds expression in the Psalms of David and in
the other poetic texts of the Old Testament, this I understand. These highly
polarized moods, from deep repentance to ecstatic joy, contain an inner tension
that can be released as music.
Secular songs
While working with the biblical songs,
Koppel began setting to music secular poems of the type he had tried out a few
times in the 1930s. Three songs on poems by Johannes V. Jensen opus 51
were written and dedicated to Aksel Schiøtz. The May Song and Natures
Leave were printed in a version with piano. They are related to Carl
Nielsen, not least melodically, bringing forward the texts and leaving room for
the singer to express the feelings behind, in the same way as the songs to
follow.
Through Aksel Schiøtz, Koppel also got to
know Paul la Cour, the poet. He sent his collection of poems Between Bark and
Wood to Koppel who was fascinated by the ecstatic longing for openness
and selected the Six songs on poems by Paul la Cour opus 54. The music
matches the inward-looking character of the poems: Intervals are small, the
vocal range is just above an octave, the motion is metrically regular, carried
by a steadily progressing rhythm. The sad mood is tinged by deviations of mode
and harmony. A few times the music reflects the text, as in the first song the
heavy chords of the stone mason; the ascent on the words hurricane, tempest in
the third song; the fluttering of the piano in The Butterfly; the urgent
warning that ends the fifth song; and in the last song the words fly out, fly
away that make the heavy chords of the piano yield to a tone row ascending
through three octaves before these extremes are finally united.
Both composer and poet wanted a continued
collaboration, but la Cour was hindered by working duties and illness. He heard
the songs only in a radio broadcast three years later. After la Cours death in
1956, Koppel composed in his memory Five songs on poems by Paul la Cour
opus 64, dedicated to the little dear Lone. Lone Koppel gave them the first
performance after they had received the first prize in a song competition
arranged by the Danish society for contemporary music (the second prize went to
Koppels likewise anonymously submitted The Seasons opus 65). In the
five songs, both voice and piano are mostly lightly pitched, with large melodic
gestures adorned by the accompaniment. The form varies from the simple strophic
Noon and the homogenous Full Moon and Morning to Dawn
and Anxiety that make room for contrast, in the first an outburst of
pain in the midst of the enjoyment of nature, in the other an alternation
between dark and cold timbres.
In the fourteen years between opus 64 and
84, Koppels means of expression had widened. This is heard to the extreme in Three
songs on poems by Nelly Sachs opus 84 where the voice part is marked by big
leaps and by a many-pitchedness that also makes the piano motifs and chords
prevent tonal orientation. The perpetual repetition of them therefore creates a
pent-up expression underlining the despair of the poems. The songs are
dedicated to Lone Koppel.
In the life-confirming Three songs on
poems by Tom Kristensen and Paul la Cour opus 119, the voice part moves in
large but harmonic intervals, while the piano accompaniment changes from
mysterious sounds in the moon vision of the first song to impressionist summer
colours in the last. The songs were dedicated to Lone Koppel.
Like these, the Three songs on poems by Verner
von Heidenstam, Gustav Fröding and Erik Gustaf Geijer opus 121 recall the
moods of the more than thirty years earlier settings of the La Cour songs. The
whirls of a falling leaf in the piano part of the second song contrast the
thoughtfully upwards striving melodic lines of the two surrounding songs. The songs were dedicated to Björn Asker who gave the first performance in Stockholm 1991. Herman D. Koppel did not accompany the last two sets of songs, but worked together with Nikolaj Koppel and Björn Asker during their preparation of the songs and attended the first performances. Mogens Andersen
[1] Quotations and references generally derive from Herman D. Koppels memories in Flemming Behrendt: Fra et hjem med klaver, Copenhagen 1988. HERMAN D. KOPPELs works for solo voice
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