Kingdom of heaven for choirs
A cross-section of the Scandinavian sacred repertoire, supplemented with traditional folk song movements in three variations.
Did you know that more people sing in a choir in the Scandinavian countries than in any other country in the world? From Scandinavia to the Baltic States, choral singing is a real folk movement. Choral compositions from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland have long since ceased to be an insider tip for German choirs. How did this unique Scandinavian choral tradition come about? Professional musical life in the 17th and 18th centuries was centered around the courts in Stockholm and Copenhagen. For centuries, the Scandinavian countries were "import nations" when it came to music. They were heavily influenced by the German musical tradition in the 18th and 19th centuries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the ideas of Romanticism found their way to the north via Copenhagen. German musicians were instrumental in collecting and arranging Scandinavian folk music. The first editions of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian folk tunes appeared around 1814. Their minor-key characteristics were ideally suited to the search for the mystical, for closeness to nature, to which the German Romantics had dedicated themselves.
As the male choir movement flourished, the German choral repertoire became known in Scandinavia. At the same time, the Scandinavian singing festivals established a Nordic choral tradition. In the second half of the 19th century, the need for political and cultural independence led to greater autonomy.
Under the title I Himmelen (In the Kingdom of Heaven), Edition Peters has published three extensive volumes with sacred compositions, songs for Advent and Christmas as well as secular and folk song movements, for mixed choir, for 1-2 high voices and for 3-4 high voices. The names of the best-known Scandinavian composers such as Grieg, Alfvén and Sibelius also appear. In addition to the original language, German texts are also included. Most of the movements are sung a cappella; obligatory accompaniments for all three editions are summarized in a booklet.
I Himmelen, 70 Scandinavian choral pieces for mixed choir, edited by Hans Wülfing, EP 11410, € 24.95, Edition Peters, Leipzig et al. 2014
id., 10 Scandinavian choral pieces for 1-2 high voices, EP 11414, € 12.95
id., 20 Scandinavian choral pieces for 3-4 high voices, EP 11412, € 14.95
Piano and organ accompaniments to: I Himmelen, EP 11410a, € 14.95
