Preserving Norway’s Musical Heritage

Works by some of Norway’s most prominent composers are in an appalling state; MIC Norway takes action and launches a rescue mission.

On 26 August 2008, an extensive report titled "The Musical Heritage Project – Preservation and Dissemination of Norway’s Musical Heritage" was released. The aim of the Project, which has been initiated by the Music Information Centre Norway, is to launch a rescue mission which is to preserve the manuscripts of many of Norway’s historically significant (and primarily deceased) composers. Many of the manuscripts are deteriorating rapidly and urgent action is needed in order to preserve a vital part of Norwegian cultural heritage. 

For a number of years, the lack of published works by some of Norway’s most prominent composers has created a situation in which it is difficult, and in some instances, impossible to locate and distribute adequate performance materials both at home and abroad. Some works were not published at the time of their creation, while other manuscripts have virtually disappeared when publishing houses have gone out of business. (For example, scores for Agathe Backer Grøndahl’s piano pieces have not been commercially available for years, while Johan Svendsen’s German publisher perished in World War II, and only a handful of works have been acquired by other publishers.) Thus, many works by Norway’s key composers are accessible only through photocopies of variable quality. The obvious consequence to this is that a number of historically significant works are not available for performers, scholars, and students alike. The Music Heritage Project report has addressed this dilemma and proposes a number of initiatives in order to preserve and facilitate dissemination of the works that are not presently available to a wider audience.  

One of the key initiatives is to prepare complete, revised and critical editions of works by composers Johan Svendsen, Agathe Backer Grøndahl, Ludvig Irgens-Jensen, Fartein Valen, and Geirr Tveitt. Recommendations were also made to prepare editions of works by Oscar Borg, Johan Halvorsen, and Christian Sinding and to re-examine the existing collection of Edvard Grieg’s works. Additionally, new editions were proposed for individual works composed by Edvard Hagerup Bull, Catharinus Elling, Eyvind Alnæs, Harald Sæverud, and Finn Mortensen.

The report suggests that an independent project organisation should be established in order to coordinate these restoration and preservation projects. The project group suggests that the future organisation should have a status as an independent foundation, but that a location at the Norwegian State Academy of Music is desirable given the prominence of the institution’s composers, performers and conductors.

Education and research is another key component of the Musical Heritage report. This is a long-term project, and currently no institutions offer students the option to study the preparation of music editions. One very positive concrete result of the Musical Heritage project is the fact that the Department of Musicology at the University of Oslo will offer a Master's Program, beginning in spring 2009.

More info (in Norwegian) here:
http://mic.no/nmi.nsf/micdoc/art2008082614480280673380
The Music Heritage project report (which is also in Norwegian), can be downloaded here:
http://www.mic.no/download/Musikkarven.pdf

Picture text:
Conductors Peter Szilvay and Bjarte Engeset examine the conditions of Norwegian orchestral works (Photo: Tomas Lauvland Pettersen/MIC Norway)