Fartein Valen

1887 – 1952

The history of music is rife with examples of composers who first after their death achieved the recognition they so richly deserved in life. Fartein Valen to a large degree is such an example. In the period between the wars, dominated by nationalism, Valen was not only the most controversial composer in Norway, but, in addition, few dared to perform his works.

Instead of listening to his works, people focused on him as a personality. Myths were built around him, concerning his humility, his deep religiosity, his unique linguistic gifts as well as his deep interest in nature, roses and cacti.

But amongst musicians and scholars interest in his music waxed. Within these circles his genius was fully recognized. His compositions were seen as the best within contemporary music. Valen’s vision is today fully recognized as contemporary music and his position amongst the leading composers of our time is secure.

Fartein Valen was born in Stavanger on the 25^th August 1887. His parents were missionaries, and he joined them, for a period, during their residence in Madagascar. The family returned to Stavanger in 1895.

Fartein Valen demonstrated unique musical talent at an early age. He received piano lessons from Jeanette Mohr in Stavanger, and his attempts at composition were encouraged by his family. Despite his preoccupation with music as a child, he excelled as a student and graduated from the Kongsberg High School with top grades in all subjects, except mathematics, in 1906.

In the Autumn after his graduation he travelled to Kristiania to study philology. In addition, he studied harmony, counterpoint and composition under the composer and folk-music collector Catharinus Elling. After some time, in agreement with his mother and Elling, he discontinued his studies in philology to devote himself entirely to music.

Valen was well satisfied with his student years in Kristiania. He received a thorough grounding and learned to appreciate music with a critical eye for forms and styles. During his three years of study in the capital he worked systematically and regularly attended concerts to supplement his studies with personal experience. In addition to theory, he studied piano and organ at the Music Conservatory, where he graduated as organist in 1909.

At the age of 22, Elling advised Valen to continue his studies in Berlin. With the assistance of Max Bruch, he was admitted into the College of Music. Bruch himself taught analysis, whereas Valen studied composition under Karl Wolf. Except for his piano lessons and analysis lessons with Bruch, the teaching at the College of Music was a disappointment to Valen. IT was too technical, leaving little room for fantasy. In his letters he complained that he had come to a seminar for musicians, and not to a temple of art. He found nothing in the College environment which could lead him to a personal form of expression. Yet the general musical life of Berlin was rich indeed and his residence afforded many impulses.

Once he completed his studied at the College of Music in 1911, he stayed in Berlin until1915. He used the time well, listening, studying, attending orchestra rehearsals, taught and composed.

Compositions during his study period 1907 - 1915

Valen’s first work Legend for Piano, opus 1, was composed in the winter of 1908, while he was a student of Elling. It was published the same Autumn. It was written in the late romantic style and has a threefold ABA form. Here we find sections with chromatics and dissonances  indicating a quest away from standard forms. This quest becomes even clearer in his next composition, Sonata nr. 1 for Piano, opus 2. The dissonances here are sharper, but a classical three movement form is adhered to as well a key as the basis for harmony.

In the Violin Sonata, opus 3, Valen has progressed in his development. The chromatics are prominent, especially in the fugue in the final movement. The tonal language is kept in polyphonic lines and do not relax in the cadences. In this sonata we note for the first time dichromatic lines and dissonance series which later are to become so characteristic for Valen’s style, and already here we are able to see that he makes the jump from the late romantic style on the way to his own individual tonal language.

Most researchers are of the opinion the orchestral song Ave Maria, opus 4, is the decisive step along this path. Except for the opening and closing, adherence to traditional keys are weakened. Tension between consonance and dissonance are in the process of being suspended and points of support dissolved. The melodies are chromatic. Ave Maria was completed in 1921 when Valen was 34 years old, but he had worked on the piece for many years, with most of the work being done while he was in Berlin. While working on this piece, Valen had been powerfully moved by the music of J.S. Bach and felt that he had to become entirely familiar with the tonal language of the great baroque master. Not with the intention of composing in this style, but in recognition that his own future would come to be closely related to Bachs. Valen’s ideal was to achieve a form of counterpoint with greater emphasis on dissonance than consonance. Before 1921, he was far from this ideal. He stayed within tonal cadences, despite his dissonances generally being unresolved. Leaving the listener with a feeling of somatonality. With his Trio for Piano, Violin and cello, opus 5, he takes the definitive step into his new style.

Valens development and struggle to find his own style took place at the same time as the composers of the Vienna School were breaking new ground. There are many parallels to be found in this development between development, attitudes and music when comparing Valen with Schönberg, Webern and Berg.

As Valen distanced himself from traditional lines of development, more and more critics turned their backs on him. Legend for Piano created enthusiasm at its first performance and the newspaper critiques were good. The Violin Sonata was met with greater coolness, and when Ave Maria had its premiere on the 9^th April 1923, Valen met that raw opposition which has been afforded so many original artists.

Valen was, however, no uncertain youngster any longer. He was prepared for opposition. Even though he was hurt by the criticism, none of it caused him to doubt that he was on the right road. He completed an inspiring visit to Rome in 1922, and after the death of his mother in 1923, he settled in Oslo, so as to be near the centre of Norwegian music life.

Fartein Valen was awarded a stipend in 1925 and became inspector of the Norwegian Music Collection at the University Library. He thus secured a small yet steady income which he supplemented by taking private pupils.

Including a few visits abroad, this chapter in Valen’s life was to continue until 1938.

Compositions during the Oslo period 1924 – 1938

This period was initiated with the Goethe Songs, opus 6, and Mignon, opus 7. Here we find dissonant polyphony as the foundation of the movement. The musical lines live their own individual, horizontal lines and meet in dissonances. But Valen in no way considered himself complete. On a daily basis he conducted theoretical and practical exercises with, amongst others, Arnold Schönberg’s twelve-tone technique. He felt that he had to master this technique as he had done with Bach’s polyphony, without necessarily feeling that he could  incorporate this technique into his own music. Rules such as these governing themes and the creation of motifs could not be reconciled with free polyphony. Valen strove towards a polyphony so pliable that it could follow his own fantasy.

I Darest Thou now, O Soul, with a text by Walt Whitman, a composition for Soprano and Orchestra, and even more in String Quartet nr. 1 from 1929, we find the new counterpoint style closer to the target. The basic mood of the music is inspired by the landscape around the family farm in Valevåg. It is nevertheless clear that Valen, with the aim of underlining abstraction in his music, still has the goal to combine his new personal style with that of the more traditional classical sonata form.

In 1930, when Pastoral, opus 11. and the motet, Hvad est du dog Schøn appeared, it appears that his work flowed more freely. “What previously took years, now takes weeks,” he said. With fresh enthusiasm he started work on his String Quartet nr.2, opus 13, and several motets; works which are studies for the great orchestral works. The music received a cool reception, but after a performance of the Pastoral in the Philharmonic Society, several new adherents to Valen’s music were won over.

Externally, Valen’s life appeared to be without incident. He lived for some years with his sister, Magnhild Senstad, and later in boarding houses. His working environment was far from ideal. His means were modest, and even though he had a large circle of acquaintances, he had few close friends. He greatest experiences during these years was undoubtedly the opportunity of hearing his own works performed. They did not always meet with success, but were important in relationship to judgement of the final result.

The Oslo period was broken by a three-month visit to Paris in 1928, and during the Winter and Spring of 1932-33 he spent a few weeks in Italy and half-a-year on Majorca. This latter visit marks a change in his career as composer, as the impressions of this entirely new landscape on this “quiet isle” afforded him new impulses.

Immediately prior to his departure for Majorca, he had completed the orchestral work Sonett di Michelangelo, which reflects the doubt and difficulty of the human condition. He wanted to compose more for orchestra and started on the Cantico di Ringraziamento, or Song of Thanks, which reflect the peace and quiet of his new surroundings on Majorca. He also completed the orchestral work An die Hoffnung, inspired by a poem by John Keats. Work on the wedding music Epithalamion, based on an Edmund Spencer text, was also started. Valen was in a new, rich period of creativity, and his recreation on Majorca injected him with new hope and strength. A characteristic orchestral piece concludes this journey. On the voyage home, Valen was standing on deck watching a flock of  doves, shimmering like silver, take flight from the vessel and set course east for the cathedral in Palma. The impressions once again washed over him and later found their form in his orchestral work La isla de las calmas, completed in Valevåg in 1934.

In 1935 the Norwegian parliament awarded Valen a composer salary. He felt that he thereby had achieved recognition as a composer, a great encouragement after all the opposition he had met from his critics and the public. There were perhaps few who could recognize his music at the time, but he was taken seriously, and performers gradually started including his works in their repertoires. This contributed to making his work better known.

This of course was ill-received by many self-centred national romantics within the Norwegian music life of the 30’s, many of whom were seen by Valen as tormentors. Valen remained, however, convinced that their style was dated, and was proved right in time.

In April 1934, Kirkegården ved havet (graveyard by the sea), was completed. The original inspiration for this orchestral work was a poem by Paul Valéry, Le cimetiére marin. While Valen was reading this poem, he was brought to mind of an old cholera-graveyard near his home in Valevåg. Some of his relatives had been laid to rest there, and he had often sat in deep reflection along the lonely pathways amongst the silent and neglected graves. The music is not a programmatic recreation of the graveyard, but rather of the mood filling the composer whenever he visited the site. Inspiration such as this is characteristic of Valen’s music. His music is not programmatic but invocative of mood.

With the orchestral pieces of the 30’s, Valen achieved full control of the art of instrumentation. He now moved in other directions, first with his works for piano and after that with vocal compositions. The piano works embrace three larger works. He called opus 22 Vier Klavierstücke (four pieces for piano) despite the fact that he intended them to be played as a suite. The work embraces the dark and somber Nachtstück, the elegant and supple Valse nobile, the vocular Lied ohne Worte and the cheerful baroque-like Gigue. After Variasjoner for klaver, the only work where he applies a pure twelve-tone theme, he again turned to the baroque in Gavotte og Musette, opus 24, where seen in the light of his counterpoint work,  he creates a light and diverting 1700’s mood.

Valen had early in his career met success with his motets. Now he again returned to composing works for choir. The point of these smaller works was once again to practice and learn to fully master smaller forms before starting on larger instrumental works. His style had to be completely worked over and tested in the smallest details before seeing the light of day. In addition he composed Preludium and Fugue, opus 28, and To preludier, opus 29, his last two works for piano before his Oslo period came to a final close. The first piece he wrote in Valevåg, Intermesso, expresses his hope for peace.

Valen never felt entirely at home in the capital. The city had merely been necessary for his development. He was obliged live there in order to study, to hear music and to hear his own mucic performed. Toward the end of the 30’s many matters had been finalized – his composer salary had, economically, made him more independent, so he could move in order to further develop what he already had achieved. He had made a name for himself, and was in possession of a personal style which could be further developed. He now needed peace in order to start on larger works. The tense international situation with war looming, may well have influenced his decision to leave Oslo.

In 1938 he settled in Valevåg. He never married, and his elder sister, Sigrid Valen, devoted herself to all the practical sides of his household. It was she who ensured that he had the peace  he so required to work. He lived in Valevåg for the lat 14 years of his life. The time had come for his greatest achievements.

Valevåg compositions 1939 – 1952

The first works to see the light of day after his change of environment were the Violin Concerto, opus 37, from 1940. It was written in memory of a young relative, Arne, who had died three years previously. Valen had felt a close connection to this boy. The music reflects the mood on the evening of the death of the boy as well as all the good that the boy had given him. The Concerto is strictly polyphonic in form and entirely atonal, except for the choral in the closing movement. The concerto has one movement in clear sonata form, and has, seen from without, several similarities to Alban Berg’s violin concerto. This is possibly his most well-known work, besides Kirkegården ved havet.

The sonata nr. 2 for piano, with the sub-title “The Hound of Heaven”, has been called, by researchers, the most significant work for piano in newer Norwegian history. The sub-title is from a poem by Francis Thompson, which expresses the soul’s quest for God. But, as often is the case with Valen, this quest combined with his impressions of nature from Valevåg.

Even while living in Oslo Valen wished to compose a symphony, but it was first in February 1939 that his first symphony was completed. It is a “pure” work of music (as in non-programmatic). The adagio is inspired by El Greco’s painting “Christ on the Mount”.

The musical substance for the Symphony nr 2, was aquired in 1941. Inspiration for the second movement was provided by the Rembrandt painting “Christ in Emmaus”. His third symphony (1946) has been called Valen’s nature symphony or “Pastoralesymfoni”, and here it is the nature-forces of Valevåg that has indirectly led to the music. Work on the fourth symphony took a long time, and was first completed in 1949.

The years 1945 – 1952 were in many ways a period of development for Valen. He received a stipend from the Norwegian Society of Composers, and in 1946 he concluded a contract with the publishers Harald Lyche & Co, for publication of his works. At the same time he achieved broad international recognition with his Sonetto di Michelangelo, which was performed at the international festival in Copenhagen in 1947, and with his violin concerto which was performed at the ISCM festival in Amsterdam the year after.

Other larger works from this period are the Serenade for Wind Quintet, opus 42, and the Piano Concerto, opus 44. The piano concerto is dedicated to the English pianist Alexander Helmann, who was a great proponent of Valen’s music. This is the last composition which we know of that Valen completed. When he became ill, he had started on a fifth symphony and a mass which was to be dedicated to the boy’s choir of the cathedral in his home town Stavanger.

Despite his wandering life, Valen always felt closely connected to his home town Stavanger. The recognition of being a guest of the Stavanger City Orchestra during the premiere of his violin concerto a short while before he became ill, meant a great deal to him.

Fartein Valen died in hospital in Haugesund on the 14^th December 1952. He received a State funeral, and was buried in accordance with his wishes in the cemetery in Valevåg.

The artist and man Fartein Valen

Valen’s musical production is generally divided into three stylistic periods. The first from his Legende, opus 1, to Ave Maria, opus 4, characterized by the late romantic traditional and incorporating tonal music. The second from his Trio, opus 5, to his Violin Concerto, opus 37, spanning his work within dissonant polyphony. The Violin Concerto also represents the start of his third period, where Valen as yet employs dissonant polyphony, but in a simplified form and more adapted to classical forms.

Valen wanted his music to express moods and emotions, not concrete pictures. The Music was not to be considered as programme music, but seen as “classically” pure music, both in content and form. Neither can we interpret his music as direct psychological pictures and forms of nature directly translated into tones, but rather as moods and emotions evoked by the tones.

Fartein Valen’s living Christian faith and empathetic mysticism permeates his music. As a person he was quiet, humble and introvert. At the same time he was fully aware of his own qualities and in possession of an inner strength to complete what he considered his calling, and fully employ his highly developed intellectual gifts.

In addition to his strong religious inspiration, Valen drew impulses from paintings, philosophy and literature. He was extremely well-read, was in possession of unique linguistic talents, spoke nine languages and demonstrated deep interest in penetrating the mystical and esoteric aspects of thought and imagery.

Nature was the third force in Valen’s life: summer moods on Majorca, the power of the sea, a rose-garden at his home in Valevåg, details of nature, the force in nature, plants and their growth patterns. These powerful experiences resulted in the highly refined musical details in his work.

Fartein Valen was a pioneer in new Norwegian music, as Prof. Dr. Olav Gurvin states in his biography. But one must also recall that Valen was for many years a teacher, and that his influence on many Norwegian composers, including David Monrad Johansen, Sparre Olsen and Klaus Egge, both personally and musically, was profound. Valens unique tonal language has also pointed the way for many younger Norwegian composers, for whom he has become an ideal.

Valens, notes, sketches and manuscripts are kept in the Norwegian Music Collection at the University Library in Oslo. Much of his music was published during his life. Today, almost all of his compositions are to be found in print. The first gramophone recording of his work was made by the pianist Robert Riefling in 1935, and most of his music is today available in high quality recordings.

Valen was a giant who had to walk alone. Although opposition and ignorance made its negative impression, he knew that his time would come, and would work to his advantage. His visionary work is today considered contemporary music, easily accessible to modern ears. More and more people are discovering and experiencing the greatness in his work, and appreciating his universal, expressive style. Perhaps some are able to understand the price he had to pay for following his conviction. It is even more admirable how he, with an inner strength difficult to grasp, never gave up, and carried his conviction through to final victory.

An individual who brought honour to his country Norway, a pioneer of 20^th Century music.

Arvid O. Vollsnes

Published 1987 by the Fartein Valen Society

Postbox 1817 Vika

0123 Oslo 1

Translated by Howard Gamble

March 2003