In 1949, the American mythologist Joseph Campbell published his influential book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Drawing on Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theories of narrative archetypes, Campbell proposed that across thousands of years and throughout the globe, the human species has repeatedly told variations of the same fundamental story, a structure he called the “monomyth” or “The Hero’s Journey.” This concept identifies recurring narrative patterns across myths, legends, and folktales, revealing archetypal story arcs. Musicians have been aware of such a narrative structure far longer than Campbell’s research. For Western classical composers interested in writing programmatic music—that is, music intended to depict narrative—the thousands of stories that fit the mold of the archetypal hero’s journey have provided rich source material for composition. Today’s selection of music takes inspiration from stories that exemplify the hero's journey.
Saga Dream (Saga-Drøm) Op. 39 - Carl Nielsen
Carl Nielsen’s Saga-Drøm (Danish for “Saga Dream”) draws inspiration from the Icelandic epic Njáls. This thirteenth-century story draws from real events and figures. It tells the story of various feuds between families that occurred in the Icelandic Commonwealth and explores themes of fatalism and masculinity. Nielsen’s eight-minute symphonic poem depicts only part of this epic. Nielsen’s composition focuses on Gunnar Hámundarson (a friend of the saga’s protagonists) and his two brothers, Kolskeg and Hjort, all of whom have been exiled. Exhausted, Gunnar collapses and falls into a deep sleep, where he begins to dream. Gunnar’s dream is not a restful one; he envisions a fatal wolf attack on the party, leaving Hjort dead. Gunnar’s dream state is reflected in the music. In an article published in the Danish periodical, Politiken, Nielsen wrote, “I have tried, in muted tones, to give voice to the strange ideas engendered in the dream. There are among other things four cadenzas for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and flute which run quite freely alongside one another, with no harmonic connection, and without my marking time. They are just like four streams of thought, each going its own way — differently and randomly for each performance — until they meet in a point of rest as if flowing into a lock where they are united.” The work was composed between 1907 and 1908, premiering on April 6, 1908, at the Odd Fellows Mansion in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“Flute Concerto” - Carl Nielsen
Anyone who has gone through their music studies may recall the sense of achievement when their teacher placed a concerto on their music stand, indicating they had reached a certain level of technical and musical proficiency. They may also remember just how difficult learning concertos can be. (It should be noted that Nielsen’s concerto does not take inspiration from the hero's journey. However, perfecting a concerto may, at times, feel like a Herculean effort!) Concertos are more than just challenging pieces that test the player's abilities; they encapsulate the personalities of celebrated musicians from the past. Nielsen's concerto for flute serves as an apt example. In 1921, Nielsen attended a rehearsal of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. Impressed by the ensemble's musicality, he decided to compose a concerto for each member of the quintet. He began with the flautist Holger Gilbert-Jespersen. The premiere of the concerto, which took place on October 21, 1926, in Paris at the Maison Gaveau, was a monumental success. Nielsen even remarked that the performance was among his "greatest experiences" as a composer. In attendance were renowned composers Maurice Ravel and Arthur Honegger, the latter of whom documented his account of the concert: "The famous Conservatory Orchestra played great [sic] and the flute concerto was performed in a masterly manner and with a delicate tone - there was a standing ovation and soloist Gilbert Jespersen 'flûtiste de grande classe' - was called in several times." The concerto is considered to be in a neoclassical style but differs from the standard structure of concertos by having two movements instead of three.
Symphony No. 1 (“Titan”) - Gustav Mahler
Closing this afternoon’s performance is a piece that ranks among the most adventurous of the notable Western classical composers’ first attempts at a symphony: Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D major. Mahler originally titled the symphony Titan after the nine-hundred-and-something-page novel by German author Jean Paul. Mahler frequently stated that the symphony is not about the book; rather, the symphony takes inspiration from the general themes of the novel, namely, the hero's departure, transformation, and return. Paul’s book follows a young nobleman, Albano de Cesara, who, after leaving his somewhat sheltered upbringing, confronts various philosophical and emotional challenges through his interactions with different characters along his journey, which eventually lead him to question his worldview.
Music historians have regarded Mahler’s symphony as being innovative in certain respects. Most notably, the larger tonal structure of the symphony has some noteworthy peculiarities. The piece moves through D major, A major, D minor, F minor, and concludes in D major. Mahler also indicated that the piece was conceived as a symphonic poem in two parts. This reframing of the structure is most evident in the second and third movements. A typical symphony will have the adagio in the second movement and the scherzo or trio in the third movement. Mahler inverts these in this symphony. Mahler had also originally conceived the work as having a different second movement; in the original version, the piece had five movements, which is highly unorthodox for a symphony. However, this movement was removed during the various revisions between the symphony’s premiere in 1889 at the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest and the performance with the Berlin Philharmonic seven years later in 1896. The symphony was among the most performed pieces by Mahler during the course of the composer’s lifetime.
James Heazlewood-Dale
