The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

For the convenience of concertgoers the

Garden Cafe remains open for light 

Refreshments until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

cover: Detail from Edvard Munch, The Brooch (Eva Mudocci), 1903,

National Gallery ofArt, Washington, Gift ofthe Epstein Family Collection

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell

and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery of Art

2,798th Concert

Nordic Voices

Tone Elisabeth Braaten, soprano

Ingrid Hanken, soprano

Ebba Rydh, mezzo-soprano

Per Kristian Amundrod, tenor

Frank Havroy, baritone

Trond Olav Reinholdtsen, bass

Presented in honor of

Edvard Munch: Master Prints

and in conjunction with

“Norway Comes to Washington'

October 10, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium

Admissionfree
Program

Lasse Thoresen (b. 1949)

Solbonn

Norwegian Folk Tune

Arranged by Frank Havroy (b. 1969)

Seidamma dei

Trond Kvaerno (b. 1945)

Ave Maris Stella

Henrik 0degaard (b. 1955)

Ubi Caritas

Gisle Kverndokk (b. 1967)

Gloria

INTERMISSION

0degaard

Ave Verum Corpus

Norwegian Folk Tune

Arranged by Havroy

Bia bia lite ban

Thoresen

Tvetrall

This concert is made possible in part by assistance provided by

the Royal Norwegian Embassy

The Musicians

Nordic Voices, a six-voice a cappella vocal ensemble from Oslo, Norway, has

sung together for thirteen years. In its critically acclaimed concert at the 

National Gallery of Art in December 2008, the ensemble reinforced its

reputation as one ofthe world’s leading vocal ensembles ofits type. The 

members of Nordic Voices are graduates of either the Norwegian Academy

of Music or the Opera Academy in Oslo. Together they share a broad background in opera, composition, church music, and conducting. Performing

a repertoire that ranges from medieval to contemporary works, Nordic

Voices explores a wide spectrum ofmusical expression, from plainchant

to specially commissioned new works. Not afraid to add a dash ofhumor

to its concerts, it offers an unusual blend ofsophisticated music-making

and stylish performances. Two ofits cds — Reges Terrae (Chandos) and

Djanki-Doyi (Aurora)—were recently nominated for the Norwegian recording industry’s Spellemann Prize. In 2008 Nordic Voices received the Fartein

Valen prize for contribution to Norwegian contemporary music.

3
Program Notes

The exhibition Edvard Munch: Master Prints brings together nearly sixty

of Munch’s most important prints to show how his persistent experimentation and virtuosic handling ofwoodcut, lithography, and intaglio endowed

different impressions of his primary motifs with new meanings. Munch

is renowned for his haunting portrayals oflove, alienation, jealousy, and

death—universal human experiences that he filtered through events in

his own life. By manipulating color, line, texture, and pictorial details, he

reworked these images in multiple print variations, continually renewing

their power to express his artistic goals. The exhibition remains on view

at the Gallery until October 31, 2010.

Edvard Munch’s experiments with painting and printmaking techniques

place him at the forefront ofthe development ofmodern expressionism.

In The Sick Child from 1886 (National Gallery, Oslo), Munch attacks the

surface—scoring, incising, scraping, and abrading the paint—fatiguing

the canvas until the forms in the painting, most especially the head of his

dying sister Sophie, appear to be disintegrating before our eyes. Tied to the

poignancy ofthe theme, Munch’s technique reinforces the subjectivity

ofthe scene— the sense ofthe artist/brother trying to hold on to the image

of his sister to whom he was devoted.

Munch’s personal approach to painting involved not only the abovementioned abrasive and kinetic techniques, but also thinning paint to

encourage it to run across the surface and respond to gravity. Often he

allowed bare canvas to show through in a finished work and left changes

made during his creative process. Munch frequently placed his completed

paintings outdoors (especially in winter) to “weather.”

As a printmaker, Munch responded strongly to the “primitive" quality

of Paul Gauguin’s woodcuts. He found much to admire in Gauguin’s art

and his own woodcuts reflect a similar spirit of experimentation. Munch

often cut his blocks into puzzle-like pieces for different colors, inking them

4

separately, and reassembling them for the final pull. His tools included

gouges for making deep cuts into the wood, resulting in bold, expressive

effects of black and white. He also took advantage ofthe grain and imperfections ofthe wood itselfin creating his images.

Munch and Gauguin shared a common friend—the English composer

Frederick Delius (1862-1934). Delius was an art lover and in 1898 had

purchased Gauguin’s important painting Nevermore of 1897. Gauguin’s first

woodcuts were intended as illustrations for his Tahitian journal, Noa Noa,

published in 1897 as well. When the journal was published in book form in

1901, Delius and Munch learned about plans by others to adapt that exotic

work into new forms ofmusic, dance, and theater. This excitement about

Noa Noa encouraged the two men to consider a collaboration with a writer

on a work that would combine words, pictures, and music. Unfortunately,

this project was never realized

One of Munch’s most important relationships was with the English

violinist Evangeline Hope Muddock (c. 1883—1953), whose stage name was

Eva Mudocci. Attracted by Mudocci’s stunning appearance and musical talent,

he portrayed her in The Violin Concert, The Brooch, and Salome, three prints

from 1903, the year in which they met. Composers, writers, and playwrights

were also an important part of Munch’s circle going back to his earliest days

in Kristiana (present day Oslo) and continuing during his stays in Paris 

and Berlin. The Swedish playwright August Strindberg often remarked that

Munch’s art needed musical explanation—words alone were inadequate to

do it justice.

Munch’s great legacy as an artist was the willingness and fearlessness

with which he plunged into the depths of his life, soul, and psyche. He 

realized this when he wrote: “Just as Leonardo da Vinci studied the recesses

ofthe human body and dissected cadavers, I try to dissect souls.” Like

Leonardo, Munch’s achievements are indicative of a lifelong commitment

5
to experimentation, variety of expression, and technical innovation. Unlike

Leonardo, Munch held an unshakable beliefin the primacy ofhis personal

experiences and his relentless rumination on their universal significance.

He wrote: “In my art I have tried to find an explanation for life and to

discover its meaning. I also intended to help others understand life.”

Munch’s art continues to give permission to younger artists to look 

inward, to scrutinize, analyze, and disentangle the sources ofthe complex

emotions and motivations that make us human. From generation to generation, his message has resonated most with those who believe as he did that

“all art, literature, and music must be produced with one’s heart-blood. Art 

is the heart-blood of a person.”

Nordic Voices takes special pleasure in creating program concepts that

revolve around themes, historical figures, or textual links, bringing the music

to life in sometimes unexpected ways. Noting the groundbreaking innovations that Edvard Munch brought to printmaking, the ensemble has created

a program of Norwegian music written by composers who have broken new

ground in the area ofvocal music. The selections include music inspired by

Norwegian folk tunes as well as folk melodies arranged especially for Nordic 

Voices by one ofits own members, Frank Havroy. The program also explores 

unusual vocal techniques, such as overtone singing, and new ways ofusing

the classically trained voice, including microtonal sound.

Notes on Edvard Munch by David Gariff, lecturer, National Gallery ofArt

6

Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

Gesangverein Hofbieber

Music by Hassler, Lechner, and other

Renaissance composers

October 13, 2010

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

New York Opera Society

Max and Moritz: A Cartoon Opera in Seven Pranks

World Premiere Performance

by Gisle Kvemdokk

Presented in honor of Edvard Munch: Master Prints

and in conjunction with “Norway Comes to Washington”

October 17, 2010

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

East Building Auditorium
Texts and Translations

October 10, 2010

Nordic Voices

Solb0nn (A Prayer to the Sun): Thoreson

Tru soli matte skine

Yvi sma badni mine

Yvi topp yvi tre,

Yvi folk yvi fa

Yvi aker og eng, yvi hus og hjem 

Og yvi jomfru Marias silkjeseng

May the sun shine over my little children

Over the mountain high and the trees

Over folk and creatures

Over meadows and fields

Over houses and over homes

And over the Virgin Mary's bed of silk.

Norwegian Folk Tune: Seidamma dei

Seidamma dei damma dei dan da

Seidamma dei damma da-a!

Ave, maris Stella: Kverno

Ave, maris Stella,

Dei mater alma,

Atque simper virgo,

Felix coeli porta.

Solve vincla reis:

Profer lumen caesis,

Mala nostra pelle,

Bona cuncta posce.

Vitam praesta puram,

Iter para tutum,

Ut, videntes Jesum,

Tribus honor unus.

Semper collatemur.

Sit laus Deo Patri,

Summo Christo decus,

Spiritui sancto.

an old way of singing "la, la, la"

Hail, thou star of heaven,

Mother of Creation,

Purest Virgin ever,

Blessed gate of glory.

Loose the bonds of sinners,

Lighten thou the sightless, 

Chase away our miseries 

Pray for blessing on us.

Be thy life our pattern,

Bring us in the right way,

That, beholding Jesus,

We may be enlarged.

Praise to God the Father,

Glory to Christ Jesus,

And the holy Spirit;

Praises everlasting.
Ubi Caritas: 0degaard

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.

Exultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.

Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.

Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Simul ergo cum in unum congregamur,

Ne nos mente dividamur, caveamus.

Cessent iurgia maligna, cessent lites.

Et in medio nostri sit Christus Deus.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Simul quoque cum beatis videamus,

Glorianter vultum tuum, Christe Deus:

Gaudium quod est immensum, atque probum,

Saecula per infinita saeculorum. Amen.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

Christ's love has gathered us into one.

Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.

Let us fear, and let us love the living God.

And may we love each other with a

sincere heart.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

As we are gathered into one body, 

Beware, lest we be divided in mind.

Let evil impulses stop, let controversy cease,

And may Christ our God be in our midst.

Where charity and love are, God is there.

And may we with the saints also,

See Thy face in glory, O Christ our God:

The joy that is immense and good,

Unto the ages through infinite ages. Amen.

Gloria: Gisle Kverndokk

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Et in terra pax hominibus

Bonae voluntatis.

Laudamus te.

Benedicimus te.

Adoramus te.

Glorificamus te.

Gratias agimus tibi

propter magnam gloriam tuam.

Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, 

Deus Pater omnipotens

Domine fili unigenite

Jesu Christe

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei,

Filius Patris.

Qui tollis peccata munde,

Miserere nobis.

Qui tollis peccata mundi,

suscipe deprecationem nostram

Quisedes ad dexteram patris

Miserere nobis 

Quoniam tu solus sanctus

Tu solus Dominus

Tu solus Altissimus.

Jesu Christe.

Cum sancto spiritu,

In Gloria Dei Patris.

Amen.

Glory be to God on high, 

and on earth peace to men

of good will

We praise thee,

We bless thee,

We worship thee,

We glorify thee.

We give thanks to thee 

for Thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavenly King,

God the Father Almighty.

O Lord, the only begotten Son,

Jesus Chris, the most high,

Lord God, Lamb of God,

Son of the Father.

Thou that takest away the sins

of the world, have mercy upon us

Thou that takest away the sins

of the world,

receive our prayer.

Thou that sittest at the right hand

of the Father have mercy upon us

For Thou only art holy

Thou only art the Lord,

Thou only Jesus Christ.

Art most high, Jesus Christ.

With the Holy Ghost

in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.
Ave Verum Corpus: 0degaard

Ave verum corpus, natum

de Maria Virgine,

vere passum, immolatum

in cruce pro homine,

cuius latus perforatum

fluxit aqua et sanguine:

esto nobis praegustatum

Hail, true Body, born

of the Virgin Mary,

truly suffering, sacrificed

on the cross for mankind,

whose pierced side

flowed with water and blood:

May it be for us a foretaste

[of the Heavenly banquet]

in mortis examine.

0 Iesu dulcis, 0 Iesu pie, 0 Iesu, fili Mariae.

in the trial of death.

Oh dear Jesus, Oh merciful Jesus,

Oh Jesus, son of Mary,

Miserere mei. Amen. have mercy on me. Amen.

Norwegian Folk Tune: Bia bia lite b£n

Bia bia lite ban,

Og bia lite banet

Bia no banet

Og fuglen sit pa bjprkekvist

Og syng sa ven ei vise

Bia no banet.

Sleep, sleep little child,

sleep little child

Sleep now child

The bird is sitting on a birch branch

singing a beautiful tune

Sleep now child

Tvetrall: Thoresen a not-so-serious song without words