““This beautiful volume of beautiful songs is one of the first of its kind-a small anthology of songs by Swedish composers compiled as an introduction to Swedish art song for singers interested in singing some different repertoire. The twenty-five songs represent thirteen composers from the late 19th to the late 20th centuries. In addition to the songs, the volume includes a short essay by editor Dr. Kathleen Roland-Silverstein, “Romanser: The Art Song of Sweden,” in-depth notes on the composer and background of each song, Swedish text/IPA transliteration/word-by-word translation lines, poetic translation of each text, Introduction to Swedish Diction, The Sounds of Swedish Vowel and Consonant Chart, and a bibliography that includes internet resources and recordings as well as books, articles, and a dissertation. In short, everything the singer needs to study and perform these songs is available in this volume… a valuable addition to the singer’s repertoire and should be in every music and studio library, as singers will undoubtedly be eager to sing these songs once acquainted with them.””
The Swedish romans has been, until recently, a little known subset of the world of art song. These songs unite the best of Swedish poetry and the unique musical sensibilities of the Nordic sound. They are beautiful, unique and a rewarding source of new repertoire choices for the adventurous singer or pianist. My introduction to romanser was a happy accident, and largely a result of my own curiosity and the help of a network of incredibly generous and knowledgeable people. All these serendipitous factors ultimately led to my research, teaching and performing of romanser, and my recently completed anthology. My research into this beautiful genre of art song began with my first trip to Stockholm in 1999, where, for a period of six months, I began my study of the Swedish language with Kerstin Larsson of Stockholm Universitetet and Svenska Nu, a Swedish language study organization. I have returned to Stockholm every year, three times supported by scholarly research institutions, as an American Scandinavian Foundation grantee in 2003 and 2017, and in 2007 as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Kungliga Musikhögskolan (the Royal Conservatory of Music) in Stockholm. My anthology is the first of its kind, a scholarly compilation of songs by the important Swedish composers of the late 19th and 20th centuries. It contains twenty-five songs by Swedish composers, representative of the best of the genre, and the most frequently recorded by world-class artists.
This anthology by Kathleen Roland-Silverstein includes twenty-five songs composed by Sweden's foremost composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. It also contains phonetic (IPA) and word-for-word English translations, a concise guide to Swedish diction for English speakers, and valuable information about the composers and poets. To complete this unique resource, the song texts are also available as on-line audio recorders, read by a native Swedish speaker.
Word-for-word English translations from the original Swedish texts
Phonetic and poetic translations
Guide to Swedish diction
Information about the composers and poets
I have chosen songs that are appropriate repertoire choices for the student singer as well as the professional concert singer, by the following composers:
Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960)
Gunnar de Frumerie (1908-1987)
Hilding Hallnäs (1903-1984)
Maurice Karkoff (1927-2013)
Lars Erik Larsson (1908- 1986)
Ingemar Liljefors (1906-1981)
Bo Linde (1933-1970)
Ingmar Milveden (1920-2007)
Gösta Nordquist (1886-1949)
Gösta Nyström (1890-1966)
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (1867-1942)
Ture Rangström (1884-1947)
Wilhelm Stenhammer (1871-1927)
To listen to just a few of the songs featured in the anthology, please click on the following links. I’ve included a line from each song text as it will appear in the book, showing the original text with the phonetic and literal translation. I hope these gems will prove to be a förätt, or appetizer, inviting further exploration of this rich genre.
Listen: Äppelträd och päronträd
ˈɛ̀pːəl͜ tɾɛːd ɔkː pæ̀ːɾɔn͜ tɾɛːdˈplʊ̀mːɔn͜ tɾɛːd ɔkː ˈbɪ̀ɡːaˈɾoː
Äppelträd och päronträd, plommonträd och bigarå,
Apple tree and pear tree plum tree and cherry tree
Listen: Duär min Afrodite
dʉ æːɾ mɪnː afːɾɔdɪ́tɛ
Duär min Afrodite,
You aremyAphrodite
Listen: Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte
kɔm meːdˈɾø̀ːda ˈhɛnːdəɾ
komː med röda händer.
Comes with red hands
Listen: Pan
ɔkː mɪtː ˈsɔ̀mːaɾ͜ bluːd ˈʃɵŋːəɾ
och mittsommarblod sjunger!
And my summer blood sings
Kathleen’s further scholarship in the genre of Swedish song include all Swedish language translations in the book, Midnight Sun: Collected Songs from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark in Three Volumes, Mimmi Fulmer, editor. More info here.
Kathleen is currently creating a performance guide to the songs of Jean Sibelius, thanks to a fellowship from the American Scandinavian Foundation. “A Performance Guide to the Songs of Jean Sibelius” will be published in 2024-2025 by Oxford University Press.