Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960), Sverige / Suède / Sweden Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 19: "Midsommarvaka" Iceland Symphony Orchestra Petri Sakari ---------------
I am Russian and have lived more than half of my life in Sweden, soon 27 years. Hugo Alvfén is the Swedish greatest composer. Dalarna region, Silja lake area are very beautiful. It is own special spirit there.
I had the great privilege of being allowed to play a minute on his piano, at his Home Museum near Falun in Sweden back in 2018. So grateful! Silvia Escobar. Madrid
Hugo Alfven levde och bodde i det vackra samhället Leksand vid den vackra sjön Siljan i Dalarna i Sverige. Inte långt från där jag nu bor. Han gjorde mycket gott för musikkulturen här. Lite stolt är jag nog. 😊
Half of my family came from Sweden two centuries ago. Back in my youth I had an opportunity to live and study there. The first time I heard Midsommarvaka I was over whelmed at how much the piece truly represents the country. Hugo Alfvén masterfully captured the country's spirit. Every time I listen to it I am transported back to the place where I once spent a memorable chapter of my youth.
Nicolas Messina : It translates to English as "Midsummer's Vigil". Midsommarvaka is (very roughly) an annual Swedish festival somewhat equivalent to the American Fourth of July and Mardi Gras rolled into one. I am not Swedish, and apologize to any Swedes who take offense, but as I understand it, that would be the best interpretation to modern day Americans. PS: Midsummer is, or is approximately, June 20th. Yes, what we would call "the first day of summer".
That is in fact a traditional Dalecarlia folk song, "Vindarna sucka uti skogarna". Also beatifully captured by singer Monica Zetterlund on her jazz album "Waltz for Debbie" with Bill Evans.
@westman720 1905. is quite significant year. Namely, Einstein published Theory of Relativity. So depending on velocity - I cannot exclude any specific case, i.e. everything is possible. It would be extremely unpolite to ask you about it, so I wish you a nice and successful Thuesday ! _________ Btw, I am not Swedish, but exactly this Percy Faith's interpretation of Hugo Alfvén's Midsommar Váka was the very first melody that was forever engraved in my brain. That happened approx. when I was 2, which is before we humans get definitely aware of ourselves. So, I am endlessly thankful to Hugo Alfvén for this timeless melody.
Underbar musik! Min japanska mor berättade att denna användes som signaturmelodi i japansk radio under 1940 & 50-talet så hon kände igen den när hon kom till Sverige i slutet av 1950-talet och blev mäkta förvånad över att den var svensk, det visste hon inte.
Dallas Hays in Kansas. I'm 20% swedish but somehow 0.3% japanese. I am sure the only one on my block. I was listening to swedish symphony favorites and heard something famiiar. I found it. I likely remember the Percy Faith or Montovani version. I have to have my S&B curry bars on hand, ordered on line, Hot not mild please.
8:08 Lost for words, no way to describe the feeling of my home country! It puts me in a 1,000 places with a 1,000 emotions. From the article summers to the long shores my Malmö, and from the thousands of islands off the west coast to the millions of lakes in the inlaid all hoping to tell their story all the way to the magical east. gosh I have a love/hate relationship with Sweden but I will always love it!
This rhapsody is immensely popular and deserves it. it is very well composed and orchestrated with some touchs of humour without any banality. I love it quite especially.
I knew this music since I was a child, but only recently found out who the composer was and how to find it on TH-cam. What an excellent addition to my collection of wonderul classical music.
Like a few thousand other folks, I'd never heard this beyond the first movement. It is so beautiful, Iove the recurring theme. This was used as the opening music for a TV program in the early'60s hosted by Don Ameche covering circuses worldwide, I was about 9 then, now I'm 69. How time has flown but it been fun now and again. Thanks for this beautiful post.
Unfortunately, I am too young to understand or remember that period as I wasn't born until 1970. I have heard this work on Classic FM radio station in Britain. It is in the key of D major (I am an amateur string player in an orchestra and possess perfect pitch). The work strikes me as a Nordic equivalent of Elgar.
The beginning is played by Ritchie Blackmoore briefly on Deep Purple's live version of 'Lazy' from the Made in Japan album, 08:50 into the track. Pretty cool as a Swedish Deep Purple fan!
@@adamblaha9838 Yes haha, and it's also funny that it's in Japan in 1971 or whatever it was. Can't have been too many in the audience knowing what piece it is, that's my guess anyway 😂
Une interprétation dynamique et lumineuse de cette belle rhapsodie, d'un compositeur longtemps (et injustement) méconnu en France. Merci pour ce partage !
eu tinha um lp antigo meu pai tinha uma coleção destes discos eu adorava ouvir minha mãe colocava pra mim dormir o lp chamava musicas pra ouvir e sonhar estou muito feliz em rever esta melodia thank you!!!!!
I would have been just five and started infant school in 1975. Abba had burst onto the Eurovision scene the previous year and I don't remember it first time round, but recall them a few years later when growing up.
What does that theme mean translated into English? I can understand the modulation of the piece into the relative minor (B minor), as the work is in D major, but not the title.
En vacker komposition av Hugo Alfvén! Det är mycket intressant att lyssna på svenska rapsodi. Det är en stark svensk anda! Tack för ladda upp! Hälsningar från Brasilien!!!
Tack så mycket! Detta år spelar den filharmoniska orkestern av min stad ( filarmonica.art.br/concertos/agenda-de-concertos/expedicoes-paises-nordicos/ ) den svenska rapsodi. =D
my most favourate Hugo Alfven piece. NOT TOO long but perfect balance of light and heavy sequences, some you want to spring to your feet and take all the strain of the day away (2.30) and then at (4.30 onwards ) a huge change into something very thought prevoking.
Found it! Way back in the 70's I got the Deep Purple Made in Japan album, and Richie Blackmore used this in a guitar solo. I have always wondered where it came from, here it is.
He plays the melody during "Lazy". I always knew it as "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", but thanks to youtube I now know of "Swedish Rhapsody" as well.
Je me souviens comme hier de la première fois que j'ai entendu cette rhapsodie, c'était pourtant il y a 70 ans à Nevers...Un coup de foudre musicale...
Compositeur suédois méconnu que j'aime beaucoup. L'intégral de cette magnifique Symphonie est très peu joué sauf le thème qui est très connu. Cette symphonie est superbe !
Just when you thought Sweden was bland, then Alfven creates this masterpiece that captures a flight of Monarch butterflies careening through heaven’s abode.
The main theme of the beginning of this rhapsody is very popular, but modt people do not know the entire rhapsody and are unable to give the name of the composer. Alfven has a rather conservative musical language, but he uses it in a very convincing way. His mastery of the orchestra is awesome.
Outside Sweden maybe, yes. Inside Sweden, if you are at all a fan of classical music, you know this piece. Hugo Alfvén is one of the most widely popular Swedish composers, only really rivaled by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (and especially his "Intåg i sommarhagen")
best bit 6.00 to 9.23 AND then the change at 9.46 to the very end - great all the way to the end. make a great exit to a wedding ceremony in some country manor or perhaps in southern Ireland (11.39) somewhere
11:20 The grand feast is at long last ready. Be seated, esteemed guests, and merrily savour the fruits of this blessed land of summer. Raise your glasses up at the bright blue sky, and toast to the splendour of life. This is one of my favourite pieces of music ever created. Every second sublime. ♥
What the Romanian rhapsody is to that country the midsummer rhapsody is to Sweden. Both are very attractive orchestral showpieces, deservedly popular, lovely melodies and loving homages to their countries by their respective composers.
The apparently elementary music, manha manha (muppet show), played by members of the italian RAI orchestra under the name of Marc 4, is in reality a skilful interpolation of parts of melodies from famous songs in Sweden such as Hugo Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsody and the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia has entered local folklore, while the text is a simple scat without any meaningful words, interpreted by the maestro Alessandro Alessandroni with his wife.
How come we al know the opening theme to this Rhapsody; but not the composer? It must have featured prominently somewhere throughout the Western World, for so many to recognise it: but, where?
Piero Umiliani quoted it in the verse of his song Mah Nà, Mah Nà... It started out in a soft porn film (“Sweden: Heaven or Hell?“) , then made famous by the Muppets, first on Ed Sullivan, then Sesame Street, and finally on the Muppet Show itself.
PERCY FAITH MADE A POPULAR RECORDING IN THE USA DURING THE NINETEEN-FIFTIES. IT WAS A VERY GOOD AND A VERY POPULAR RECORD LIKE HIS "DELICADO" AND ALSO HIS "PERFIDIA".
Never heard of Hugo Alfven but this was a very popular song on the radio in the 1950's in North America. May they got tired of Sinatra, Boone, Patti Page. Who knows?
I am Russian and have lived more than half of my life in Sweden, soon 27 years. Hugo Alvfén is the Swedish greatest composer. Dalarna region, Silja lake area are very beautiful. It is own special spirit there.
Jag är så stolt över att vara svensk! Jag och min familj emigrerade till NY, men våra hjärtan kommer alltid att finnas i Sverige. 🇸🇪 🇸🇪 🇸🇪
I had the great privilege of being allowed to play a minute on his piano, at his Home Museum near Falun in Sweden back in 2018. So grateful! Silvia Escobar. Madrid
Hugo Alfven levde och bodde i det vackra samhället Leksand vid den vackra sjön Siljan i Dalarna i Sverige. Inte långt från där jag nu bor. Han gjorde mycket gott för musikkulturen här. Lite stolt är jag nog. 😊
Ja, rejält stolt kan du vara över denne mångsidige kosntnär, han tänkte sig ursprungligen bli bildkonstnär. 😊❤
Half of my family came from Sweden two centuries ago. Back in my youth I had an opportunity to live and study there. The first time I heard Midsommarvaka I was over whelmed at how much the piece truly represents the country. Hugo Alfvén masterfully captured the country's spirit. Every time I listen to it I am transported back to the place where I once spent a memorable chapter of my youth.
James Hendin where do you live now then? im swedish :)
Back in the US.
okay :)
James Hendin I love Midsommarvaka. What is there in Sweden that corresponds to this music?
Nicolas Messina : It translates to English as "Midsummer's Vigil". Midsommarvaka is (very roughly) an annual Swedish festival somewhat equivalent to the American Fourth of July and Mardi Gras rolled into one.
I am not Swedish, and apologize to any Swedes who take offense, but as I understand it, that would be the best interpretation to modern day Americans. PS: Midsummer is, or is approximately, June 20th. Yes, what we would call "the first day of summer".
Ritchie Blackmore(who had a Swedish wife)played rapsody's intro in the pause of Deep Purple's song "Lazy" on the Made In Japan live recording.
5:42 Now begins one of the most beautiful passages of music ever, attaining unmatched richness at 8:00.
Increíble esta pieza nada de fuertes agudos excelente
Yes - beautiful!
That is in fact a traditional Dalecarlia folk song, "Vindarna sucka uti skogarna". Also beatifully captured by singer Monica Zetterlund on her jazz album "Waltz for Debbie" with Bill Evans.
Agreed!¡
Ja!
Härlig musik detta. Min mor träffade för övrigt Hugo Alvén på hotellet i Östersund där hon jobbade.
Hugo Alfvén composed Swedish Rapsody in 1905. Rhetoricallly, how old is your mother ?
@@kormoranbeli8222 Do you think she is still alive???
@westman720
1905. is quite significant year. Namely, Einstein published Theory of Relativity. So depending on velocity - I cannot exclude any specific case, i.e. everything is possible.
It would be extremely unpolite to ask you about it, so I wish you a nice and successful Thuesday !
_________
Btw, I am not Swedish, but exactly this Percy Faith's interpretation of Hugo Alfvén's Midsommar Váka was the very first melody that was forever engraved in my brain. That happened approx. when I was 2, which is before we humans get definitely aware of ourselves. So, I am endlessly thankful to Hugo Alfvén for this timeless melody.
Underbar musik! Min japanska mor berättade att denna användes som signaturmelodi i japansk radio under 1940 & 50-talet så hon kände igen den när hon kom till Sverige i slutet av 1950-talet och blev mäkta förvånad över att den var svensk, det visste hon inte.
När jag var i Taiwan 1970 användes melodin som signatur till Amerikanska militärens nyhets och annonssändningar i deras radio.
Dallas Hays in Kansas. I'm 20% swedish but somehow 0.3% japanese. I am sure the only one on my block. I was listening to swedish symphony favorites and heard something famiiar. I found it. I likely remember the Percy Faith or Montovani version. I have to have my S&B curry bars on hand, ordered on line, Hot not mild please.
8:08 Lost for words, no way to describe the feeling of my home country! It puts me in a 1,000 places with a 1,000 emotions. From the article summers to the long shores my Malmö, and from the thousands of islands off the west coast to the millions of lakes in the inlaid all hoping to tell their story all the way to the magical east. gosh I have a love/hate relationship with Sweden but I will always love it!
A very famous piece widely known for its first theme. A very imaginative and brillant orchestration.
This rhapsody is immensely popular and deserves it. it is very well composed and orchestrated with some touchs of humour without any banality. I love it quite especially.
Very much so.
@@johnlorenzen4633thx ! Note that Alfven wrote quite forgotten large ans strictly composed post-romantic pieces.
Wunderschöne Musik, für die die Welt noch viel lernen soll!! Haben Sie Dank für posting, wie sonst könnte man diese Schönheit fühlen!!
I knew this music since I was a child, but only recently found out who the composer was and how to find it on TH-cam. What an excellent addition to my collection of wonderul classical music.
Like a few thousand other folks, I'd never heard this beyond the first movement. It is so beautiful, Iove the recurring theme. This was used as the opening music for a TV program in the early'60s hosted by Don Ameche covering circuses worldwide, I was about 9 then, now I'm 69. How time has flown but it been fun now and again. Thanks for this beautiful post.
The theme to "International Showtime"!
I'm 66 and remember that TV program. I particularly remember the opening music and often wondered what it was. Now I know!
Unfortunately, I am too young to understand or remember that period as I wasn't born until 1970. I have heard this work on Classic FM radio station in Britain. It is in the key of D major (I am an amateur string player in an orchestra and possess perfect pitch). The work strikes me as a Nordic equivalent of Elgar.
The beginning is played by Ritchie Blackmoore briefly on Deep Purple's live version of 'Lazy' from the Made in Japan album, 08:50 into the track. Pretty cool as a Swedish Deep Purple fan!
Exactly! I was told this on RB''s fanpage where we share our guitar covers....it is very funny part put in the middle of the hardrock song! :-)
@@adamblaha9838 Yes haha, and it's also funny that it's in Japan in 1971 or whatever it was. Can't have been too many in the audience knowing what piece it is, that's my guess anyway 😂
LOVELY! I just heard this via my local station, here is SoCal.
Une interprétation dynamique et lumineuse de cette belle rhapsodie, d'un compositeur longtemps (et injustement) méconnu en France. Merci pour ce partage !
nemmeno in Italia nessuno conosce questo compositore, e codesta pittoresca e splendida rapsodia
eu tinha um lp antigo meu pai tinha uma coleção destes discos eu adorava ouvir minha mãe colocava pra mim dormir o lp chamava musicas pra ouvir e sonhar estou muito feliz em rever esta melodia thank you!!!!!
I would often get this song stuck in my head even though I haven't heard in probably 15 years, well until now
Amo de paixão! Uma das mai lumonosas composições de todos os tempos!
Completely successful piece. So varied in its moods. Right up there with enescps piece
I get goose bumps.
The real swedish feeling.
Underbart!
I’m proud of my Swedish heritage! I loved this tune as a kid before I knew I was part Swedish. This is so beautiful and happy!!!
💜🇸🇪💜
traitor
Such an exciting piece! I'm thankful for npr who introduced this to me.
NPR rules.
The Eurovision Song Contest of 1975 was held in Stockholm Sweden was used for opening
At the same time it was used as a callsign for g02 number station (actually it was Luxembourg polka by bunny lewis)
I would have been just five and started infant school in 1975. Abba had burst onto the Eurovision scene the previous year and I don't remember it first time round, but recall them a few years later when growing up.
Like so many already pointed out - the moodchange when theme two comes - "Vindarna sucka uti skogarna" - is so hurtingly beautiful.
What does that theme mean translated into English? I can understand the modulation of the piece into the relative minor (B minor), as the work is in D major, but not the title.
En vacker komposition av Hugo Alfvén! Det är mycket intressant att lyssna på svenska rapsodi. Det är en stark svensk anda! Tack för ladda upp! Hälsningar från Brasilien!!!
LuizBHMG bra sverige
Tack så mycket! Detta år spelar den filharmoniska orkestern av min stad ( filarmonica.art.br/concertos/agenda-de-concertos/expedicoes-paises-nordicos/ ) den svenska rapsodi. =D
English please
@@yorick22 Why?
Cheryl Hylin English please
I've known and adored this piece since I was 3 years old! (1961). It was on the same album as a recording of Finlandia... the choral version!
Quite good performance! Thanks for sharing!
Great performance of an utterly charming piece!
A wonderful and so very musical performance... but most of all, ya gotta love that HORN section: fearless!
Great piece!Came here from "Mahna Mahna" searching for the first short musical citat in it.
Despite some people's aversion to popular versions, I learned to love this piece from Percy Faith and his orchestra.
Wonderful swedish popular music 🎼🎶✨️🎶✨️🎶✨️
It was used in opening act of Eurovision song contest in 1975 held in Stockholm Sweden
my most favourate Hugo Alfven piece. NOT TOO long but perfect balance of light and heavy sequences, some you want to spring to your feet and take all the strain of the day away (2.30) and then at (4.30 onwards ) a huge change into something very thought prevoking.
I never heard the name of Hugo Alfvén, but I do know this piece... lovely one.
Found it! Way back in the 70's I got the Deep Purple Made in Japan album, and Richie Blackmore used this in a guitar solo. I have always wondered where it came from, here it is.
He plays the melody during "Lazy". I always knew it as "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?", but thanks to youtube I now know of "Swedish Rhapsody" as well.
A abridged version of this was produced on a vinyl 78 rpm by Mantovani during the 1950's. Did very well in the Hit Parade.
Simply exquisite from beginning to end
Bela música sinfônica, tem seu lugar entre as mais conhecidas rapsódias!
Gorgeous!
Je me souviens comme hier de la première fois que j'ai entendu cette rhapsodie, c'était pourtant il y a 70 ans à Nevers...Un coup de foudre musicale...
So this is what that numbers station was playing? Neat!
Had never heard this before. Awesome music. Just great.
Tack glad midsommar.Snart mot mörkare tider.
11.29 and 11.38 is the essence of Swedish midsummer eve with strong influences from swedish folk music.
Compositeur suédois méconnu que j'aime beaucoup. L'intégral de cette magnifique Symphonie est très peu joué sauf le thème qui est très connu. Cette symphonie est superbe !
Merci Byrd
Zn toute rigueur, ce n'est pas une symphonie mais une rhapsodie
Merci Gérard Begni de me souligner mon erreur. C'est en effet une Rhapsodie et non une Symphonie.
Una palabra: sublime
Muy bonita música. Él estuvo casado con la pintora danesa Marie Triepcke (1867-1940) de 1912 a 1936. Muchas gracias!
I've never heard this whole thing! Very nice!
Tack så mycket.
11:29 The most Scandinavian beat ever
Wonderful!
this is just great. Good job Sweden, in all levels.!
I don't know about you guys, but this song appears in my Listening Comprehension in exams.
can we just appreciate how beautiful the ending at 12:47 is
4:28 the charming slow section
Lohengrin
( 1:04 ) The Best Part ... 👍👍👍
Just when you thought Sweden was bland, then Alfven creates this masterpiece that captures a flight of Monarch butterflies careening through heaven’s abode.
The fact that a 31 year old can compose something like this is beyond me.
The main theme of the beginning of this rhapsody is very popular, but modt people do not know the entire rhapsody and are unable to give the name of the composer. Alfven has a rather conservative musical language, but he uses it in a very convincing way. His mastery of the orchestra is awesome.
It sure is
Outside Sweden maybe, yes. Inside Sweden, if you are at all a fan of classical music, you know this piece. Hugo Alfvén is one of the most widely popular Swedish composers, only really rivaled by Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (and especially his "Intåg i sommarhagen")
best bit 6.00 to 9.23 AND then the change at 9.46 to the very end - great all the way to the end. make a great exit to a wedding ceremony in some country manor or perhaps in southern Ireland (11.39) somewhere
Gottal love how those deep strings sound together. Sounds like there are less high up violin parts in some spots.
11:20
The grand feast is at long last ready.
Be seated, esteemed guests, and merrily savour the fruits of this blessed land of summer.
Raise your glasses up at the bright blue sky, and toast to the splendour of life.
This is one of my favourite pieces of music ever created. Every second sublime. ♥
What the Romanian rhapsody is to that country the midsummer rhapsody is to Sweden. Both are very attractive orchestral showpieces, deservedly popular, lovely melodies and loving homages to their countries by their respective composers.
Playing this at school.
I played this at All City Orchestra in 6th grade (unfortunately, a simplified version) but it was still lovely
This was commonly heard on the radio in the fifties ( before rockNroll) 🎉
Midsommarafton 2023!
Tack 😁🙏
좋아요, 정말 좋아요♡
Heard about this from number stations.
Great fun!
The apparently elementary music, manha manha (muppet show), played by members of the italian RAI orchestra under the name of Marc 4, is in reality a skilful interpolation of parts of melodies from famous songs in Sweden such as Hugo Alfvén's Swedish Rhapsody and the Neapolitan song Santa Lucia has entered local folklore, while the text is a simple scat without any meaningful words, interpreted by the maestro Alessandro Alessandroni with his wife.
Merry Christmas 🎅
This is another of those tunes that everybody knows but don't ask them who wrote it!
Of course, since Alfven used folktunes, the composer of them is for sure unknowm
Svensk känsla som han försökte hitta! Och som han fann...
Now I know where Ritchie Blackmore (Deep purple) got that wee riff in the improvisation section of the Made in Japan version of Lazy!
Позывные "Радио Швеция"(Radio Sweden) с 1967 года
A more dramatic version of the number station
This banger just doesn't hit the same after listening to the Swedish Rhapsody (numbers station).
Décidément j'ai toujours aimé le premier mouvement de cette pièce...
ultra connu mais sans savoir y mettre un nom, voilà qui est fait, merci
Une vraie merveille. Jean 10:15
This is what appears in my recommended list after listening to the whole "Midsommar" movie soundtrack
5:50-9:00 George Gershine's Summertime?
How come we al know the opening theme to this Rhapsody; but not the composer? It must have featured prominently somewhere throughout the Western World, for so many to recognise it: but, where?
Piero Umiliani quoted it in the verse of his song Mah Nà, Mah Nà... It started out in a soft porn film (“Sweden: Heaven or Hell?“) , then made famous by the Muppets, first on Ed Sullivan, then Sesame Street, and finally on the Muppet Show itself.
@@sha1om Thank you for this information. And 'Shalom!' to you.
PERCY FAITH MADE A POPULAR RECORDING IN THE USA DURING THE NINETEEN-FIFTIES.
IT WAS A VERY GOOD AND A VERY POPULAR RECORD LIKE HIS "DELICADO" AND ALSO HIS "PERFIDIA".
@@hieronyous Bless you Mr Bosch! Well, almost!
@@Mark_Dyer1 HAHAHA!
I THANK YOU FOR THE REFERENCE TO HIM.
I THINK.
BUT FOR ME, H...
REFERS TO SAINT JEROME, NOT TO THE
(IN)FAMOUS ARTIST.
Bliss and Swedish Rhapsody
omagad itz sooo good. den är epic!!!
It'll be beautiful if this romantic music is played in the cruise ship ballroom banquet.
很好听哦！ :) :) :) :) :)
I wonder if this is better than Mantovani's Orchestra's version?
Which background picture is this? Zorn? Larsson?
Beat bears many diverse sweet things to savor
Is this 2/4 or 4/4?! :) thanks!
Marianne Hall Christensen 4/4
The opening theme is almost identical to "Surrey with a fringe on top." Coincidence?
Never heard of Hugo Alfven but this was a very popular song on the radio in the 1950's in North America. May they got tired of Sinatra, Boone, Patti Page. Who knows?
Who could get tired of Patti Page and Frank Sinatra?
What you've heard then was Percy Faith.
+Joshua I'm thinking that Frank's first three wives got tired of him lol.
Great
0:45 I have a music box that plays that.
Heather Blue Dog
I have a number station that plays that.
@@thejay8963 aw cool! me too! th-cam.com/video/QnXPqUU6fI0/w-d-xo.html