Decay of musical material, urgent concerns
Norwegian Musical Heritage (NMH) was created in response to urgent concerns about the condition of musical sources by Norwegian composers. Among performers, in libraries and archives, in the research institutions and the educational institutions A broad consensus was established that it was necessary to secure the endangered material and make the music become available through editions of high quality.
Many works have only been available in manuscript form, and often in handwritings difficult to read. A large amount of autograph scores have been used for performances, and they are thus full of confusing annotations. The old prints have been difficult to obtain, since several of the publishers no longer exist. Neither are the the printed editions always reliable.
Norwegian conductors and performers have for years struggled with unsatisfactory scores and performance material. They have often accepted insufficient conditions motivated by their quest to make the Norwegian musical tradition stay alive and healthy.
Accordingly, it has been difficult to promote the music internationally without acceptable editions. This situation also has affected research on Norwegian music; access to reliable musical sources such as an edited score is mandatory for the understanding of the music of an epoch, its styles and traditions.
2008: A collective initiative
Through the initiative of the Norwegian Composers’ Association, the National Library and the Norwegian Music Information Centre (MIC, now Music Norway) - a white paper about the condition of our national musical heritage was presented and discussed in 2008. The publication “Vern og publisering av den klassiske norske musikkarven” (Conservation and publication of the Norwegian classical music heritage) presented an evaluation of the general condition of the score material left by deceased Norwegian composers.
The paper recommended the formation of a project that could coordinate the necessary efforts to rebuild our musical heritage through digitization, research, scholarly editions, and publication of the scores. The paper indicated also that priority could be given to certain composers and their works.
2010 – 2021: Establishing Organization and Funding
In 2010 central musical institutions joined forces to form Norwegian Musical Heritage. The National Library heads and coordinates all aspects of conservation, cataloguing and digitalization of the sources. This is defined as a regular part of the Library’s work, and it is financed by the Library.
The research and edition part of is a joint collective endeavor involving specialist teams from the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the University of Tromsø, the Norwegian Academy of Music and the research section of the National Library. Performers, scholars and experts outside institutions were invited to join the advisory team. Leadership and coordination of the project's research and editing activities were financed by The Norwegian Culture Council and the University of Oslo (UiO).
Norwegian Musical Heritage is organized as a consortium of institutions. One representative from each of the participating institutions has a seat on the board. Moreover, a representative from the Norwegian Composer's Society and from the Association of Norwegian Theatres and Orchestras were invited to join the board as external members. A group consisting of a leader and two coordinators manages the daily activities according to the strategy established by the board. An editorial board chooses works for edition and secures the quality of the output.
The core of the project's activity has in the periods from 2010-2015 and 2016-2021 been funded by The Norwegian Culture Council. This involved the cost of coordinating in addition to the costs of the actual editing of music, writing of scores/parts etc. Also the University in Oslo as rotating host has contributed substantially to this part, as well as the Norwegian Music Academy, in addition to a fully funded PhD-position.
The main part of the financing of research activities were provided by the affiliated research institutions’ own efforts and budgets, and by support from diverse local, and national research funds.
Projects funded by the Norwegian Research Council
Johan Svendsen
The first project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NFR) affiliated with Norwegian Musical Heritage was 'Johan Svendsens Works'. Its goal was to develop a complete critical scholarly edition of the works by Johan Svendsen. The Svendsen project was a pilot project, meant to provide the groundwork for methodological, editorial, philological, and technical principles and methodologies. The numerous editions of works by Svendsen provided by the project Lead to a number of highly profiled new performance by orchestras and musicians in Norway and abroad. The project team consisted of conductor Bjarte Engeset (project leader), Jørgen Langdalen, Øivind Norheim, Morten Christophersen, Jørn Fossheim, Audun Jonassen, Barbara Cipollone, and Morten Carlsen.
Fartein Valen
A succeeding NFR-funded project was dedicated to Fartein Valen and lead from the Department of Musicology at UiO. The aim was to contextualise a critical survey of all his sources and works and the editing of some of his scores by in depth studies of his style development and reception in Norwegian and European music. A further goal was to initiate performances and recordings of Valen’s music in collaboration with the Norwegian Broadcasting services (NRK), the Valen trust, and the Valen centre, opened in 2013 in Valevåg. The project team consisted of Ståle Wikshåland, Arnulf Mattes, Astrid Kvalbein, and Thomas Erma Møller.
Other projects
Ludvig Irgens-Jensen
As part of the consortium's sharing of resources the The Norwegian Academy of Music established a PhD-position for a researcher dedicated to a musical heritage-project. Conductor Lars-Thomas Holm has been working on a project editing several works by Ludvig Irgens-Jensen.
Johan Halvorsen
Øyvin Dybsand at the Department of Music, University of Oslo (UiO) has made an extensive work catalogue of Johan Halvorsen’s oeuvre. He has collaborated with the conductor Jørn Fossheim, who has reedited some of the orchestral works of Halvorsen for the new recordings by the Bergen Philharmonic Society.
In addition to the projects mentioned above, Norwegian Musical Heritage continues to include more composers, comprising whole collections of works, and highlighting single works considered as of special historical significance. Norwegian Musical Heritage is receiving and assessing proposals submitted by local collections, institutions, and organizations, but also from individual performers.
All these projects will profit from the collective national competence hub and also from our cooperation with international partner institutions, The Danish Centre for Music Publication (DCM) and the Nordic Musical Heritage Network, including Sweden (Levande musikkarv), and Finland.
Technical Infrastructure
The technological “state of the arts” in research, edition and publishing is pointing towards new questions and the need for new knowledge. An especially important part out technical infrastructure is the metadateditor MerMEId, developed by the Danish Centre for Music Publication. These resources are made available to all participants in Norwegian Musical Heritage.
The web pages will be gradually expanded at the address www.musikkarven.no. This will be the central channel for distribution of information and material through the internet.
Publication and distribution
Norsk Musikforlag and NB Noter – the Norwegian National Library’s music publication services – collaborate in the publishing and promotion of scores and in the production of parts for musicians, ensembles and orchestras, nationally and internationally.
Legal Rights
The publishing of scores, recordings and other relevant material will require careful attention to the rights regulated by the copyright laws and other legislation. Costs concerning performance, recordings, playback and production of single copies, as well as downloading and rental, will be handled according to the rules and standards recommended by the Norwegian copyright organizations like TONO and GRAMO and respected by the publishers. Lawyers from the UiO are associated with NMH and are helping in formulating general agreements for processing all types of relevant rights.