The song cycle "Sk?nska motiv" by Martin Lindau part 2

"Nu blomma alla hagar"

For part 1 where you will get a bit of a background story and an analysis of the first song in the cycle, visit this link : https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/song-cycle-sk%C3%A5nska-motiv-martin-lindau-martin-lindau/

The second song of the cycle is "Nu blomma alla hagar" (Now all paddocks are abloom) continues the romantic soundscape of "Hemdr?mmar" but is even simpler, the explanation for this is that in Vilhelm Ekelunds sk?nska motiv it appears not as a poem but he describes how a young girl is walking down the road and sings it as a song.

Thus it became obvious to me that I needed to do it simple and almost like a song that you come up with as a spur of the moment thing while still maintaining a sense of unease which is apparent in the first song of the cycle.

The tempo is a midpaced walk at 72 bpm. The vocal line shifts between having an upward trajectory generally speaking in the first phrase where the text is as follows:

"Nu blomma alla hagar, nu stundar v?rens hopp" (Now all paddocks are abloom, now the hope of springtime awaits).

The piano is very simple but effective, shifting from major chords in F and Bflat7/E to Aminor. But what truly makes this first part is the falling half steps in first the F to the E in the bass which is followed up by Bflat to A in the treble. This adds a sense of sorrow and melancholy which arrives with the text in the second phrase "Men tungt g? mina dagar sitt vemods vanda lopp." (But my days are heavy, a circle of melancholy) On a side note this phrase really connected with me as it points to the prison we usually construct for ourselves, whatever it may be, running the rat race.

Melodically the second phrase takes on a more downward turn, adding more falling chromatic steps, which adds more weight to what is being sung.

Apart from the slight variation in the two bars before the second phrase where the bass plays the tonic parallell of Dminor and then changes it into a Dminor-b5 which adds even more melancholy to the song. On top in the treble you get trills and broken chords which gives you a feeling of perhaps not being on safe ground.

After that the piece becomes a bit more adventurous as we enter the bridge. The text talks about how spring brings life into the earth and how everything grows. "Nu spirar brodd ur marken d?r tj?lens boja smalt, nu stiger sav i barken och ljus och dr?m ?r allt." (The ground is sprouting where the frost melted, the sap is rising and everything is like a dream and bright."

Like the text the vokal line keeps rising like the sap giving a sense of joy to the piece and accompaniment in the bass is a lot more daring with chromatic shifts and the outer harmonies of the chords closing the distance as the top note in the bass moves down and the bottom note moves up. The treble adds syncopates to the rising and falling chords further accentuating the sense of joy and things growing in spring. Another new rhythmic element are the triplets that arrive every other measure further driving this section of the song forward.

We then return to the verse section so to speak with a twist. The bass is moved down a third and thus we are in the tonic parallell adding even more sorrow and the phrase "Men tungt g? mina tankar, sitt vemods vanda lopp" is repeated before we return to the normal verse construction that started the song and the words "Och ensam kring jag vankar och knyter l?ngtans ked." (And alone I walk to and fro, adding to my chain of longing.) finishes the song.

What I did to end the piece is that instead of finishing on the tonic which is Fmajor, I finished the song on the Fminor chord. This gives the ending a question mark and moves the cycle along I feel.

Here's a link to a live recording of the song. I hope you enjoy! And I'll be back with part 3 very soon!

/Martin Lindau