Tidernas Midsommarvaka
En studie av Hugo Alfvéns rapsodi och tre olika inspelningar som historiska källor
Rami Kangas: Tidernas Midsommarvaka. En studie av Hugo Alfvéns rapsodi och tre olika inspelningar som historiska källor. [A Midsummervigil of all times. A study of Hugo Alfvén´s rhapsody and three different recordings as historical sources.] Uppsala: Musikvetenskap, 1999. C- uppsats (60 p).This essay has two purposes. First of all, it introduces a little scratch of the multiplicity and complexity of time structures in music and in present reality. Secondly, it tries to take a step towards an idea of the use of recordings as historical sources. Chapter 1 reviews the common perceptions of time, and how the perception works. Also the chapter tells in a shortened form the story of the record industry and lightens few problems a record as a common source carries. One example is taken out of Glenn Goulds thoughts of the recording business. In Chapter 2 the piece of music is introduced. Hugo Alfvén and his famous Midsummer Vigil (Swedish Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 19) is a combination that finds it easy to come close with. The actual piece of music is considered as one of the major works in the history of classical music in Sweden. Besides, Alfvén is recognised as the National Composer of Sweden. The usage of a common dance piece, originally from the archipelago area from in the end of the 1900th century, as an inspiration to the main melody of the introduction is a very fruitful detail and really a cornerstone for the whole story of the Rhapsody. The Midsummervigil was due to that a very plagiated piece. Its introduction-melody was considered as a common property, which it never was. The rights of the work consequently are discussed in chapter 2.3.Chapter 3 is the analytical part of the study. Three recordings of the Midsummervigil are chosen and later investigated with focus upon the question whether a recording ? with all possible information it carries: music, text, pictures, technical data, etc. ? can serve as a historical source. I chose two examples out of 37 available items in ALB (Archive of Sound and Image; Stockholm, Sweden) and one, that is not included in the archive. After a brief description, all recordings could be put into five groups: 1) Nationalistic Connections, 2) Nordic Relations, 3) Historical Recordings, 4) Alfvén as Composer or Conductor, and finally 5) The Most Beloved Melodies. The combination of the three recordings I chosed relates to first four; The fifth and the last ?the most beloved melodies? tended to be too narrow documented what concerns historically good material. Chapter 4 contains a summing up. At last I have placed all information about the 37 recording available in ALB in an Appendix.