norwegian gamalstev: a millennium of sung verse : text...

Norwegian gamalstev: A millennium of sung verse : Text and Tune

https://www.peterlang.com/view/9783035195231/chapter8.xhtml?print[25.02.2017 00:46:48]

Peter Lang

Text and TuneOn the Association of Music and Lyrics in Sung Verse

Series: Varia Musicologica,

Teresa Proto, Paolo Canettieri and Gianluca Valenti

This book offers an overview of issues related to the regulated, formalorganization of sound and speech in verse intended for singing. Particularly, it isconcerned with the structural properties and underlying mechanisms involved inthe association of lyrics and music. While in spoken verse the underlying metricalscheme is grounded in the prosody of the language in which it is composed, insung verse the structure is created by the mapping of specific prosodic units ofthe text (syllables, moras, tones, etc.) onto the rhythmic-melodic structureprovided by the tune. Studying how this mapping procedure takes place acrossdifferent musical genres and styles is valuable for what it can add to ourknowledge of language and music in general, and also for what it can teach usabout individual languages and poetic traditions. In terms of empirical coverage,the collection includes a wide variety of (Western) languages and metrical/musicalforms, ranging from the Latin hexameter to the Norwegian stev, from the Frenchchant courtois to the Sardinian mutetu longu. Readers interested in formalanalyses of vocal music, or in metrics and linguistics, will find useful insights here.Show Less

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0351-0838-5

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Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien 2015. 371 pp., num. b/will., 25 coloured ill.

Norwegian gamalstev: A millennium of sung verse

JON STORM-MATHISEN

Norwegian gamalstev:A millennium of sung verse

Synopsis

Gamalstev is the most original form of Norwegian folk music and poetry. It has been in oraltradition until the present day. Via phonograph recordings we can hear this type of sungverse passed down to us in a single link now spanning 230 years.

The structure of gamalstev is almost identical to that of Old Norse verse in the metreljóðaháttr, used e.g. in Hávamál, a collection of words of wisdom of the ‘High One’, i.e.Odin (Wotan), and in Lókasenna, a quarrel in verse between Lóki and the other Norsegods. This ‘Poetic Edda’ was written down on parchment in Iceland in the 13 century, butis thought to stem from Norway at least as early as the 9 century through oral traditionamong the settlers.

Gamalstev is traditionally used in similar contexts, i.e. to state or quote a word ofwisdom, to comment on a remarkable situation, to make riddles or fight it out in a sungverse contest. While at most, only traces of the verbal contents of the Old Norse versescan be identified in gamalstev, the practice is preserved. Exactly how the verse wasperformed a millennium ago cannot be known, but it was referred to by the same verbs

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now used to describe performing stev (kveda and syngja, both of which carry the doublemeaning of reciting poetry and singing, in Old Norse as well as in modern Norwegian).

Old Norse verse in ljóðaháttr metre can be sung to the tunes of gamalstev. They sharethe same accentual pattern with 2+2, 3; 2+2, 3 stresses. While the former has a rigoroussystem of alliterations on stressed syllables, alliteration is irregular or missing in gamalstev,which instead has end rhyme or assonance in the lines with 3 stresses. ← 129 | 130 →The number of non-stressed syllables varies greatly, providing freedom for improvising.

Oral and writing cultures: The Edda poetry must have been in oral tradition for severalhundred years, inevitably changing in the process, before it was written down and hencepreserved in the form known to us today. Similarly, gamalstev was recorded in writing to asignificant extent only as late as around 1850. Before that time, literate persons in Norwaytook little interest in what common people knew by heart from their old folks. A traditionalsinger made me aware of the paradox that when the sung verse was put on paper, peoplefelt it unimportant to learn it by heart.

But during the national movement of the 19 century to make Norway an independentnation, old sung verse gained enormously in prestige and inspired authors such as Ibsenand Bjørnson (e.g. in the national anthem).

Modern technology but prevailing tradition, the practice lives on in new forms: a forestryofficer in Setesdal recently received a report on the rescue of a moose that had plungedthrough the river ice, the report being rendered as a pair of stev sent by fax! The text-to-tune alignment, known to the sender as well as the receiver, helps overcome the fact thatthe faxed message is delivered without a face or a melody.

My tenet is that a continuous, still existing, practice of sung verse in Norse culturepredates the time of landnám, i.e. the emigration from Norway to Iceland in the 9 century.

What is a stev? What is its origin?

A stev is a self-contained statement, often a word of wisdom (frodestev). Pairs or rows ofstev may repeat parts of the statement, continuing with similar or contrasting points of view.Stev are usually recited with a tune, in a style of singing referred to by the verb å kvedaand characterised by closeness to the spoken word (Myhren 1980).

A stev is usually described as four-line verse, with distinct structural differences betweengamalstev, nystev, and slåttestev. The former ← 130 | 131 → two were (are) used ingames, stevleik, where two opponents compete in who can deliver the most apt – usuallyinsulting – characteristic of the other. Riddle-games are also known, and stev can be used

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to describe or comment on a noteworthy happening. The use implies improvisation, whichis thought to have been flourishing in ‘the old days’. Nowadays, the singer is more likely touse a known stev but twists the words to fit the situation, which is referred to as å vendestevet. However, entirely new stev are produced (mostly in writing, e.g. the faxed exampleshown below).

The word stev (singular = plural) is of the same root as stav (cf. English stave, formedas plural of staff). Old Norse stafr (m) (f pronounced v) means stick, pillar, rune/letter,formula, while stef (n) means time-limit, time-period, refrain, verse/stanza, i.e. ‘set orrecurring time’. The original meaning of stev is therefore akin to that of the word metre. Themeanings of stef may have developed from the concept of a ‘row of stakes’ (fence, i.e. alimit, cf. ‘å stevja’ in the sense ‘to stop, prevent’; cf. English to stave off). Also notice theterms bokstav (letter, originally rune, i.e. a letter shaped like rods), and stave rhyme(alliteration, the virtual ‘pillars’ of the verse).

The oldest form of Norwegian traditional music and poetry is gamalstev. Originally, thispoetry and music were generated, performed and passed on without writing. Tunes usedcan be traced through direct oral tradition to informants who lived more than 200 years ago(see example three below). Some of the ‘medieval ballads’, also in oral tradition, are ingamalstev metre.

There are no written sources that prove the origin of stev. However, it is striking howgamalstev resemble Old Norse poems in ljóðaháttr metre. The structure is almost identicaland the usage is similar. Thus Vavþrudnismál is a riddle game/contest – on life and death –between Oðinn (Wotan) and the Jotun Vavþrudne, the ‘strong weaver’ (of words). InLókasenna the god Lóki outwits all of the other gods in an insulting stevleik. Notably,Hávamál – the ‘Word of the high one’ (i.e. Oðinn) – is really a long row of frodestev. Thispoetry is known to us through parchment manuscripts, ‘Poetic Edda’ (‘Old Edda’), written inIceland in the 13 century, but thought to be based on oral tradition originating in Norwayat least as early as the time of settlement, landnám, i.e. 9 century. ← 131 | 132 →

The similarity in structure and function suggests that stev represent a continuous line ofdevelopment from Old Norse poetry, in essence oral but preserved in the the Eddamanuscripts. Here, this ‘hypothesis’ is ‘tested experimentally’ by singing ljóðaháttr verses togamalstev and ballad tunes.

Similarities, signs pointing to a connection in tradition of performance of gamalstevand Edda poetry, include:

Metre: accentual pattern (2+2, 3; 2+2, 3), alliterations

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Oral tradition: existed originally only as performed, perceived and rememberedUse: improvisatory, riddle games, commenting on or marking something noteworthyContents: nature, life, words of wisdomTerms: the literal meaning of the verb for reciting stev (kveda) or Edda (kveða) is ‘say’ –words govern music – the word ljóðaháttr may be translated ‘ballad metre’ (ljóð, anarrative song = German Lied)

Structure of verses in the ljóðaháttr metre – and of stev

Ljóðaháttr is held to be a uniquely Nordic type of poetic metre, a variant of the ancientGermanic alliterative metre. A typical example is given by verse number 3 of Hávamál(Figure 1, left part).

Lines and stresses

As usually written, there are 6 lines, called visúorð:

1. Short-line, with 2 stresses (arses, lifts), i.e. a dipody2. Short-line, with 2 stresses3. Full-line, with 3 (or 2) stresses;4. Short-line5. Short-line6. Full-line ← 132 | 133 →

A pair of short-lines is separated by a short pause (caesura). Such a pair, and a ‘full-line’,were called a vísufjórðungr (a fourth of a verse).

2 vísufjórðungar = 1 vísuhelmingr (a half verse)2 vísuhelmingar = 1 vísa (a verse)

Unstressed syllables (theses, dips) may be missing, and the number varies very much,providing freedom conducive to improvisation.

Alliteration

Alliteration (also known as stave rhyme) means that words start on the same consonant oron a vowel (usually different). The stave rhyme is on sound (heard) rather than on letters(read). Alliteration and stress coincide on significant syllables. Alliteration connects words inconsecutive short-lines, or words within a full-line. Thus each vísufjórðungr is ‘heldtogether’ by an internal stave rhyme.



The description of the ljóðaháttr metre given here is based on the authoritativeencyclopaedia of Nordic medieval cultural history from the Viking ages to the Reformation(KLNM 1956–1979, vol. 12, p. 355). Descriptions currently [9 July 2013] available oninternet include:

Ljodahått, Store norske leksikon, <http://snl.no/ljodahått>

Prosody Guide, Ljóðaháttr, <http://www.trobar.org/prosody/pnort.php#ljot>

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, Ljóðaháttr guidelines (Kari Ellen Gade)

<http://abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?table=doc&id=331>

The latter discusses to some extent the variation and uncertainty of interpretation thatfollows from the conditions of the extant original texts, including mistakes made by themedieval scribes.

Gamalstev have a similar structure (Figure 1, right part). Although the usual way ofwriting has 4 rather than 6 lines, the system of stresses is exactly the same, and the staverhyme is rudimentary. In gamalstev, there is end rhyme or assonance between the full-lines(Myhren 1980). ← 133 | 134 →

Ekgren (1976; 1999; 2009) has shown by counting film-frames that traditional kvedarartap their feet for stresses in the sung verse in a flexible rhythm of dipodies, i.e. pairs ofstresses with varying timing, rather than in metrical isochrony. In gamalstev, it conforms tothe Old Norse metre ljóðaháttr. In the lines with 3 stresses, the tapping may function as2+1, 1+2, or 1+1+1. Ekgren’s work provides an important key to the understanding ofNorse – current and old – traditional poetry and music. Her observation was characterizedas ‘intriguing’ and ‘very useful’, in a recent review in the Journal of English and GermanicPhilology (Bredehoft 2012).

The repeated shift between 2-pulse and 3-pulse anisochronic rhythms, which ischaracteristic of ljóðaháttr and gamalstev, contributes to making the metre fascinating byproviding enticing tension to text and tune.

http://snl.no/ljodah%C3%A5tt

http://www.trobar.org/prosody/pnort.php#ljot

http://abdn.ac.uk/skaldic/db.php?table=doc&id=331



Fig. 1: Example 1 of a Hávamál verse and a gamalstev from which the tune is taken. – A currently well knowngamaltev tune, from Setesdal. (The tabular heading of this figure applies through Figure 1 – Figure 5.) ← 134 | 135 →

Examples of gamalstev tunes used to verses in the ljóðaháttr metre fromHávamál

In this section, the text-to-tune alignment of the contemporary oral stev is tested on theonce oral Edda verses, known today thanks to the medieval scribes of Iceland. As themetre is essentially the same, any gamalstev tune can be used for any verse in gamalstevmetre, and presumably so for any verse in ljóðaháttr, which is what I have found. In thelimited number of examples presented, I have chosen tunes of various background andfrom different parts of Norway, prompted by the fact that gamalstev are not restricted to the‘core area’ in Telemark and Setesdal, but known and practiced throughout the country.However, some tunes seem to fit the contents and spirit of the Old Norse verse better thanothers.

In the translations of the texts into English, shown in the Figures, I have tried to be asclose to the original wording as possible, choosing the same words if they exist in Englishalthough with a different current meaning, in which case I have put alternatives in [squarebrackets]. Meaning implied by case or context is added in (parentheses). Stressed firstletters of words are marked by underline, alliterations by bold italics.

My first example (Figure 1) is the third verse in Hávamál. This verse, about hospitality –an important virtue in the harsh and scarcely populated North – is among the most



frequently quoted ones and serves to illustrate the present relevance of the millennium-oldverse, as well as to demonstrate the structure of the metre. The example of tune chosenfor illustration has a text written down from traditional singers in Telemark in the nineteenthcentury (Landstad 1853). This is indeed a word of wisdom, as noted in the comments(Figure 1), concerning wildlife as well as human nature! The verse is sung by contemporarymastersinger Kirsten Bråten Berg (CD 1990) to a widely used tune in the form by thetraditional kvedar, Gro Heddi Brokke (1911–1997) from Rysstad, Setesdal.

The second example (Figure 2) is a tune that is known and still used in very manyvariants for gamalstev as well as for ballads. The earliest documentation of it is by OleaStyhr Crøger (1801–1855) in Seljord, ← 135 | 136 → Telemark, possibly from LavransGroven (Crøger 2004), and by L.M. Lindeman, who wrote down the score in 1851 fromOlea Crøger’s singing. Lindeman notes on his manuscript: “The old stev tune. After thismelody are sung several of the old ballads, and especially Draumkvedit, and Hermod Ille,with and without refrain.” I first learnt the tune from the recording by mastersinger AgnesBuen Garnås on her LP (1984) of the medieval ballad Draumkvedet, which was awardedby Spelemannsprisen. I use it here to the thirtyfirst verse of Hávamál, about the counterpartof hospitality, the necessity of the guest’s knowing when it is time to leave.

Fig. 2: Example 2 of a Hávamál verse and a gamalstev from which the tune is taken. – A gamalstev tune used widelyto ballads as well as to gamalsev, from Telemark. First scores by Olea Crøger in the 1840-ties. ← 136 | 137 →



Fig. 3: Example 3 of a Hávamál verse and a gamalstev from which the tune is taken. – A gamalstev tune known onlyfrom the recordings in 1920 of Svein Tveiten, Setesdal and Telemark, whose source Halvor Bjaai may have learnt itaround 1790.

The third example (Figure 3) is a tune that, to my knowledge, would have been lost if it hadnot been sung by Svein Knutson Tveiten (1841–1924), from Hovden in Setesdal, for thefolk music collector O.M. Sandvik who recorded it on wax roll phonograph in 1920. I learntthe tune through a recording by Kirsten Bråten Berg (MC 1982), who has used it fordifferent texts, and later studied the original recording, which in spite of poor technicalquality gives additional insight into the state of the tune a hundred years ago. Furthermore,when listening to it, one is separated by only one link from a performer who lived more thantwo hundred years ago (Halvor Bjaai, born 1775). The background of this gamalstev tuneand text also provides insight into the usage of stev. Svein Tveiten learnt this – and manyother songs and stories – from Halvor Bjaai (1775–1867). As a little boy in the late 1840ies,Svein accompanied Halvor, then a rather old man, when he travelled among the highmountain farms in Northern Setesdal in order to woo a woman to be his wife. Having nosuccess, he went on and on, and: “He had such an embarrassing verse he kept singing”(“Han hadde så harmelegt eit svarmevers han tulla på”), said Svein (Bråten Berg / Jansen1991:55). This is actually a usage known from Edda, i.e. more than a millennium old: averse is recited to comment on a more or less remarkable situation. ← 137 | 138 → I findthis tune fitting for a pair of Hávamál verses about knowledge, introducing the concept thatyou need a lot of it, but not too much, in order to be happy. A former student of mine, JonH. Laake, put one of these stanzas on the frontispiece of his PhD thesis.



Fig. 4: Example 4 of a Hávamál verse and a gamalstev from which the tune is taken. – A gamalstev tune from Voss inWestern Norway, known from singers who may have learnt it in the 19 century.

Example four (Figure 4) is a tune from the western part of Norway, incidentally a regionfrom which many of the early emigrants came to Iceland. It is still in use, and I learnt it froma young singer, Tone Berge Juve, who learnt it from her mother, Inger Berge Juve (born1937), herself the daughter of a traditional singer and fidler from Voss. One of thetraditional singers named as source of this gamalstev is Inger N Dagestad (1884–1964). Ithas a jocular content about the feelings of the bear, ‘Bjødnakjensolo’, towards man and hismanners. The first visuhelmingr has stave rhyme conforming with ljóðaháttr. The Hávamálverse chosen here warns against judging an outcome too early. ← 138 | 139 →

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Fig. 5: Example 5 of a Hávamál verse and an unusual gamalstev from which the tune is taken. – A nursery rhymeconforming to the ljóðaháttr variant galdralag is widely known. The form rendered is from Eastern Norway, theinformant Gerhard Munthe may have learnt it around 1860.

My final example (Figure 5) is the first verse in Hávamál, which cautions against the dangerof encountering foes, and allegorically, to be on the alert wherever you go and whateveryour purpose is. The metre of this verse is a variant of ljóðaháttr, called galdralag, i.e.‘enchanting metre’, where the third line, with three stresses, is compellingly repeated withslightly different wording, boosting the impact. Does this have a counterpart in stev? Isearched in vain, until I realized that a nursery rhyme that I learnt from my mother actuallyis in galdralag! This rhyme and its tune were picked up in Elverum in Eastern Norway bythe district physician’s son, Gerhard Munthe (1849–1929), who later became an importantpainter. The rhyme is still rather well known, at least in part due to the fact that it wasprinted in ‘Norsk Billedbog for Børn’, ‘Norwegian Picture Book for Children’ (Holst & Nielsen1888, reprinted many times), which featured its story on the cover: A troll is calling out overthe mountains, asking if anybody has seen his wife. The tune, as I remember it, differsslightly from that rendered in the book – in line with the ever-changing nature of folk music.Except in the first ← 139 | 140 → two half-lines of the rhyme, there is alliterationconforming to the Old Norse system. Rather remarkable!

The singing, kveding, of stanzas of Hávamál and stev to the same stev tunesdemonstrates their similarity and is compatible with the notion of a corresponding



performance practice.

Oral and writing cultures

Stev as well as the Edda poetry originate in an oral culture. Even the law was not written,but was in the minds of people, and was recited by an especially trusted elder, the ‘law-sayer-man’, lögsögumaðr. The Old Norse poetry originated in Norway before the time ofthe emigration in the 9 century and its shape after several hundred years of oral traditionin Iceland is preserved for us through the Icelandic parchment manuscripts from thethirteenth century. For Hávamál, the most important source is Konungsbók, Codex Regius,from around 1270, thought to be based on earlier manuscripts now lost. Hávamál begins onpage 3 recto (Figure 6). The precious parchment was used very parsimoniously: there is nospace separating the new poem from the preceding, the title, in red, is written in the middleof the page, aligned with the first three words of Hávamál to the left, beginning with anilluminated G, and the last few words of the preceding poem to the right. The text runscontinuously, only the verses are separated by a period sign. The interpretation iscomplicated by the extensive use of ‘short-hand’ and occasional omission of words thatmay have been considered self evident, thus requiring in-depth knowledge of the OldNorse literature. An authoritative edition is the one by Sophus Bugge (Bugge 1867), fromwhich I have taken the Old Norse text in the figures. Editions now [9 July 2013] availableon internet include <http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/Hávamál> (Guðni Jónsson) and<http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=Hav>.

Photocopies of original text are found at <http://www.am.hi.is:8087/WebView.htm>. ←140 | 141 →

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http://www.heimskringla.no/wiki/H%C3%A1vam%C3%A1l

http://www.anglo-saxons.net/hwaet/?do=get&type=text&id=Hav

http://www.am.hi.is:8087/WebView.htm



Fig. 6: Page of Codex Regius with the beginning of Hávamál.

Gamalstev were in use in Norway until the present day, but were first recorded in writingonly in the 1840ies. A highly significant collector of stev and other folk poetry was OleaCrøger, a daughter of the parson in Seljord, Telemark, who learnt traditional folk musicfrom local singers. Her work was published in part by Magnus Brostrup Landstad, whoadded texts collected by himself in his seminal book Norske Folkeviser (Landstad 1853).The book has melodies for stev and ballads collected by Ludvig Mathias Lindeman,importantly from Olea Crøger. Crøger’s material was published in full only posthumously inthis century (Crøger 2004). By the time of the collection, gamalstev were gradually losingpopularity and being replaced by nystev, which differ from gamalstev by having fourstresses instead of three in the second and ultimate lines. However, the two forms of stevare used in similar contexts.

Hardly any of the literal contents of Hávamál or other Old Norse poetry can be traced tothe presently known stev texts. However, the contexts and ways in which stev are used,are the same as known for the poetry a millennium ago. Thus, as alluded to above, thewords of ← 141 | 142 → wisdom of Hávamál have counterparts in stev (Figure 1). The useof stev to describe or comment on a situation (Figure 3) has counterparts in Edda poetry



with stories of the Norse gods. Stev contests echo Lókasenna, ‘Lóki’s quarrel’, while stevriddle games echo Vavþrudnismál. The usage was about to fall into oblivion, such that theearly collectors had to turn to the lower tiers of society to find those who still knewgamalstev. Landstad (1853) felt as if he were rescuing old family jewels out of a burninghouse. However, when deep roots of Norwegian culture were sought during the period of“nation-building” culminating in Norwegian independence in 1905, old melodies and textswere published and provided inspiration for composers, including Edvard Grieg, as well aspoets, including Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Thus Bjørnson’s text ‘Ja, vielsker’, the National Anthem, goes in gamalstev metre.

The natural state of oral poetry and music is to exist in oral tradition, but much of thematerial would have been unknown to us today, if it had not been recorded in writing, byCrøger, Landstad, Lindeman and others. Paradoxically, when the material had beenpublished in books, people became less motivated to learn it and pass it on by heart. Also,the new times made the contents of the old stories related in ballads seem irrelevant. Thegreat mastersinger Aslak Brekke (1901–1978) thought ballad stories like Draumkvedetwere just rubbish “– du veit, det æ slikt som ikkje hender!”, “you know, such things don’thappen!” (Ekgren / Myhren 1983:12). Yet, his recordings of more modern viser, some ofwhich in gamalstev metre, are an inestimable source of insight into the ancient way ofsinging. He comments on the way of singing stev, called kveding, being like reciting text.

Variation is stressed by Aslak Brekke: “Eg syng alli tvo vers likt”, “I never sing twoverses the same way” (this quote is heard by ‘word of mouth’, but is apparently not found inprint, although his emphasis on variation is shown in interviews, Ekgren / Myhren 1983:15).Magnus B. Landstad (Landstad 1853:368) writes about stev: “Man lader sig ikke i sin Sangbinde af strenge Regler; det er endog vanskelig at faa en Sanger til at gjentage et Vers toGange uden at forandre noget i Melodien, saa at den, der vil opfatte og fæste denne paaNoder, vistnok har et vanskeligt Arbeide. Men denne Mangfoldighed af Modulation harnoget besynderlig Tiltalende, og giver Folkesangen et Præg som Nodesætteren neppe eristand til at gjengive.” “In the singing, one does ← 142 | 143 → not let oneself be bound bystrict rules; it is even difficult to make a singer repeat a verse twice without changinganything in the melody, such that the person who wants to perceive and fix this on scores,surely has a hard task. But this multifariousness of modulation (variation) has an intriguingappeal, and gives the folk song a character that the transcriber is scarcely able to render.”

Today, stevleik is still practiced, but mostly using nystev metre. One can also encounternystev used in advertisements in newspapers and – like in the old days – commenting onincidents and episodes. Sigbjørn Høidalen, forestry officer in Valle, Setesdal, showed me areport he had received, by fax, from one of the employees in charge of tracing injured wildanimals. I relate it here, with permission, to illustrate that old usage has taken new forms,



adjusting to technological developments. The fact that the text-to-tune alignment is familiarto the persons communicating through the new medium may help compensate for the lackof a face and a tune.

RAPPORT OM ELG, FLÅRENDEN 25.04.2001

Med Flårendsbrune laut elg i “isi”me fekk ‘an oppte på dette visi.Ut i vokji med taug å båtå elgen den va bå kald å våt.

Då me elgen ti lands ha fengji‘an messte livlause låg der lengji.Men då kvelli kom, så la han i vegopp lidi gjekk ‘an med sterke steg.

Med helsingBjørgulv O. Rysstad(personal communication by Sigbjørn Høidalen 2001)

REPORT ON ELK, FLÅRENDEN 25.04.2001

At Flårend bridge elk [moose] dropped through the iceWe got him back up, in this wise [manner].Out into the breach with rope and boatand the elk he was both cold and soaked [wet].

When we the elk on shore had gottenhe nearly lifeless lay there long.But when evening came, he hit the roadup the hillside he climbed with strides so strong.

With regardsBjørgulv O. Rysstad

How did it sound 1000 years ago? This can never be known, of course, but the‘preservation’ of the metre is striking and so is its designation, ljóðaháttr – ‘song metre’, andthe fact that the verb kveda is used today for performing stev, which is the same word askveða used in Old ← 143 | 144 → Norse for reciting Edda poetry. The basic literal meaningof kveða is ‘say’, and the word is the same as ‘queath’ in English ‘bequeath’ (a currentusage still witnessing the paramount power of the spoken word in an oral culture). The wayof singing characteristic of stev emphasizes the words, nearly as in speaking. Therefore thetext-to-tune alignment is dominated by the text. Conversely, poetry (without music) is ofteneven today recited in a ‘musical’ way. The Norwegian poet, Paal Helge Haugen, currentlyrefers to this practice as “an alternative way of singing” (“ein alternative måte å synge på”)(interview by Ada D. Bjøranger, sent on Norwegian Radio, NRK P2, Diktafon, 10November 2012 <http://blogg.nrk.no/bok/2012/11/09/en-gud-for-alt/> [active 8 July 2013],<http://www.nrk.no/lyd/ada_bjorangers_intervju_med_paal_helge_haugen/2AC9D6DE85E6B2B9/> [sound, active 7 December 2012, later disabled], commenting on David Silvian’s readingof Haugen’s poems Uncommon Deities<http://davidsylvian.com/uncommondeities/information.html> [active 8 July 2013]). A similarpractice is (was) used by the auctioneer as well as by the church parson. I propose that themodern way of kveding of stev has evolved from a presumably ‘musical’ way of recitingEdda verse in the time when this poetry was entirely oral.

Why no trace during the intervening 1000 years? The earliest Norwegian record inwriting of a poem in gamalstev metre is a medieval ballad type folkevise, i.e. Friarferdi tilGjøtland, The Courtship Journey to Gjøtland. Both the singer/performer and the collector

th

http://blogg.nrk.no/bok/2012/11/09/en-gud-for-alt/

http://www.nrk.no/lyd/ada_bjorangers_intervju_med_paal_helge_haugen/2AC9D6DE85E6B2B9/

http://davidsylvian.com/uncommondeities/information.html



are unknown (<http://www.dokpro.uio.no/ballader/tekster_html/e/e072_001_fnote.html> [8July 2013]). I.N. Kopperstad rescued the document from being burnt with other old ‘rubbish’in 1868, in Volda in Western Norway. It is dated 1612 but may be copied from an earliermanuscript (Solberg 2012). There appears to be no appreciable record of stev as a vitaltradition until the 19 century. An obvious reason is the general sparseness of textssurviving. Another cause is that oral tradition among ordinary people was not seen asinteresting by scholars before the national romantic period.

Does the practice of stev have modern counterparts? It seems apt to compare rappingof the hip-hop culture with kveding and the stev tradition. The rhythmic recitation of text inrapping may be seen as derived from blues singing, whereas kveding may be the result of← 144 | 145 → an opposite development (over many more years!) from text without tune totext with tune. Rapping like the kveding of stev has an element of improvisation. Both rapsand stev make important statements; they comment on something notable, ranging all theway from moments of personal pleasure or grief to global matters of life or death.

In conclusion, Viking age poetry and contemporary Norwegian sung verse sharesimilarities in broad contents, usage, metre and ability to be sung, indicating common roots.

Some of these views have been presented before (Storm-Mathisen 2002a; 2002b;2007).

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Jacqueline Patison Ekgren for discussions and for correcting my non-nativeEnglish in the manuscript, to Jon Gunnar Jørgensen for advice on Old Norse as well as toall the Norwegian kvedarar who have generously shared their knowledge with me, inparticular (alphabetical order) Kirsten Bråten Berg, Agnes Buen Garnås, Ingvill Marit BuenGarnås, Jon Anders Halvorsen, Halvor Håkanes, Tone Berge Juve, Øyonn Groven Myhren,Arnfinn Staurheim (who tried to teach me den gamle slængjen ‘the old swing’), and mymother Ardis Storm-Mathisen, d.e., who taught me the nursery rhyme – and the love ofsung verse.

References

Bredehoft, Th.A. (2012) “Versatility in Versification: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Metrics (review)”. JEGP,Journal of English and Germanic Philology 111. 78–80.

Bråten Berg, K. / Jansen L.B. (1991) Svein Knutsson Hovden - kvedar og sogemann. Bykle. ISBN 82-992746-1-9. ← 145 | 146 →

th

http://www.dokpro.uio.no/ballader/tekster_html/e/e072_001_fnote.html



Buen Garnås, A. (1984) Draumkvedet. Kirkelig kulturversksted (awarded Spellemannsprisen). Oslo. FXLP50.Issued as CD 2012, FXCD50.<http://www.platekompaniet.no/Musikk.aspx/CD/Agnes_Buen_Garns/Draumkvedet/?id=FXCD50> Lastvisit: 20 December 2014. See also <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUup3sMys4> Last visit: 20December 2014.

Bugge, S. (1867) [1965] Norroen fornkvæði, islandsk samling af folkelige oldtidsdigte om nordens guder ogheroer, almindelig kaldet Sæmundar Edda hins fróða. Oslo.

Crøger, O. (2004) “Lilja bære blomster i enge”. In: B. Alver / R. Kvideland / A.N. Ressem (eds.),Folkeminneoppskrifter frå Telemark i 1840–1850-åra, 2 vols., Oslo. ISBN 82-03-19015-4.

Ekgren, J.P. (1976) Å vi’ du stevjast [If you want to sing stev with me]. Documentary film of kveding ‘reciting-singing’. In collab. with E. Bakka, Council for Folk Music and Folk Dance. Trondheim. [Converted tovideo 1996 and DVD 2008]

Ekgren, J.P. / D.G. Myhren (1983) “Aslak Brekke og visune hans [Aslak Brekke and his songs]”. Norskfolkeminnelag skrifter 126. 1–184. ISBN 82-03-11268-4.

Ekgren, Jacqueline Pattison (1999) “Edda and runes alive in Norwegian stev.” Norsk Folkemusikklags Skrifter12. 55–91.

Ekgren, J.P. (2002) “Norwegian kveding [reciting-singing]. What’s the score?” Studia Musicologica Norvegica28. 93–120.

Ekgren, J.P. (2009) “Dipod rules: Norwegian stev, paired accents and accentual poetry”. In: T.K. Dewey / Frog(eds.), Versatility in Versification: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Metrics (Nordiskt Sällskap för MetriskaStudier. Conference, 2008, Borgarfjarðarsýsla, Iceland), 207–221, New York.

Holst, E. / E. Nielsen (1888) [2003] Norsk Billedbog for Børn Dam & Søn. Kristiania/Oslo. ISBN 82-517-7460-8.

KLNM (1956–1979) Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingtid til reformasjonstid. Vols. I–XXII.Oslo.

andstad, M.B. (1853) [1968, 2002] Norske Folkeviser (with melodies transcribed by O.S. Crøger and L.M.Lindeman). Oslo. ISBN 82-91986-45-2.

ystrup, G. (1980) Skjemteviser og salmevers, Folkeviser etter Margit Gunvaldjord og Aslak Brekke Det norskesamlaget. Oslo. ISBN 82-521-1849-6.

Myhren, D.G. (1980) “Stev”. In: K. Michelsen (ed.), Cappelens Musikkleksikon, vol. 6, 166–167, Oslo.

Solberg, O. (2012) “Paa gammelt Maal og paa Pergament”. Har det funnest ein skriftleg norskballadetradisjon? URL: <http://teora.hit.no/dspace/bitstream/2282/1196/1/Paa_gammelt_maal.pdf> Lastvisit: 08 July 2013. ← 146 | 147 →

http://www.platekompaniet.no/Musikk.aspx/CD/Agnes_Buen_Garns/Draumkvedet/?id=FXCD50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVUup3sMys4

http://teora.hit.no/dspace/bitstream/2282/1196/1/Paa_gammelt_maal.pdf



Storm-Mathisen, J. (2002a) “Gamle ord til gamle tonar / Old words to old tunes”. Norsk Folkemusikklag Skrifter16. 108–131. Complete sound recording, cover arts and text available at<http://folk.uio.no/jonsm/open/Old-words-to-old-tunes/>. Last visit: 08 July 2013.

Storm-Mathisen, J. (2002b) Audio recordings with published article of 2002a op. cit.http://www.hf.ntnu.no/rff/organisasjonar/innhold/sporliste.html. Last visit: 25 October 2012.

Storm-Mathisen, J. (2007) “Kveding – a Norse tradition with roots older than 1000 years”. In: I. Bergheim (ed.),Vokal folkemusikk verden rundt – Studies in global vocal tradition, 115–125, Trondheim. Reprint, forpersonal use only, at <http://folk.uio.no/jonsm/open/Old-words-to-old-tunes/Kveding-aNorseTradition.pdf> Last visit: 08 July 2013. ← 147 | 148 →

← 148 | 149 →

Extract

Synopsisis the most original form of Norwegian folk music and poetry. It has been in oral tradition untilthe present day. Via phonograph recordings we can hear this type of sung verse passed down to us in asingle link now spanning 230 years.The structure of is almost identical to that of Old Norse verse in themetre , used e.g. in , a collection of words of wisdom of the ‘High One’, i.e. Odin (Wotan), and in , aquarrel in verse between Lóki and the other Norse gods. This ‘Poetic Edda’ was written down onparchment in Iceland in the 13 century, but is thought to stem from Norway at least as early as the 9century through oral tradition among the settlers.

http://folk.uio.no/jonsm/open/Old-words-to-old-tunes/

http://www.hf.ntnu.no/rff/organisasjonar/innhold/sporliste.html

http://folk.uio.no/jonsm/open/Old-words-to-old-tunes/Kveding-aNorseTradition.pdf

http://folk.uio.no/jonsm/open/Old-words-to-old-tunes/Kveding-aNorseTradition.pdf



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