Uploaded May 2011 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
In Valen's Goethe songs op. 7, the stanzas of the poems have a strictly metrical structure that the composer transforms into a rhythmically flexible prosody conforming to the contextual meaning of the text. A parallel can be found in Schoenberg's music to Stefan George's poems, op. 15. The lines of the poems lose their metrical structure and become incorporated into the musical language. Schoenberg himself believed that in these songs he had "broken through every restriction of a bygone aesthetic." Jan Maegaard, an expert on Valen and Schoenberg, points out that every song becomes unique in this compositional technique: well-defined motifs with vocal character replace the rhythmic symmetry of the melodic structure of the Lieder. The same melodic structure appears in the piano part. In fact, in one of Valen's Goethe songs, Heiss mich nicht redden, one could say that the first stanza is a "motet-like" section, in which the vocal part is surrounded by four thematic motifs in the piano. This closely interwoven structure could be said to give focus to the colossal, quivering emotional tension expressed by the text -- "Ich möchte dir mein ganzes Innre zeigen" -- a tension that is not released until the end of the song: "und nur rein Gott, und nur ein Gott vermag sie afzuschließen."
The human longing for release is a recurring theme in Valen's œuvre. In his songs, Valen conveys the spiritual perspective for which Schoenberg and Webern cleared the path. Valen's position in Norwegian (and human) cultural history is assured because he paved the way for the recognition of music both as a cognitive medium and as a spiritual compass.
Fartein Valen was born in Stavanger, Norway in 1887 into a deeply Christian religious family and maintained his religious beliefs all his life. His parents were missionaries, and he spent five years of his childhood in Madagascar. In addition to his aptitude for music, he was also a polyglot, mastering at least nine languages. He earned his examen artium with the highest grades in all subjects except mathematics. He loved cats, nature and literature, cultivated roses (even developed an award winning hybrid), and after losing them in a devastating freeze took up growing cacti.
In 1906, Valen moved to Oslo to study Norwegian literature and language but also took classes with Catharinus Elling (1858 - 1942) at the Oslo conservatory of music, graduating with a degree in organ playing. In 1909 he moved to Berlin to study composition at the Music Academy with Max Bruch who subsequently retired. While in Berlin, he worked on exercises in both tonal and atonal counterpoint and began to develop a polyphony similar to Bach's, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather than harmonic progression.
In 1916, he returned to Norway and took up residence at his family estate with his mother and sister in Sunnhordland where he started the most productive phase of his career, churning out more than 25,000 piano etudes (though they are not among his official works), while continuing to refine his own dissonant counterpoint. The counterpoint has similarities to that of J.S. Bach and Arnold Schoenberg, though evidence reveals that they were developed independently.
After his mother's death, Valen travelled to Rome and Paris during the 1920's gaining much inspiration from the wealth of art and architecture there. His work began to become more controversial among many conservative critics, much to Valen's disappointment. In 1924 he returned to Oslo and from 1927 to 1936 worked as a musical archivist at the University of Oslo. In 1935 the government gave him a semi-permanent grant for composers. He quit teaching and moved back to Sunnhordland into the care of his sister and began to compose full time.
After 1948, his work began to gain greater recognition, both within Norway and outside. Among others, pianist Glenn Gould became a great admirer of Valen and said at the recording of Fartein Valen's piano sonata no 2, "For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century's music".
Valen never married. He died in 1952 at Haugesund.
In Valen's Goethe songs op. 7, the stanzas of the poems have a strictly metrical structure that the composer transforms into a rhythmically flexible prosody conforming to the contextual meaning of the text. A parallel can be found in Schoenberg's music to Stefan George's poems, op. 15. The lines of the poems lose their metrical structure and become incorporated into the musical language. Schoenberg himself believed that in these songs he had "broken through every restriction of a bygone aesthetic." Jan Maegaard, an expert on Valen and Schoenberg, points out that every song becomes unique in this compositional technique: well-defined motifs with vocal character replace the rhythmic symmetry of the melodic structure of the Lieder. The same melodic structure appears in the piano part. In fact, in one of Valen's Goethe songs, Heiss mich nicht redden, one could say that the first stanza is a "motet-like" section, in which the vocal part is surrounded by four thematic motifs in the piano. This closely interwoven structure could be said to give focus to the colossal, quivering emotional tension expressed by the text -- "Ich möchte dir mein ganzes Innre zeigen" -- a tension that is not released until the end of the song: "und nur rein Gott, und nur ein Gott vermag sie afzuschließen."
The human longing for release is a recurring theme in Valen's œuvre. In his songs, Valen conveys the spiritual perspective for which Schoenberg and Webern cleared the path. Valen's position in Norwegian (and human) cultural history is assured because he paved the way for the recognition of music both as a cognitive medium and as a spiritual compass.
Fartein Valen was born in Stavanger, Norway in 1887 into a deeply Christian religious family and maintained his religious beliefs all his life. His parents were missionaries, and he spent five years of his childhood in Madagascar. In addition to his aptitude for music, he was also a polyglot, mastering at least nine languages. He earned his examen artium with the highest grades in all subjects except mathematics. He loved cats, nature and literature, cultivated roses (even developed an award winning hybrid), and after losing them in a devastating freeze took up growing cacti.
In 1906, Valen moved to Oslo to study Norwegian literature and language but also took classes with Catharinus Elling (1858 - 1942) at the Oslo conservatory of music, graduating with a degree in organ playing. In 1909 he moved to Berlin to study composition at the Music Academy with Max Bruch who subsequently retired. While in Berlin, he worked on exercises in both tonal and atonal counterpoint and began to develop a polyphony similar to Bach's, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather than harmonic progression.
In 1916, he returned to Norway and took up residence at his family estate with his mother and sister in Sunnhordland where he started the most productive phase of his career, churning out more than 25,000 piano etudes (though they are not among his official works), while continuing to refine his own dissonant counterpoint. The counterpoint has similarities to that of J.S. Bach and Arnold Schoenberg, though evidence reveals that they were developed independently.
After his mother's death, Valen travelled to Rome and Paris during the 1920's gaining much inspiration from the wealth of art and architecture there. His work began to become more controversial among many conservative critics, much to Valen's disappointment. In 1924 he returned to Oslo and from 1927 to 1936 worked as a musical archivist at the University of Oslo. In 1935 the government gave him a semi-permanent grant for composers. He quit teaching and moved back to Sunnhordland into the care of his sister and began to compose full time.
After 1948, his work began to gain greater recognition, both within Norway and outside. Among others, pianist Glenn Gould became a great admirer of Valen and said at the recording of Fartein Valen's piano sonata no 2, "For the first time in many years I have found a looming personality in the 20th century's music".
Valen never married. He died in 1952 at Haugesund.
![Randolph Pitts, Sonata for Cello & Piano [2/3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/rJ97n5aUMQw/mqdefault.jpg "Randolph Pitts, Sonata for Cello & Piano [2/3]
The Sonata for Cello & Piano was composed in 2010 and was dedicated to the composers fiancée. The work is in one movement. This is the second of three parts.")
