Photograph by Per Bagge, 1924. (Svenskt Porträttarkiv)

A multi-talented musician

Preben Nodermann was a versatile and talented person. A list of his fields of interest would be extensive. Such a summary was made in a longer characterization of Nodermann by a German journalist in Berliner Börsen-Courier 4/9 1908; it had an air of admiration and a certain affinity for Nodermann as a: linguist, folklorist, pianist, book collector, scholarly writer, opera librettist, composer of folk songs, operas and operettas, as Lund Cathedral’s music director and, in short, an eccentric and a singular person.

Several sectors of his activity within Swedish musical life include:

• Music for the stage.
• Music for children and youth.
• Secular instrumental and vocal chamber music.
• Church music with choral conducting and research.

Studies and scholarly output

His university studies included the subjects of geology, Germanic languages and aesthetics. For his licentiate degree in aesthetics his thesis concerned a Swedish 17^th century drama. In parallel, he devoted himself to his own advancement in music as a student of the Danish composer Otto Malling. Nodermann hoped to have a breakthrough as an opera composer and he had the financial means to further his interests. When this turned out to be unrealistic, he became a teacher in Malmö and then applied for, and received, a newly created position as the music director at Lund Cathedral. The appointment was fraught with difficulties: it was claimed that several experienced church musicians with what was said to be a more adequate education appealed the decision. He remained in this job until his death in 1930.

Preben Nodermann now deepened his hymnological knowledge, which resulted in his doctoral dissertation, Studier i svensk hymnologi in 1911 and a chorale book published in close connection with the linguist Fredrik Wulff. Here he advocated for certain modernizations and simplifications based on those of J.C.F. Haeffner . Nodermann did not have a very high opinion of a congregation’s ability to learn new melodies and rhythms. Thus he stood in opposition to the Kyrkosångens vänner (Friends of Church Song), an association with newer ideals. The debate around these principles was intense.

Musical activities

Nodermann’s accomplishments include the establishment of a regular church choir in 1904, and the publication of the series Lunds Domkyrkas körsånger (Lund Cathedral's choral songs). The content covers different types of worship services, the church year’s different periods, and songs – a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment. He worked as a composer, but even more so as a publisher. Maintaining the liturgy and other worship music was one side of his work, but he also received allocations for church concerts during the weekdays. However he took a restrictive approach to secular concerts in the cathedral. On the perpetually present issue of the organ’s condition he spoke up, of course, but it was not as an organist that he earned his reputation.

In addition to composing sacred music Nodermann also published children’s song and song games as well as instrumental and vocal chamber music – often with a pedagogic goal. During his time as a teacher in Malmö he had the students perform his arrangement of Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice.

Operas and operettas by the cathedral music director occupied a special place in Lund’s musical life and his enthusiastically produced opera performances attracted interest. Nodermann gathered people from the city’s music circles in his home environments of Gullebo and Bokebo where he gladly presented his own works as well as Così fan tutte and The Tales of Hoffmann. These concerts became a surrogate for his lack of an international music career.

The one-act play, König Magnus, with motifs from the Swedish middle ages, was performed in Hamburg where the criticisms were disheartening. The same fate befell Gunnlögs saga with themes from Icelandic sagas. It was given in concert in Copenhagen in 1927 where the operetta Prins Inkognito had been performed in 1909. The work was never played in a professional context after that. Nodermann’s style was Post-Romantic with a Scandinavian flavour, but lacked any distinctive traits.

He worked diligently within the ethnological sphere, which became his main interest during his later years. The overview Folksagorna: En orientering was supposed to include five parts. Only four parts of around 700 pages were completed during 1928−30 before the author’s energy ran out. This interest had followed him for many years; even at the age of eighteen he had managed to collect more than 100 books of fairy tales.

The culmination of his collecting craze, however, was the building up of a library that included scores, piano scores and librettos; certainly Sweden’s largest private collection and of great value. The public radio broadcaster, Sveriges Radio has acquired the library.

In 1900 Nodermann founded the publishing house, Sydsvenska bok- och musikförlaget, which gave out his compositions and edited pieces. The company closed down upon Nodermann’s death.

Carlhåkan Larsén © 2016
Trans. Jill Ann Johnson