Arnljot has become by far the most successful of Peterson-Berger's operas. From the premiere at Kungliga Operan (the Royal Opera) in Stockholm on April 13, 1910 until 1960, the work was performed in eighty-three complete performances in addition to several occasions when parts of the opera were performed. This makes Arnljot one of the most performed Swedish operas of all time. After 1960, however, only parts of the work have been performed.

The work is based on historical events, focusing on the battle of Stiklestad a few miles northeast of Trondheim, Norway on July 29, 1030. Olof (Olav) Haraldsson was killed in battle with a peasant army while attempting to regain power in Norway following a couple of years in exile. Snorre Sturlasson describes this event in Olav the Saint's saga, which is part of his great historical work Heimskringla. It also tells the story of Arnljot from the region of Jämtland, who joined Olav's army as a volunteer. Arnljot converted to Christianity after previously believing only in his own power and strength – he was then mortally wounded in the battle. Several other characters included in the opera have their counterparts in Sturlasson's telling.

During the nineteenth century, with its fixation on older Nordic history, several literary works were written with Arnljot as the main character. In 1870, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson wrote the epic poem Arnljot Gelline (the nickname refers to Arnljot's hometown Gällö about fifty kilometers southeast of Östersund). And in 1896 Victor Hugo Wickström's novel Arnliot Gällina was published. Wickström was the publisher responsible for the newspaper, Jämtlandsposten, beginning in 1886, and it can be assumed that he both captured and channeled a strong local interest in the Arnljot figure, who at the time seems to have had a significant place in the public consciousness in Jämtland. The International Order of Good Templars (IOGT) lodge in Gällö was thus called Arnliot Gällina (or with another linguistic form Arnliot Gelliner), and in Jämtlandsposten you can read several articles and notices that deal with the Arnljot figure and the historical events in Jämtland during his time. We can also get a hint as to the popularity of his name when we read about a bicycle brand and an award-winning bull that both bore Arnljot's name.

Wickström's novel is a purely fictional work, a freely portrayed story about Arnljot's life, from his childhood in Gällö up to the battle of Stiklestad. Werner von Heidenstam devoted a chapter to Arnljot Gelline in Svenskarna och deras hövdingar (The Swedes and Their Leaders), part 1 (1908). This too is a freely formulated story.

Thus, the figure of Arnljot was generally well known around 1900, and Peterson-Berger's great interest in Jämtland and its culture probably also had an influence on the choice of subject for the opera. Just as in his first opera, Ran, and later in Domedagsprofeterna and Adils och Elisiv, Peterson-Berger chose to write the text himself. In a radio interview on July 7, 1937 and published on the July 9 in Östersunds-Posten, the composer tells about the work's origins. He came into contact with Bjørnson's Arnljot Gelline in the winter of 1887–1888. 'However, as a whole, it did not make a particularly strong impression on me; only certain scenes and above all the main character himself fastened in my memory and stayed there, albeit unconsciously. In the meantime, I wrote and composed other works.'

According to the interview, he started working with 'Arnljot' after he finished writing Ran in the spring of 1899. However, there is evidence that the process was already underway from the beginning of 1897. In a notice on January 2, 1897, Sundsvalls-Posten was able to announce 'that director Peterson-Berger, after finishing his opera Ran, has begun a new opera 'Arnliot Gellyne' to which he is currently writing the libretto.' This notice was reproduced two days later in Jämtlandsposten, when the work was mentioned as 'Arnliot Gällina', using the spelling of the responsible publisher, the novelist Wickström.

In preparation, Peterson-Berger read Snorre Sturlasson's saga and walked all the way from Mälardalen to Stiklestad, the same road that Olav Haraldsson walked after his exile in Russia to his defeat against the peasant army. However, it was not until Ran premiered in May 1903 that work began in earnest. According to the interview, Peterson-Berger organised the material in the autumn of the same year, wrote the synopsis in the winter of 1904 and the dialogue later in the year. At the beginning of 1909 composition of the music was finished, and it wasn't until January 1910, about three months before the premiere, that the orchestration was completed and the entire score written out.

Even though Peterson-Berger speaks in the interview about coincidences and suddenly emerging opportunities during these years, viewed in retrospect, it seems the launch of the work was very purposeful. In 1906 the printed text was released for the first time. The work had then been given the subheading 'Handling i tre akter' (a story in three acts) and was dedicated to 'Mina vänner bland jämtarna' (My friends among the people of Jämtland). In the same year, 'Arnljot's greeting song' for baritone and piano was published.

In 1907, Peterson-Berger, together with the actress Maria Schildknecht, undertook a small tour, in which the entire text was recited and the composer played already-composed parts from the music. The singer Göran Lindstedt also participated in several of these performances.

In 1908, the first act was performed as a spoken drama by amateur actors in the open air on the island Frösön, with Peterson-Berger himself as the director. Jämtland's Ranger Regiment's music corps contributed musical elements.

In 1909, piano excerpts were published for Vaino's songs and three song numbers for baritone ('Arnljot's greeting song', 'Arnljot's love song' from the second act and 'Tormod's kvad' (Tormod's ballad) from the third act) and five orchestral sections from the opera set for piano. Thus, the ground was prepared for the premiere on April 13, 1910 at the Kungliga Teatern (the Royal Theater – now the Royal Opera) in Stockholm. The composer-author directed the performance, with Hjalmar Meissner conducting. In the leading roles, Frithiof Strömberg appeared as Arnljot, Julia Jahnke as Unn, Julia Claussen as Gunhild, Anna Oscár as Vaino and Martin Oscár as King Olav. It was well-received, and the critique was mainly very positive. The second act in particular was praised for its wilderness-like moods and the tenderly drawn portrait of the Sami girl, Vaino, but some long, boring passages were also criticised, especially in the third act. Within that same year, the piece was performed thirteen more times. The launching of the work continued. In the summer of 1913, the entire work was given as a spoken drama on Frösön and in other places in Jämtland by the theatre company of Otto Arnold and Arvid Englind. The actor, Hugo Björne, played the role of Arnljot, and the Jämtland's Ranger Regiment's music corps was responsible for the orchestral resources.

In the autumn of the same year, the work was performed at Malmö Theater in, as it was noted, 'melodramatic form'. One has to assume that it was similar to the type of presentations during the summer performances with mainly spoken dialogue but with a few sung musical numbers and with underlying orchestral accompaniment. Here, too, Arnljot's role was played by Hugo Björne. Richard Henneberg conducted 'the reinforced theatre orchestra'. The same year, 1913, the piano reduction was printed.

In 1914, Arnold and Englind returned with their company to Frösön. This time an ensemble from the Hovkapellet (the Royal Court Orchestra) played under the direction of Orion Östman. According to the pre-announcement, the number of musical offerings was significantly higher than the previous year. They also did a longer tour that year, including a visit to Norway.

In 1927, a film version of Arnljot was made with text written by Greta Berthels, and under the direction of Theodor Berthels. Once again, Hugo Björne portrayed Arnljot's role. The film was a silent film, but at the world premiere, which took place in Östersund – as well as at the premiere in Stockholm – music was performed, which Peterson-Berger compiled from the opera.

The printed piano reduction from 1913 was provided with both Swedish and German texts in readiness for performances abroad, and the libretto was also printed in a German-language version. In some press releases from the 1910s and 1920s, it appears that there were plans to produce Arnljot in both Germany and the United States, but there is no evidence that any foreign performance actually occurred.

On the other hand, plans for outdoor performances on Frösön were realised again in 1935. As in 1908, the work was performed as a spoken drama with musical elements, using amateur actors in the roles and with Peterson-Berger himself as director. Since then, it has been played at the same venue every year – with a break during the period 1940–1944. According to a notice in the daily paper Dagens Nyheter on 29 May 1945, this break was due mainly to the access roads to the performance location being too inadequate to accommodate the number of vehicles needed to transport the sizeable audience there. Additionally, Peterson-Berger passed away in December 1942.

The long, boring passages already pointed out from the premiere in 1910, led to various cuts over the years in order to concentrate the action and shorten the performance time. There was also a fairly general critique of the orchestration of the work (as well as of Peterson-Berger's orchestral artistry in general). In 1948, the Peterson-Berger Foundation commissioned the author, Ivan Oljelund, and the composer and conductor, Stig Rybrant, to create an adaptation of the opera, to be shortened by about 30 minutes and with a revised orchestration. From 1949, Arnljot was performed in this new version, and the result is documented in the form of a recording from 1960 with Sixten Ehrling as conductor and Sigurd Björling as Arnljot. The accompanying liner notes contain a fairly detailed account (originally published in Musikrevy in May 1949) of how Rybrant proceeded. The instrumentation has, in places, been quite radically changed, the choral sections have been greatly simplified, and aside from the longer cuts, an occasional measure has been added or removed.

Today, one can probably consider the reworking of the opera by Oljelund and Rybrant as a parenthesis. At concerts in recent years, where parts of the work have been performed, Peterson-Berger's original version has once again been used. This has meant conducting the opera from the autograph score and playing from the handwritten orchestral parts from 1910. This could not have been completely unproblematic, as there are several discrepancies between the score and the parts and also between the score and the version in the piano vocal score. The purpose of the present edition has therefore been to create, on a source-critical basis, a complete, playable performance piece of Peterson-Berger's original version.

© Finn Rosengren, Levande Musikarv
Trans. Jill Ann Johnson

Act I

Scene 1: (Unn) Kommen, kvinnor! Vår lott är lemnad till blotgillet i kväll
Scene 2: (Unn) Huld och hövisk helsning gåve säkert Gunhild
Scene 3: (Unn) Hån, nidord ännu i yttersta stunden!
Scene 4: (Unn) Men kommen! (Sigurd) Gunstigt möte, fränka! Godt har jag att mäla: halva Jämtland är med!
Sceen 5: (Heming) Goddag, svensk! Vad bjuder konung [Ja-Ja-] (sic) Jakob idag?
Scene 6: [(Heming) Hur som helst, vill jag varsko gästerna] (Gunhild) Vet du fader, att Arnljot Sunvisson kommer till Jämtland idag?
Scene 7: (Gunhild) Nej, ingen är konungalik såsom han, men ve mig om han vinner!
Scene 8: (Arnljot) Alltjämt de mäktiga fjäll sig välva högt över solglänsta sund och skogar
Scene 9: (Unn) Arnljot, min son, sök att lugna ditt sinn!
Scene 10: (Gudfast) Goddag, svärfader! Vi gå här i bidan på tingsblåsningen
Scene 11: – [instrumental]
Scene 12: (Östmund) Blot är hållet med bön till de höge att rätt må lidas och lag råda
Scene 13: (Unn) Arnljot, säg, är det sant? (Arnljot) Ja – jag hade ej Olav Haraldssons lycka
Scene 14: (Arnljot) Allt i samma stund! Så drog jag då hem för att möta min ofärd!
Scene 15: (Gunhild) Arnljot! Är hon död? (Arnljot) Ja. Vad vill du?
Scene 16: (Torar) Där är han ännu. Så kunna vi utsäga domen genast.

Act II

Scene 1: (Vaino) Vems röst hör jag ropa över fjällen och ur granmoars djup?
Scene 2: (Ubma) Vaino! (Vaino) Ja. (Ubma) Är han borta? (Vaino) Ja, han jagar
Scene 3: (Sigvald) Här måste det vara. Så är han då ändtligen [sic] funnen
Scene 4: (Arnljot) Gilleslystna gäster ser jag hedra mitt hus
Scene 5: (Vaino) Äro de borta? Döda? (Arnljot) Endast en – en som jag lekt med som pilt
Scene 6: (Göka-Tore) Vill du strid, främling så stöt till!
Scene 7: (Vaino) O, vore var maska, jag knyter, en snara att fånga hans sinn!
Scene 8: (Gunhild) Har du en dryck källfriskt vatten?
Scene 9: (Gunhild) Bor du – här? (Arnljot) Sökte du mig?
Scene 10: (Arnljot) Allt bittrare nederlag unnar mig ödet, hur jag än tror på min kraft
Scene 11: – [instrumental]
Scene 12: Arnljot drömmer [male choir T.T.B.B.]
Scene 13: (Ubma) Säg, var gömmas din faders skatter?
Scene 14: (Arnljot) Jag var i drömmarnas land. Sällsam var synen jag såg
Scene 15: (Arnljot) Gå till ditt folk! Vi måste skiljas. (Vaino) Ja, vi måste skiljas men du icke dö
Scene 16: (Ubma) Du listiga hynda, tänkte du lura mig? Varför ville du frälsa hans liv?

Act III

Scene 1: (Olav) Nåväl, då I nu skiftat håg och viljen varda kristnade
Scene 2: (Olav) Arnljot från Gällö är förvisst en hugstor och ädel man
Scene 3: (En hirdman) Till Stiklestads gård har kommit en kvinna
Scene 4: (Torfinn) Ej blott män, som hugga
Scene 5: (Arnljot) Hell dig konung! Här träder inför dig som minst av alla tänkt
Scene 6: (Finn) Herre, våra spejare mäla, att bondehären nalkas
Scene 7: (Olav) Ej hinna vi byta många ord, men sätt dig ändå, låt oss talas vid
Scene 8: (Finn) Herre, bondehären rycker alltjämt framåt!
Scene 9: (Gunhild) Är det möjligt? Kan folkets tal vara sant?
Scene 10: (Sigurd) Vi måste finna honom innan striden börjar!
Scene 11: (Sigurd) Var lugn, Arnljot! Jag är din vän som förr
Scene 12: (Olav) Och nu, mina män, hören vårt härrop
Scene 13: (Gunhild) O, skräckfulla vävnad av ångest och hopp
Scene 14: (Choir V) Se, där stå de redan (Kungshären [The King's Army; Choir II, III]) Fram, fram, fram! (Tore Hund) Så låtom oss stanna här (Bondehären [The Peasant Army; Choir V, VI, VII, VIII]) Fram, fram, bondemän!
Scene 15: (Arnljot, Olav, Tormod, Finn [in unison], Torfinn, Gissur, Göka-Tore, Åflo-Faste, hela Kungshären [the entire King's Army; Choir I, II, III, IV]) Fram, fram, fram!
Scene 16: (Arnljot) Ja, detta är döden! Jag visste det: den dag jag ej längre tror på mig själv, är min saga slut
Scene 17: (Gunhild) Så bedrog jag mig ej. Jag såg honom falla! (Arnljot) Nu är Gudfast Grimsson hämnad
Scene 18: (Sigurd) Är han död? Så ha vi fått hans svar och kunna vända tillbaka!