EMP 7

Sonic Interpretations

By Jonas Olesen

Symphonia Heroica (1962) is a sonic interpretation of the extended poem Symphonia Heroica by the Danish poet Johannes Weltzer (1900–51), crafted as a private birthday gift from colleagues at DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) to the then programme director Aksel Dahlerup (1897–1978) on the occasion of his 65th birthday on 15 February 1962. The poem is narrated by all the speakers from the so-called ‘speaker service’ at DR, accompanied by an electronic soundtrack composed by Else Marie Pade.

The poem is notably experimental and Dadaist-inspired, yet it was relatively well-known at the time, having garnered a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928. Weltzer himself had recited the poem on Danish radio as early as 1929. In the text, Weltzer employs the literary device of depicting various European countries and major cities as observed from the air by the American pilot Charles Lindbergh (1902–74), renowned for his first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1927. The portrayal is far from idyllic, encapsulated in the overarching sentiment of the text:

Weary to the death is Europe,
its mild eyes fear the light.
Its heart burns in anguish and torment.
...
The witchcraft of cities ravish our heart.

The poem consistently maintains a bleak tone, shaping both fascination and critical commentary on modern cities and modernity itself. For instance, regarding London:

The East End stinks like a dead rat in coal-black water.
The sound madness sends its red blood through
London’s veins.

Here, the dadaist influence becomes evident as the text’s meaning veers into abstraction. Unlike the predominantly critical depictions of other cities and countries in the poem, Denmark is portrayed solely in a positive light:

The fine, lively bustle of Rådhuspladsen, the glint of bicycles, children playing, the beautiful feminine curve of Langelinie,
Øresund more blue than the sky, our suburban streets
People’s plain kindliness ...

The effect is intriguing, as the idyllic portrayal of Denmark can be interpreted as deeply ironic due to its stark contrast with other descriptions. Pade has set the text to music using classic electronic musical elements: sine waves and white noise.

In the first half of the poem, a deep underlying drone of sine waves that rhythmically modulate each other is heard. These are the so-called beat tones that arise when two tones of almost identical frequency create rhythmic variations, and which Pade herself referred to as ‘floatings’.

This drone establishes an atmosphere of latent unrest, fitting well with the poem’s bleakness. The soundscape later transitions to siren-like wails, serving as a more direct illustration of the text, particularly during descriptions of the First World War like this:

Yellow flows the mud in Ypres’ trenches,
hostile ravens meet us with laughter.

It is thus natural to interpret the siren tones as an illustration of sounds of war. In addition, beeping tones are also heard, which sound like Morse code, but otherwise the overall soundscape is abstract. In the second half of the poem, the soundscape becomes more varied and active, incorporating elements of filtered white noise and treated sine waves. Ultimately, the initial drone returns, echoing repetitions in the text itself.

In addition to Pade’s soundscape, the piece features numerous male and female voices, each reading separate passages from the text. This multiplicity of voices offers a unique perspective on the poem, originally conceived as experienced solely by Lindbergh but now interpreted through the lens of many individuals.

In summary, this work is a meticulously crafted and thoughtful creation, remarkable considering its origins as a private gift with no intention of publication. Unfortunately, there is no record of the program director Dahlerup’s reaction to his birthday present.

Notes
Pade’s work is sometimes referenced as Symphonie Heroica but is correctly titled Symphonia Heroica. The work has never been officially released. The poem has been published in book form as Symphonia heroica by Johannes Weltzer (Nyt Nordisk Forlag, 1929). The full poem can be read here.
 

***

In 1958, the theatre Århus Studenterscene was established in Aarhus. Despite what the name might suggest, it was not an amateur theatre founded by students, but rather an ambitious stage aiming to present ‘the great works of world literature’ alongside ‘experimental novelties’ to the public.

One of the theatre’s earliest productions was the play Eha (The Prodigal Son) by the Russian-born author Arthur Adamov (1908–1970). For this staging, Else Marie Pade composed a 12-minute sound score.

It is unknown what scenographic elements were involved in the performance, or whether any actors appeared on stage. On the recording of the work, a male voice recites brief fragments of Adamov’s text at long intervals. A clear narrative is not immediately apparent, and combined with Pade’s abstract sonic landscape, the overall expression becomes diffuse and atmospheric.

The soundscape features processed recordings of real sounds, including the tapping of a typewriter and, at the very end, the cry of a baby. The most prominent elements are tape loops: one consists of laughter pitched down and processed with artificial reverb. This is followed by similar loops built from a short, unidentified melodic fragment constructed from spliced sine tones. These appear throughout the work in varying timbral forms.

At times, the melody resembles something played on an electronic organ; at others, it takes on the character of rhythmic noise.

Notes
It has not been possible to identify a play by Arthur Adamov with either the title Eha or The Prodigal Son. Possibly, the title is a loose Danish translation. Else Marie Pade herself has stated that the work premiered on 1 May 1958 at Aarhus Student Scene, but since Aarhus Student Scene was only established in the autumn of 1958, either there is a memory shift, or the work was performed before the official opening of the theatre.

No immediate sources mention the performance, but the following source: u. Forf.: Aarhus Student Scene: Status regarding 1958-1960 mentions that ‘performances of a more special nature’ were presented in addition to the larger productions.
 

***

Cayennepeber (Cayenne Pepper) (1962) is a short piece of incidental music for the play of the same name, written by the French poet René de Obaldia (1918–2022). The play premiered on 2 May 1962 at Aarhus Student Scene and takes the form of a dialogue between two male convicts working by the roadside breaking stones while engaging in an absurd conversation with each other. Beyond this, there is no real plot.

There are no recordings where the actors can be heard, only Pade’s purely electronic piece, which is quite atypical for her, almost traditionally melodic. At the beginning, the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, is heard, sounding as if it is played on an electric organ. Later, a series of other simple melodies are played with the same sound, which cannot be immediately identified.

The music is divided into three sections separated by a high-pitched tone, and each section basically consists of the same sound material, where melody and rhythm are given different tempos in each section. The rhythmic sounds appear to be created with a so-called pulse generator – a device that emits short clicks, the tempo of which can be regulated with a dial and typically used for sound measurements. Pade created small accelerating rhythmic sequences by turning the dial, filtering the individual clicks differently, and finally putting the small sequences together in tape loops.

Throughout the piece, another monotonous rhythmic sound can be heard, which, with a bit of imagination, can be thought to illustrate a hammer breaking stones, and thus, as the only element, is a direct sound illustration of the action.

Notes
The play has the original title Poivre de Cayenne and had its French premiere in 1962.