The Sacredness of Trees
The Sacredness of Trees
In 2019, ‘Sacredness of trees’ by Ellen Lindquist was premiered in Bodø, Norway, and performed by Vegar Olav Sandholt as part of the festival Nordic Music Days. But not only did the music sound in Bodø, but the piece was also performed in 16 carillons around the world during the festival days. The piece became a sounding symbol of Nordic Music Days and by the end of the festival it was decided to perform the piece at further festivals as a kind of NMD baton.
This year, Nordic Music Days will take place in the Faroe Islands on September 1st - 4th, and Sacredness of Trees will be performed by Vegar Sandholt in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands, every day at 13.00 throughout the week (August 30th - September 04th), each day in a different location in Tórshavn. This way we hope that as many people in Tórshavn as possible will hear the piece and notice that Nordic Music Days is taking place around their city.
We’d like to invite you to take part in the performance of Sacredness of Trees once more and to be involved in letting the baton travel around the world and the music sound outside the Faroe Islands as well between August 30th and September 04th 2021. You are free to decide the date and time of your performance within the week.
Just let us know by June 21st when and where the piece will be performed by you, for us to share this info as part of the festival PR and communication.
If you have any questions regarding the piece, please contact Ellen Lindquist: ellen.lindquist@gmail.com
If you want to perform Sacredness of trees during Nordic Music Days 2021, or if you have any questions concerning Nordic Music
Days 2021, please contact Sine Tofte Hannibal: sth@komponistforeningen.dk
A new version of the sheet music for Sacredness of Tress can be bought from Norsk Musikforlag:
https://musikkforlagene.no/product/ellen-lindquist-the-sacredness-of-trees
The new edition contains both a 4-octave version and a 3-octave version.
Best wishes on behalf of Nordic Music Days 2021,
Sine Tofte Hannibal Festival coordinator
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Program Notes by the composer:
'The Sacredness of Trees' was commissioned by Nordic Music Days 2019 for Bodø Cathedral's 4-octave carillon and the eminent Norwegian carillonneur Vegar Sandholt, to be performed on November 13, 2019, at the opening of the festival in Bodø, Norway. It was also performed each day of the festival (November 13-16), and was played simultaneously around the world, from 16 bell towers in Sweden, Denmark, USA, France, The Netherlands, Belgium and Australia!
The Bodø Cathedral carillon is a beautiful instrument, built in 2012 with 50 bells (a bit more than 4 octaves) which were cast at the Royal Eijsbouts Bell Foundry in Asten, the Netherlands, one of the oldest and most respected bell foundries in the world.
The commission from Nordic Music Days was based upon the festival theme of 'Truth'. Thinking about the bells themselves, the concept of Truth soon merged with my focus on the rich overtones of the bells. I came to think about the concept of overtones, and the fact that in English we sometimes use the word 'overtone' to denote something which is present or felt, without being stated. I started to think about the overtones of a bell—some very present, some barely audible— as that which expresses the bell's true character. Maybe our outward presence in the world can be expressed as our 'fundamental', while our true, complex character is expressed by our own subtle, unique, felt-but-not-heard mix of natural harmonic and non-harmonic overtones? With these thoughts in mind, I built my new piece for Nordic Music Days upon the overtones of the deepest bell in the Bodø carillon. It is an exploration of the subtleties of inner truth (represented by the complex overtones of the Bodø carillon), and the interaction of that inner truth with the 'outer' truth of the surrounding city and natural landscape.
