{"id":20969,"date":"2025-08-01T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T23:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20969"},"modified":"2025-08-01T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T23:45:09","slug":"solveigs-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20969","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Solveig&#8217;s Song&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sissel Kyrkjeb\u00f8 - Solveigs Song\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OMO-E4dSuoE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It\u2019s Friday and I have neither <\/strong>a book to review nor a useful thought in my head. Therefore, I shall post a Sissel song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(And there was great rejoicing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yesterday, I might mention, was my birthday \u2013 and one of the big milestone ones. I won\u2019t say which one, of course. Suffice it to say that I\u2019ve outlived 3 of my grandparents, and one of my parents. The meditations this fact arouses in me are not, generally, comforting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I pondered what kind of song would be suitable to commemorate my oldness and fullness of days. Nothing really commended itself, so I finally figured, well, just post a Sissel piece. What haven\u2019t I done yet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I realized I\u2019d never posted \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/oxfordsong.org\/song\/solveigs-sang-solveigs-song\">Solveig\u2019s Song<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(I think. Checking would be too much trouble.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even if you\u2019re not Norwegian (unlikely as that is), you\u2019ve probably heard this melody somewhere before. It\u2019s one of the classics from Edvard Grieg \u2013 part of the incidental music he wrote for Henrik Ibsen\u2019s controversial, experimental play, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Peer_Gynt\">Peer Gynt<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will confess \u2013 I\u2019ve never read \u201cPeer Gynt.\u201d It appeals to me more than most of Ibsen\u2019s works (I\u2019m not a fan), but from all I hear, it\u2019s a \u201cchallenging\u201d and obscure work, about a man who seems to be \u2013 like Ibsen himself \u2013 obstinately difficult and antisocial. He kidnaps a bride from her wedding, abandons her, and then is joined by Solveig (the Solveig of the song), the daughter of Haugean pietists (my people). He runs away from her too, in order to spend his life in foreign parts, seeking wealth, which he loses in the end. In the last act, he returns to Solveig, who has remained faithful to him, and tells him that he has committed no sin. Then she (probably) dies (the script isn\u2019t clear).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anyway, \u201cSolveig\u2019s Song\u201d is a solo earlier in the play, in which Solveig expresses her faithful (I might say stupid) love. I suppose Solveig is meant to represent the mercy of God in some way, though (lumpkin that I am) I don\u2019t really see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Sissel sure sings it beautifully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have a good weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s Friday and I have neither a book to review nor a useful thought in my head. Therefore, I shall post a Sissel song. (And there was great rejoicing.) Yesterday, I might mention, was my birthday \u2013 and one of the big milestone ones. I won\u2019t say which one, of course. Suffice it to say &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=20969\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Solveig&#8217;s Song&#8217;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,11],"tags":[331,2164,2596,2615],"class_list":["post-20969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-poetry","tag-birthdays","tag-peer-gynt","tag-sissel-kyrkjebo","tag-solveigs-song"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20969"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20971,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20969\/revisions\/20971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}