THE SAGA OF KING OLAF.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19952, 20 November 1926, Page 25

THE SAGA OF KING OLAF.

Written for th~ Otago Daily Times,

Bt G.S.T. Mr Henry Ford, having turned over the business of making motor cars to his son Edsel, is now busy producing books, as remarkable in their way as his famous cars. In the latest, “The Great To-day and Greater Future,” he relates how he purchased that historic old inn at Sudbury, Mass., which we- made 'imous by 1 Longfellow through his “Talcs of a Way- ; side Inn.” Mr Ford has, with great | care and trouble, collected old furniture, I and as far as possible restored this old I hostelry to the condition it was in when it sheltered Washington and de Lafayette, and has now presented it to the American nation as an historical memorial and a literary shrine. It is pleasant to find Mr Ford thus paying homage to the greatest of American poets, for Longfellow, though not in the very first rank of poets, is certainly one of the most ! popular on both sides of the Atantic, and. j we might add, on both sides of the PadI fie as well, and his popularity is well deserved. As a storyteller he has few equals. His stories, however, are not [ original; They are either, like Evangeline i and Hiawatha, based on local legend or history, or, like the Golden Legend, and the Saga of King Olaf, translations from foreign literature. It is interesting to observe how great an appeal Longfellow’s poems have made to musical composers. One need only mention such well-known songs a “The Village Blacksmith,” “Excelsior,” “The Arrow and the Song,” and “The Sea Hath Its Pearls,” while the longer narrative poems such as “The Golden Legend," “Hiawatha,” “The Black Knight,” and “King Olaf” have been set to music by such widely different composers as Sir Arthur Sillivan, Coleridge Taylor, and Sir Edward Elgar. Choral societies and all interested in choral music should therefore take a special interest in Longfellow’s works. The Saga of King Olaf forms one of the series of “Talcs of a Wayside Inn.” In this case the poet has adopted the convenient device used by Chaucer in his “Canterbury Tales,” and often imitated since. The landlord and a number of guests, each fully described in the Chaucerian manner, arc assembled in the parlour of the inn, and each in turn has a story to tell, and we are not surprised to find that one of the party is a Scandinavian and a musician ; “Fair-haired blae.eyed, his aspect blithe, His figure tall and straight and lithe. And 'every feature of his face Bevealing hia Norwegian race.” And later on, when his turn arrives, wo read: I And then the blue-eyed Norseman told A Saga of the days of old, ‘There is,’ said he, ’a -wondrous book Of Legends in the old Noise tongue, Oi the dead kings of Norroway, Legends that once were told or sung .In many a smoky fireside nook Of Iceland, in the ancient day, By wandering Saga-man or Scald; Heims’vringla is the volume called; And he who looks may find therein The story that I now begin. King Olaf was, of course, a historical personage. He is, in fact, one of the great romantic figures of early European history, and occupies much the same place in the hearts of the people of Nor-, way that Alfred the Great does in the hearts of Englishmen. He lived from 969 to 1000 A.D.—that is to say, about 100 years after Alfred, so that he was contemporary with Ethclred the Unready. At that time the Vikings of Norway and the Danes were harassing and ravaging the coasts of England and Northern Europe, while contact with the more civilised races of Southern Europe was slowly introducing some measure of refinement amongst the northern barbarians, and Christianity was gradually replacing the heathen worship of Thor and Odin. Olaf, iu his earlier youth, had been taken prisoner in one of those grim sea fights, and became a slave iu Esthonia, in the Baltic. Ho was converted to Christianity, was rescued by his uncle, and began to carry the gospel to liis kindred in the north, even as far as Iceland. Returning to Norway, he succeeded in regaining the throne his father had lost, and then endeavoured to convert the whole laud. His intense zeal as a Christian missionary led him to adopt methods very similar to those used some hundreds of years later by the Spaniards in America. Christianity was enforced at the point of the sword, the alternatives being conversion or death. On the secular side Olaf endeavoured to strengthen his political position by an alliance with Sweden, and wished to cement the alliance by a marriage with Sigrid, Queen of Svithiod. Sigrid, however, would not consent to renounce heathenism, and a violent and bitter quarrel ensued, most amusingly described by Longfellow. Sigrid later married Svcnd, King of Denmark. In the meantime Thyri, the fair sister of King Svcnd, was betrothed to Buriolaf, King of Wendland. This Hunnish gentleman confiscated Thyri’s lands, and apparently showed iu other ways that he was not a very desirable husband, and Thyri in dismay fled to Norway for protection. Olaf married her, and was cajoled into attempting to recover Thyri’s lost dominions. In the war that followed Sweden and Denmark joined forces, and Olaf found himself confronted by enemies on all sides. Lured by the treachery of his own allies into the Baltic with the, fleet, Olaf fell into a trap and was defeated and slain. During the stormy career he gained great renown for his daring-voy-ages and military and naval exploits, and round his name have clustered a great number of myths and legends recounting his famous deeds, his love affairs, and his efforts to abolish heathenism with its witchcraft and sorceries. Whether Longfellow has adhered closely to the original narrative, or whether, using a poet’s license, ho has freely adapted parts of the story for his own purposes, ho lias certainly given us an entertaining and picturesque account if an interesting figure in a very interesting age. Considered es poetry, it is vei’y unequal, some parts quite good, much of it sheer doggerel, but wo have a vivid picture of the man as in all probability be really was—a queer mixture of barbarian and civilised Christian —the half-tamed savage who could not escape completely from the barbarous superstition and cruelty of bis age. It was his supremo title to fame that he did succeed in establishing the Christian Church in Norway, and this fact has thrown a glamour round his name that his purely secular history could not dim. Students of history by the way will find Hilaire Belloc’s recently published History of England of very great interest in this connection, though the author s claims as to the influence of Home on Northern Europe may cause some irritaI tion.) It was no doubt this aspect of Olnf’s life that appealed so strongly to the musician, Sir Edward Elgar. As a devoted Roman Catholic Elgar is concerned chiefly to represent the story of Olaf as typifying the conflict between Christianity and paganism, and with this end in view the characters had all to be I idealised. ;

Longfellow’s version did .not. satisfy the composer in this respect, and he lias therefore discarded parts of it and used in its place another rendering in English by TI. A. Acworth. The writer must con fess that he cannot say how closely this version tallies with the original. It is probably bettor from a literary point of view than the other, and perhaps note amenable to musical treatment. At uiyrntc Elgar has made a judicious selection from Longfellow and Acworth, and >t is this composite version ho has set to music. Anyone who take: the trouble to read Longfellow’s poem through will be sur prised to find how much the two versions differ, particularly in the episodes of Iron beard. Sigrid, pd Thyri. In these ,n----slanees, as also in the story of the Death of Olaf, Elgar has used the more poetical and idealised, but perhaps less entertaining, version of Acworth. Elgar’s great musical work should be studied and listened to with this tact always in mindi —that the composer is

seeking to express in music the conflict between the Cross and the Battle-Axe between peace cry and war cry, between Christ on the one hand and Thor and Odin on the other. • The introduction, weird and mysterious, pictures for us the dim misty origins of the story—of a period when written history was only gradually emerging from ah ago of myth and legend. Then wo have the Challenge of Thor—-a vigorous chorus hurling out defiance to the Christian religion. King Olaf hears the challenge, returns to Norway, and succeeds in establishing his Church at Dronthcim (Trondjhetn). In this section Elgar is seen at his very best. The music smacks of the sea —one can almost taste the salt seaspume—wc can sec the vikings’ ships "furrow the golden shore,” and the fierce conflict between Olaf and Ironboard, the submission of the people, and their acceptance of Christianity. It is a magnificent piece of descriptive composition, with its thrilling intensity of feeling. Next follows the episode of Gudrun. This is interesting chiefly as showing that Olaf was still at heart half barbarian. As a blood atonement for having slain her father, Olaf weds Gudrun, Iron Beard’s daughter, but she, like a dutiful daughter, feels compelled to avenge her father’s death, and steals, on the bridal night, with dagger in hand, to the couch where Olaf sleeps. He wakes just in time, and the pair “for ever sundered ride.” The episode that follows is a ghost story pure and simple. The wraith of Odin appears at a banquet, and disappears just as mysteriously, and this queer visitation is interpreted as signifying the downfall of Odin —for only the dead appear as ghosts —and the triumph of the Christian faith. Elgar lias succeeded wonderfully in giving to this section weird and ghostly music suitable to the theme. There follow next in order a series of episodes describing his quarrel with Sigrid the Haughty, Queen of Svithiod or Sweden, his wooing of Thyri, the fair sister of Svend, King of Denmark, with its dire consequences—pictured for us by the composer in a wonderfully descriptive, gossipy chorus, and finally the last great naval battle, in which the hero is slain. Here again Elgar rises to magnificent heights. The great sea dragons driving fast to the south, and leaping from wave to wave, the clash of battle as arm meets arm that will not yield until the Norwegians are overwhelmed by superior numbers, and Olafs last fight is fought in vain—all is vividly and graphically' portrayed. Last of all, in the epilogue which gives the moral of the story—Olaf's sacrifice is accepted—the true faith will triumph, but with different weapons, “the “Cross against corslet, Love against hatred, Peace cry for war cry.” For Elgar, the mystic and the devout, this is the supreme interest of the story, and into this part he has poured the most intense feeling and religious devotion, and so has given to the world one of the loveliest passages of niusic ever written, a superb ending to a most beautiful work.