RunoTrio

(1999-2000)
For flute/bass flute, violin & guitar

I. A Swindler Suitor
II. Väinämöinen’s Kantele
III. Estonian Lullaby
IV. Midsummer’s Eve Bonfire

Although RunoTrio was written specifically for the Tarutelin Trio at the request of their guitarist Eric Schroeder, he was unable to perform the piece at the premiere due to a wrist injury. As a result, the work was first played publicly by the other two members of the trio with myself as a surrogate guitarist. Even though Eric Schroeder did not have the opportunity to premiere RunoTrio himself, he is responsible for bringing the piece into existence, for which I am grateful.

- Kurt Mortensen

There are several great works for
the flute, violin and guitar combination.
Click here for programming suggestions

Special thanks to

Mimi S. Daitz
Associate Professor, Music
The City College of New York

who aided with the search for regilaulud (runosongs).

Program Notes

RunoTrio is a four-movement work for flute/bass flute, violin and guitar, which is based on Baltic-Finnic folk tunes known as "runosongs." These very short melodies evolved from pre-Christian shamanistic times over centuries through an oral tradition which was spread by the people living in the regions of Estonia and Finland. Because this music was not written down until the 19th and 20th centuries, there are many different variations and texts associated with the tunes. Most runosongs are only a few measures long and are repeated over and over with new lines of text while being subjected to slight melodic modifications.The academic term for "runosong" is the preferred "regilaul" since runo falsely implies runes; however RegiTrio did not sound as nice.

I discovered runosongs after encountering the music of Veljo Tormis (b. 1930), an Estonian choral composer who has made a career of using these folk melodies as the basis for his work. In my music, these songs provide a point of reference and departure. Four runosongs were used with one for each movement. There is no programmatic relationship between any of these folk melodies as each one was selected simply because I liked them. RunoTrio is not an arrangement of four runosongs, but a new work which is derived from these tunes. The short, concise, simple and repetitive nature of the Baltic-Finnic melodies lent themselves to a minimalist approach to composition which I enjoy. However, this work is not a minimalist piece, at least not in any typical way.

The first movement is based on a tune called "A Swindler Suitor" which I found in the Folklore Journal published by the Institute of Estonian Language. The words to the song are rather humorous: "Marry me, a servant boy; do not marry the farmer's son! He is a liar and a swindler: he promised to bring you three pairs of shoes but he does not even own a pair of pastlad" (Estonian peasant sandals). This runosong is a two-measure melody which is followed by two very similar variations. In the RunoTrio this tune and its elaborations are presented over different chord progressions in the guitar and are followed by a concluding phrase which is constructed from fragments of the runosong (including retrogrades). In between these presentations of the folk tune there are melodies which are derived from the song.

'A Swindler Suitor"

The only movement that uses the bass flute and is not based on Estonian sources is the second. Veljo Tormis used this Finnish folk song in his Inside The Giant: The Seventeenth Rune of "Kalevala," a setting for male chorus of all 628 lines from the Finnish Epic. This melody is a Karelian tune which has been preserved by the Finnish Literature Society and it is in what is known as Kalevala-meter which corresponds to 5/4 time. The song is used here to represent Väinämöinen, one of the heroes from the Kalevala. He played the kantele, a five-stringed Finnish folk instrument much like a zither. A capo is placed on the guitar at the 5th fret and the guitarist is instructed to play sul ponticello (near the bridge) in order to achieve a high and thin ringing quality as an attempt to emulate the sound of the kantele. The four-measure runosong is presented first in the bass flute, then the guitar and finally in the violin. After this initial presentation, the bass flute and violin begin to introduce permutations of the tune through augmentation, retrograde, fragmentation and combinations thereof.

Karelian folk tune in Kalevala-meter

5-String Kantele

An Estonian lullaby called "Let The Cradle Swing" forms the basis of the third movement. The tune was originally documented by Herbert Tampere in his Eesti rahvalaule vissidega III (Estonian Folk Songs with Melodies III, the third of a five-volume set which has been referred to as the "Tormis Bible," the source which the Estonian composer often consults when searching for runosongs). This lullaby is the longest folk melody used in the RunoTrio. It is actually in two distinct parts, not including the variations. The full tune, including its elaborations is presented at the beginning and the end with the supporting music being derived from the runosong as well. The middle of this section contains the most developed motives taken from lullaby.

RunoTrio concludes with my favorite movement. I especially like the runosong employed and it was this tune which was the impetus for conceiving this piece. I also spent the most time composing this movement, which although closes this work, was actually completed first (the only part of the trio begun in 1999). This melody seems to be very popular. It appears in the same Folklore Journal from which the "Swindler Suitor" melody came. It is also cited in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians as an example of Estonian runosong. Veljo Tormis also used the tune in his Estonian Calendar Songs, one his best-known works. Traditionally, June 24 was an important day, second only to Christmas, as it marked the culmination of working in the fields and the start of making hay. On this midsummer’s eve, the custom in Estonia was to build bonfires all over the countryside. The illuminated landscape was thought to strengthen the production of grain and grass. The opening lines of this runosong read, "Come to the midsummer bonfire, come and guard the fire, come and watch the flames!" This movement begins with a slow introduction consisting of fragments of the melody presented in augmentation in canon between the flute and violin. The introduction continues with variations of the runosong presented in all three instruments, until the guitar enters with a quicker tempo, playing an embellished version of the melody. For most of the rest of the movement, the guitar provides the accompaniment which consists of repeated statements the folk tune, while the flute and violin play off one another as they perform variations of the melody.