Ole Bull, Longfellow & Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf

The 2012 Longfellow Choral Festival, March 3, 4 & 5 2012:

Ole Bull, Longfellow & Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf

and through the ongoing support of our friends and patrons

Three days of events featuring Edward Elgar's masterful Longfellow cantata King Olaf, a musical retrospective on the life of Ole Bull presented by two of Norway's top concert violinists, Arve Tellefsen and Henning Kraggerud, two documentary film showings in Portland's Nickelodeon Theater and the winning songs and choruses from the 2012 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition.

[Image, left: The young Norwegian violinist Ole Bull (1810-1880) as he would have looked during his first concerts in Boston in 1843-44. "His whole frame responds to his emotion," wrote Caroline Sturggis Tappan (1818-1888) in 1844 to her mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), "even his hair dances about him in time with his music." Image copyright Boston Athenaeum. Used by permission.]

TICKET PURCHASE: Purchase tickets and combo passes for all events from the drop-down lists below, or send a check by mail to The Longfellow Chorus, PO Box 5133, Portland, Maine, 04101. (NOTE -- Children under 12 are admitted FREE to all events):

Event I: 12:30 PM, Saturday, March 3, 2012

Ole Bull's Fairy Tale (Norwegian Television Corporation, 1982), a documentary film two hours in duration, with English subtitles.
Norwegian violinist Arve Tellefsen, who narrates and plays the central role in the film, will make a personal appearance at the theater.

Location: Patriot Cinemas Nickelodeon Theater One, 1 Temple Street, Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

Produced as a TV series meant to inspire in children and young adults a love of Classical music, this is perhaps the most in-depth documentary ever made about Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull. In this film for all age groups, the distinguished Norwegian violinist Arve Tellefsen narrates the story of Ole Bull's seven decade long life in intimate detail and performs a number of Ole Bull's violin compositions in situ: for a group of school age campers at Ole Bull State Park in Pennsylvania, site of Ole Bull's infamous New Norway colony; for the local townspeople in West Lebanon, Maine, where Bull's youngest daughter, Ole Bull Vaughan, was born (click on our YouTube trailer on the right); atop the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt; and in front of the fireplace inside Craigie House, the poet Longfellow's Cambridge, Massachusetts, home. Arve Tellefsen, in person, will greet the audience in Nickelodeon Theater One at the 12:30 starting time.

Event II: 4:00 PM, Saturday, March 3, 2012

Arve Tellefsen Performs Ole Bull and Edvard Grieg Concert Pieces with Elissa Alvarez, soprano, Rachele Schmiege, soprano, and The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra.

Location: First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 301 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

View the program for Event II

Ole Bull discovered Edvard Grieg and gave Henrik Ibsen his first job as director of the The Norwegian National Theater in Bergen, a theater founded by Bull. In turn, Grieg's musical style shows Bull's influence and Ibsen based his satirical play Peer Gynt on Bull's persona. Arve Tellefsen "is one of the most highly regarded violinists in Europe and performs with leading orchestras across the globe," and he's coming to Portland, Maine, on March 3 and 4, 2012, to help celebrate the life of Ole Bull with The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra. In this concert, Arve Tellefsen will perform several of Ole Bull's most popular compositions for solo violin and orchestra, and converse with audience members about his many years of experience as Norway's leading Ole Bull ambassador. In addition, soprano Rachele Schmiege will sing Edvard Grieg's Solveig's Song, from Peer Gynt, soprano Elissa Alvarez will sing Arabian Dance, from Peer Gynt, and The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra will perform Grieg's Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King, also from Peer Gynt. Mr. Tellefsen's repertory will include:

from Polacca Guerriera, Ole Bull
Et Sæterbesøg (Visit to a Mountain Farmstead), Ole Bull
Adagio Religioso, Ole Bull
Cantabile doloroso & Rondo giocoso, Ole Bull
At the Matching Game, Edvard Grieg

Event III: 8:00 PM, Saturday, March 3, 2012

(7:15 pre-concert talk by Arthur S. Reynolds, Chairman, The Elgar Society, North American Branch)

Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, a cantata by Edward Elgar, with Arve Tellefsen, violin, Brian Arreola, tenor, Deborah Selig, soprano, Bradford Gleim, baritone and The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra, Charles Kaufmann, Artisitic Director.

Location: First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 301 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

View the program for Event III

After their stunning performances as soloists in last year's Longfellow Chorus production of Arthur Sullivan's The Golden Legend, Brian Arreola, Deborah Selig and Bradford Gleim return to Portland as Viking King Olaf Tryggvason, who brought Christianity to the Norse, Gudrun (and the other women who love and hate him), and the rebellious infidel Ironbeard, who defies Olaf's demand to convert. The original text appeared in Longfellow's Tales of the Wayside Inn, with a fictional Ole Bull character, violin in hand, as storyteller. In this performance, Arve Tellefsen will serve as storyteller, performing several of Ole Bull's popular concert pieces between scenes. In his pre-concert talk, Arthur S. Reynolds will exhibit items from his personal collection of Elgar King Olaf memorabilia, among them, two historic sound recordings of Elgar conducting A Little Bird in the Air and As Torrents in Summer, and the editor's proof of the first edition King Olaf vocal score, with corrections and notations in Elgar's manuscript handwriting. [Image right: soprano soloist Deborah Selig]

Event IV: 1:30 PM, Sunday, March 4, 2012

Winning Songs and Choruses from the 5th Annual Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition, with special guest, Arve Tellefsen, violin

Location: First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 301 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

View the program for Event IV

Soprano Vera Savage is joined by The Longfellow Chorus Woodwind Quartet (Melissa Mielens, flute, Stef Burk, oboe & English horn, Karen Beacham clarinet and Longfellow Chorus artistic director Charles Kaufmann, bassoon), pianist Geoffrey Wieting and The Longfellow Chorus for the premieres of the winning songs and choruses of the 2012 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Competition. Special guest Arve Tellefsen adds two Ole Bull violin and piano compositions to the mix, among them, Ole Bull's Polka. [Image left, tenor Brian Arreola as King Olaf]

Event V: 3:00 PM, Sunday, March 4, 2012

(2:30 pre-concert talk by Arthur S. Reynolds, Chairman, The Elgar Society, North American Branch)

Location: First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 301 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

View the program for Event V

Arve Tellefsen, in his role as Ole Bull, storyteller, joins tenor Brian Arreola, soprano Deborah Selig, baritone Bradford Gleim and The Longfellow Chorus and Orchestra, Charles Kaufmann, artistic director, for a repeat performance of Saturday evening's Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf (see above), a Longfellow cantata by Edward Elgar. In his pre-concert talk, Arthur S. Reynolds will exhibit items from his personal collection of Elgar King Olaf memorabilia, among them, two historic sound recordings of Elgar conducting A Little Bird in the Air and As Torrents in Summer, and the editor's proof of the first edition King Olaf vocal score, with corrections and notations in Elgar's manuscript handwriting. [Image right, baritone Bradford Gleim as Ironbeard in Elgar's King Olaf]

Event VI 4:00 PM, Monday, March 5, 2012

Ole Bull: Conqueror of Heaven (Visions AS, 2006), a documentary film with English subtitles.
Henning Kraggerud, who portrays Ole Bull in the film, will make a personal appearance at the theater.

Location: Patriot Cinemas Nickelodeon Theater One, 1 Temple Street, Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

From the trailer, left: "His was the largest funeral procession in Norway's history . . . A chorus of 1000 singers bid him farewell . . . Magician . . . Seducer . . . International Celebrity . . . Adventurer . . . He played violin as the world had never seen . . . He founded his own republic in America . . . He was the first Norwegian superstar." This exciting 2006 documentary about the life of Ole Bull, starring the young Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud performing music of Ole Bull on Bull's 1744 Guarnerius violin, earned Norwegian documentary film director Aslak Aarhus Norway's Ole Bull Prize (click on the YouTube trailer, left; our film will have subtitles). As part of his engagement as special Longfellow Choral Festival solo artist, Henning Kraggerud will make an appearance in Nickelodeon Theater Cinema One for a short discussion with the audience following the showing of this documentary. Mr. Kraggerud will then later present (7:30 PM in South Portland) a violin and piano recital of the music of Ole Bull, Edward Grieg and other Norwegian composers (See event VII).

Event VII: 7:30 PM, Monday, March 5, 2012

Henning Kraggerud in recital: Music of Bull and Grieg

Location: First Congregational Church United Church of Christ, 301 Cottage Road, South Portland, Maine. Call 207-232-8920 for more details.

View the program for Event VII

Violin Sonata No. 2 (Grieg, Opus 13); La Mélancholie (Ole Bull); Norwegian Dances No. 1 & 2 (Halvorsen); Chant of the Young Maiden (Halvorsen); Romance (Svendsen) and others.

One of the most exciting young contemporary Scandinavian Classical music artists, violinist Henning Kraggerud (b. 1973) is the winner of Norway's Ole Bull Prize, Grieg Prize and Spellermann CD Award, and Finland's Sibelius Prize. He has performed as soloist with major orchestras around the world, among them the Oslo Philharmonic, the Danish National Symphony, the Zurich, Basel and Geneva Chamber Orchestras, and the Detroit and Cincinnati Symphonies, and other prestigious orchestras and music festivals. He has recently succeeded pianist Leif Ove Andsnes as Director of the Risør Festival of Chamber Music. Henning Kraggerud, who "is an artist of exquisite musicianship, and who combines an unusually sweet tone and beauty of expression with impressive virtuosity," comes to Portland on March 5, 2012, to perform a recital of the music of Ole Bull, Edvard Grieg and other Scandinavian composers as part of the 2012 Longfellow Choral Festival. [Image right: Henning Kraggerud]

The Longfellow 205th Birthday Choral Festival, Ole Bull, Longfellow & Elgar: Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, is supported in part through grants from The Maine Arts Commission, The Maine Humanities Council , The American-Scandinavian Foundation, The Sons of Norway Foundation, The Elgar Society Elgar in Performance Fund, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Music Information Centre Norway and from on-going contributions from our friends and patrons.

For more information contact The Longfellow Chorus.

Mission Statement of The Longfellow Chorus, Inc.:

The Corporation shall organize and maintain a chorus to perform and record vocal and choral settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poetry, written from 1840 to the present, shall inspire and commission new vocal and choral settings of Longfellow's poetry, and shall perform choral music of the Romantic and immediate post-Romantic eras, ca. 1825–1920.

Materials on this website are protected, copyright 2007–2012, The Longfellow Chorus, Inc., Portland, Maine, USA

Contact The Longfellow Chorus:

e-mail: The Longfellow Chorus

The Longfellow Chorus
c/o Charles Kaufmann
P. O. Box 5133
Portland, Maine 04101

Back to The Longfellow Chorus