Sæverud, Trond2024-11-052024-11-052002-05-31https://hdl.handle.net/1808/35611D.M.A. University of Kansas, Music and Dance 2002Harald Sæverud (1897-1992) is widely considered to be Norway's foremost symphonic composer. Of his nine symphonies, only the last five are published. The first four exist in manuscript only, and the material is impractical to use. This situation is partly to blame for the fact that Sæverud's early symphonies, in the last fifty years, have been almost completely ignored by orchestras and conductors. The motivation for this paper is to help promote Harald Sæverud's music in two ways: - by making music available that is easy to read and practical to use. - by making written material available in English that can be used in various promotional and educational contexts. The score has been edited with major emphasis on ease of reading. Some notational idiosyncrasies convey important emotive or stylistic information that needs to be preserved even if it is difficult to read. In other cases, the notation seems more problematic than can be warranted by such concerns. Most of the alterations involve enharmonic spelling, complex rhythms, and subtle tempo changes. The text is intended as a preface to the score, and it includes biographical information, a stylistic overview of Sæverud's main compositions, editorial information, and a formal analysis of the Second Symphony. The symphony is analyzed from two different perspectives. The main analysis (Analysis I) attempts to follow the composer's own attitudes regarding the relative importance of various musical elements. Analysis II is a brief, mostly schematic, summary of unifying elements. The composer would probably have found these to be coincidental and irrelevant, whereas this writer found the connections significant and useful. The editorial process is described in as much detail as warranted in a situation where the original source is lost. This section concludes with "Notes to the Conductor," where this writer's personal experiences with his grandfather, Harald Sæverud, are drawn upon to formulate specific suggestions in connection with performances of the Second Symphony. The Appendix lists individuals and organizations that may be of assistance in connection with performances of Sæverud's music in general.Sæverud, HaraldSaevarud, HaraldDissertationopenAccess