Sofdu unga ástin mín
Award winning at chor.com Composer’s Competition “Nocturne” 2024
Iceland’s folk stories are shaped by the island’s harsh climate and dark winters. The rugged landscapes provide the backdrop for the tales and myths, often featuring fantastic creatures such as trolls and elves, that have been passed down from generation to generation. However, the story on which the Icelandic lullaby “Sofðu unga ástin mín” is based actually happened in the mid-18th century. The events inspired Johann Sigurjonsson to write his play Bjærg-Eyvind og hans hustru (Mountain-Eyvind and his Wife) from 1911. This is the story of Fjalla-Eyvindur, an Icelander found guilty of theft, who, together with his wife Halla, flees into Iceland’s mountain regions. Legend says that the couple survived for 20 years in the wilderness. In Sigurjonsson’s play, Halla sings the lullaby taken up by Elisabeth Fußeder before flinging her child into a waterfall to keep it out of the hands of her pursuers.
The young composer has already won numerous prizes for her music. With its intensity and sensitive treatment of the lullaby text, Sofðu unga ástin mín is a captivating work. In addition to sung words and sounds, Fußeder uses other vocal techniques such as speaking, whispering, audible breathing, whistling and shouting.
To make the piece more accessible to ambitious amateur choirs, the composer has created a reduced, less challenging version (Carus 9.310/50; SATB, choral speaking, narrator).
-
Composer
Elisabeth Fußeder
| 2000Elisabeth Fußeder was born in Munich in 2000 and made her first contacts with composer Rodolphe Haimann in her hometown of Freising. She graduated with honours from the musication vocational school for music in Nuremberg in 2018.
The composer has already been commissioned to write works for the via-nova-chor Munich, the Ensemble rechérche, the Bundesjugendchor, the festival code modern, the Bayerischer Landesjugendchor, the Basel ensemble False relationships and the extended ending and the Mädchenkantorei at Freiburg Minster, among others. In 2024, projects with the vocal ensemble Lauschwerk, the Stuttgart Philharmonic and once again the German National Youth Choir will follow. Elisabeth Fußeder's composition may-be-peace for five voices received the special prize of the Valentin Becker Competition in 2022. In 2023, in tenebris for mixed choir was honoured with a prize at the randspiele Zepernick composition competition. Her works have also won several prizes at the Jugend komponiert Bayern competition under the artistic direction of composer Minas Borboudakis.
Driven by her passion for choirs, Elisabeth Fußeder is a member of several ensembles, including founding member of the vocal sextet "Chiave", which has won several special prizes at national level. Since October 2020, she has been studying composition with Prof. Brice Pauset and aural training with Prof. Konrad Georgi at the Freiburg University of Music.
We asked the composer 6 questions, read them here in our blog: https://blog.carus-verlag.com/en/personalities/6-questions-for-elisabeth-fusseder/
Personal details
-
Songwriter / Librettist
Johann Sigurjonsson
| 1880-1919
Reviews on our website can only be submitted by customers with a registered user account. A check whether the rated products were actually purchased does not take place.
Frequent questions about this work
There are no questions and answers available so far or you were unable to find an answer to your specific question about this work? Then click here and send your specific questions to our Customer Services!
