Henrik Rung (1807-1871)

Voice

Twelve Italian Songs/Duets
for two voices and guitar or harpsichord
edited by Jens Bang-Rasmussen

Henrik Rung is considered to be one of the very great song and romance composers in the Danish tradition. Rung had a huge impact on what we today consider a Danish sound. A few of his songs are considered as a part of the national Danish heritage.

The lyrical element in his songs is considered the most outstanding quality in his songs.

Rung spent two years in Rome, from 1838 to 1840. While he was there, he studied and copied Renaissance music in the Vatican library. Several distinguished voice teachers in Rome also trained him in Italian singing at that time.

He maintained a lifelong passion for Italy and the Italian style. The twelve Italian songs are based on Italian folklore. Sor's seguidillas might be a fairly obvious source of inspiration. One of the seguidillas (Cuantas naves se han visto) is to be found in Rung's music collection in the Royal Library in Copenhagen.

Rung writes in the introduction to an edition of the three first songs from 1851 (C. C. Lose-Delbanco, in the Rischel and Birket-Smith Collection) "the songs are intended to be a pre-study to the great Italian arias". Rung makes very precise indications of dynamics, and he marks every time the two singers have to breathe. Rung continues "The songs are written for tenor on the first voice and mezzo-soprano on the second voice. Other possible options could be soprano and mezzo-soprano, tenor and baritone, and soprano and baritone".

Song number 10 is missing in the manuscript. Wilhelm Hansen published ten Italian folk songs around 1920 (Rung Duet-Album nr. 1, nr. 2, nr. 3). Nine out of these ten songs were also found in Rung's manuscript so I assumed that the last song was the missing number 10. Ten of the twelve songs were published.

The use of harpsichord as an alternative to the guitar accompaniment is not a surprise. The harpsichord is not a traditional romantic instrument, but Rung, a pioneer in renaissance performance practice, was very familiar with the instrument.

Rung held a position as a singing master at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen from 1842 until his death in 1871. He had a strong affection for the guitar and he was a true master on this instrument. Rung often uses the guitar in his operas and ballets. Besides his use of the guitar in the theatre he composed an impressive number of songs, solo and chamber music of a high standard for the guitar.

Song number 7 is in Neapolitan dialect (the literary dialect of the 18th century, in all likelihood), and number 12 is in Sicilian literary dialect (also of the 18th century, perhaps by G. Meli). (Prof. Ugo Vignuzzi). It is not possible for me to trace the original lyrics.

Thanks to the Royal Library, Copenhagen for providing the original score. Thanks to Silvia Catitti for great help with the transcription of the Italian text.

Jens Bang-Rasmussen
Copenhagen
August 2005

The texts of the Twelve Italian Songs/Duets

The Twelve Italian Folk Songs, complete, are available for purchase in the form of downloadable files which you can print if you wish.