Minder fra Høstens Tid (Memories of Harvest Time)

Piano Sonata No. 3, Minder fra Høstens Tid (1941), is not an important work, but it is central to an understanding of Langgaard's artistic attitude in the period concerned. The concept, "Harvest Time", is biblical, and refers to the end of the world, but at the same time it is Langgaard's symbolic term for the period 1890-1914, which he consider to be the apogee of music as an art form. In this sense, therefore, the composition expresses Langgaard's reflections on, or recollections of, moods from his childhood and youth.

Listen to an excerpt from the 3^rd Movement, Ved Hotel "Kongen af Danmark", Niels Juelsgade (At the "Kongen af Danmark" Hotel, Niels Juelsgade), which recalls Grieg and the salon music of the turn of the century - not surprising if we remember that Grieg was a friend of the Langgaard family, and when he was in Copenhagen often stayed at the Kongen af Danmark Hotel, situated across the road from Langgaard's childhood home in Niels Juelsgade.

On the other hand, Langgaard did not see this music in an unequivocally positive light. In using the term "Harvest Time" he recognised that apart from its concentrated spiritual atmosphere, the turn of the century also contained elements of decadence and the seeds of later 'disaster' - the World War and the subsequent dissolution of values. When the theme returns for the third and last time, therefore, the notes have been changed to H(=B) A D E S(Es=E flat), i.e., Hades, the god of the underworld. Listen to these bars.

Section of this movement from Langgaard's original manuscript (unpublished).

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