Servais - Fantaisie sur des airs Scandinaves (Urtext Edition)

Servais’s Fantaisie sur des airs scandinaves was published posthumously by Schott in Brussels in 1887. Largely centered in G, the work brings together Danish and Swedish-themed material in Servais’s characteristic fantasy style, combining national melody, variation writing, lyrical contrast, and virtuoso display.

The ominous introduction foreshadows the first theme, the Danish national anthem “Der er et yndigt land,” composed in 1835 by Hans Ernst Krøyer. Servais presents the anthem with elegant simplicity before treating it in two variations. The slow section that follows is based on “De klare Bölger rulled,” a cavatina from Act I of Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse’s singspiel Sovedrikken. The final section turns to “Tanzlied aus Dalekarlien,” also known as “Komm, du lilla flicka,” a melody also used by Alfredo Piatti in La Suédoise: caprice sur deux airs nationaux.

This edition is based on two sources: the autograph of the introduction, housed in the Newberry Collection at Stanford University, and the posthumous Schott publication.

ASTA Level: 6