Swedish Project Support, 2016
Kirsten Santos Rutschman, of Duke University, conducted research on the concept of “folk” in 19th century Swedish music. During this century, Sweden’s boundaries changed dramatically, leading to a crisis of national identity. Rutschman’s research links this questioning of what it meant to be Swedish with the incorporation of folk melodies into various forms of music, including solo, choral and orchestral works. Traveling to Sweden offered the special opportunity to access to musical manuscripts of compositions that use folk song to trace the development of the use of folk melodies over time.
