Estonia’s Heinavanker is a can’t-miss at St. Paul’s
Listening to the six-member vocal ensemble Heinavanker, you are struck first by how gorgeously the voices blend—“angelic” is not an overstatement. Second, you are awed that only six voices can create so much musical power.
You’ll have a chance to experience this magic for yourself when the Estonian group visits Chattanooga on Tuesday for a concert at St. Paul’s downtown.
We’re fortunate indeed to host Heinavanker—the group will be coming straight from Washington D.C. after performing at the National Gallery of Art, and in fall 2019, they will perform at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
Since 1996, the group, under the direction of composer Margo Kõlar has delved into early sacred music, Estonian traditions and what they describe as “contemporary imagination.” Ancient Estonian runic songs and folk hymns are an important part of the repertoire.
The name “Heinavanker,” which means, “hay wain” in Estonian, has an interesting story of its own. Those familiar with the odd and compelling work of Hieronymos Bosch (1453-1516) might know his “Haywain Triptych.”
A huge stack of hay rolls “through a land laboring in acquisitiveness towards destruction,” the group’s materials explain. “In the midst of this, music arises. Both a snide demon and a praying angel are trying to get the musicians under their domain of influence.” And that’s where the group’s name comes from—make of it what you will.
Founder Kõlar was able to answer some questions via email from Estonia:
The Pulse: What is the musical background of members of the group?
Margo Kõlar: The members of Heinavanker graduated from Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre as composers, choir conductors, and instrumentalists. The heart of the group started singing together 30 years ago.
While rooted in liturgical chant and Renaissance polyphony, the group’s repertoire makes room as well for vitalizing arrangements of early Estonian folk hymns and runic songs and sacred works by contemporaries such as Arvo Pärt, Cyrillus Kreek and myself.
TP: What drew all of you to this kind of music?
MK: We all are interested in making meaning in that kind of music where our ancestors’ animistic and Christian world views were merging. It’s the best music to describe our world. We share common interest in the early sacred music and in the roots of Estonian music. The point is how to use the knowledge of olden times in the pattern of modern times.
TP: How is your music chosen? Where do you find it?
MK: It’s true that you can’t purchase this kind of music from a bookshop! One must work in archives and study manuscripts. And you must transcribe, edit, arrange and compose the material.
TP: One website refers to your “half improvised” arrangements. Can you explain a little more about that?
MK: Estonian folk hymns originated as a product of the religious renewal of the rural population. Most of the texts are from the Lutheran hymnal. However, the melodies are developed until they are nearly unrecognizable, and are often ingeniously adorned.
The half-improvised arrangements of these songs resonate as an accomplishment of the whole ensemble. These songs come mainly from an oral tradition, and therefore require a certain amount of improvisation in performance.
TP: What is meant by “pre-Christian runic song”? Will examples of this be sung in the Chattanooga concert?
MK: We can proudly mention the archaic runic songs (songs in the poetic metre of regivärss), which are unique to Estonians and other Finno-Ugric peoples. The oral tradition of runic songs has, according to scholars, been alive for thousands of years, and currently seems to be undergoing a revival.
Thanks to the Estonian national awakening in the second half of the 19th century, these songs were gathered into what is now one of the world’s largest corpus of folklore. The rich, colorful and imaginative texts are a welcome supplement to the scarce knowledge we have about our ancient history. And yes, we’ll sing some runic songs in Chattanooga as well!
Program notes state: “The second half of the concert offers a unique glimpse into the ancient runic song tradition: Margo Kõlar’s “The Songs of Olden Times”—a cycle based on runic songs, enables a trip into the world of our ancestors.
“Ancient Songs, Chants and Hymns: Celebrating the 100th Year of Estonian Independence”
7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 10
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
305 W. 7th Street (downtown)
$30 reserved section, $20 general, $15 seniors, $10 students
(423) 266-8195, stpaulschatt.org