Humor, stoicism, and Scandinavian winter gloom emerge in the brief song, Winter Was Hard, Op. 20 (Vintern var Hård) by Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen (b. 1935).
Composed in 1969, the song became the title track of a 1988 album by the Kronos Quartet. Their version, featuring the San Francisco Girls Chorus, includes a pump organ:
Here is another version featuring the Tapiola Choir:
A translation of the text:
There wasn’t much for the ducks.
Mother turned the breadbin upside down.
The ducks quacked and seemed dissatisfied
The water was black and it soon froze.Winter was hard, winter was hard.
Even money was frozen in the bank.
Saturday evening could only be celebrated
every other Saturday.
–Bo Carpelan
Recordings
- Sallinen: Winter Was Hard, Op. 20, Kronos Quartet, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Earl L. Miller Nonesuch Records
- Sallinen: Winter Was Hard, Op. 20, Tapiola Choir Naxos Records
Featured Image: “Washing on the Ice” (1900), Pekka Halonen