Koppången is a Swedish song, with music composed originally for violin in 1998 by for his folk music group Orsa Spelmän, which includes his brothers Kalle Moraeus and Olle Moraeus. The name and the inspiration for the song come from the wetlands and nature preserve , near the Moraeus family home in

Orsa Municipality Orsa Municipality (''Orsa kommun'') is a municipality in Dalarna County in central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Orsa. Orsa is one of a few municipalities in Sweden which has not been amalgamated, but retains its area from the tim ...

, Dalarna, Sweden. In 1998 Orsa Spelmän recorded the instrumental version of Koppången on the album which was released on the label

Mono Music Mono Music is a Swedish record label, established in 1987 by former ABBA member Benny Andersson. The Mono Music offices as well as the Mono Music studio, which is mainly used for mixing sessions, are located on the island of Skeppsholmen in centra ...

(MMCD 013). In 1999

Py Bäckman Py Marie Elisabet Ulrika Bäckman Wennborn (born 5 July 1948, Stockholm) is a Swedish musician. She is a singer and songwriter of pop and rock for musicals and films. She also plays piano and harmonica. Career Bäckman grew up in Iggesund (G ...

wrote lyrics for the song, in both Swedish and English and mezzo-soprano

Anne Sofie von Otter Anne Sofie von Otter (born 9 May 1955) is a Swedish mezzo-soprano. Her repertoire encompasses lieder, operas, oratorios and also rock and pop songs. Early life Von Otter was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was Göran von Otter, a Swedis ...

recorded both versions on her album, 'Home for Christmas', which was released by

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. The lyrics of Py Bäckman describe a country church in a winter scene at Christmas time. , music host on Sveriges Radio P2 comments: ("It is often difficult for new Christmas songs to establish themselves and become classics. One which has succeeded with that is Koppången.") In the

Yle Vega Yle Vega (prior to 1 September 2016 – Yle Radio Vega) is a Finnish radio channel broadcasting in the Swedish language. It is operated by Finland's national public service broadcaster Yle (known in Swedish as Rundradion), which has its headquart ...

Swedish language series about Christmas songs, music editor Bertil Blom writes:

Sissel Kyrkjebø Sissel Kyrkjebø (; born 24 June 1969), also simply known as Sissel, is a Norwegian soprano. Sissel is considered one of the world's top crossover sopranos. Her musical style ranges from pop recordings and folk songs, to classical vocals and op ...

has sung and recorded Koppången several times, including in the 2001 live concert album, In Symphony, with Kalle Moraeus on violin. Koppången has since been covered on over 50 recordings by several artists, including Helen Sjöholm,

Sanna Nielsen Sanna Viktoria Nielsen (born 27 November 1984) is a Swedish singer and television presenter. On her seventh attempt, she won Melodifestivalen in 2014 with the song "Undo" and so represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenh ...

Malena Ernman Sara Magdalena Ernman (born 4 November 1970) is a Swedish opera singer. Besides operas and operettas, she has also performed chansons, cabaret, jazz, and appeared in musicals. She is a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Ernman repres ...

, and

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...

. The song has been arranged for larger choral groups by Robert Sund and been recorded by several choirs such as

Orphei Drängar Sångsällskapet Orphei Drängar (OD) is a Swedish male voice choir and singing society based in Uppsala, Sweden. While best known for its high quality performances of the classical repertoire, OD sings music of all genres in many different langu ...

. In December 2019, Anne Sofie Von Otter sang ''Koppången'' at Christmas concerts in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

with

New Century Chamber Orchestra The New Century Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1992 by cellist, Miriam Perkoff, and violist, Wieslaw Pogorzelski. The goal of the founders was to present classical music in a fresh and unique way in the San Francisco Bay Area. The music director ...

. Music critic Philip Campbell writes:

With a breathy, intimate quality, von Otter sang a gorgeous version of one of the best modern Christmas songs ever, "Koppangen" by Per-Erik Moraeus. The singer included it on her beautiful "Home for Christmas" album years ago, but it has actually improved with age.

For Christmas 2020, violinist Lynn Kuo (in Canada), soprano Julia Radosz, and pianist Alena Hučková (both in Slovakia) performed Koppången as a "virtual trio" .

References

External links

Sissel Kyrkjebø - Koppången (Live) - 2001

sings Koppången with Kalle Moraeus on violin, recorded on the album In Symphony; Hosted by

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Swedish Christmas songs Sissel Kyrkjebø songs Sanna Nielsen songs Malena Ernman songs Elisabeth Andreassen songs {{folk-song-stub