old school, who has gained great esteem both as composer and
as musical author and critic. His chief work is the great university
cantata «Lyset» (The Light), with words by Bjernstjerne
Bjemson.
In the ranks of organists stands also J o h a n n e s H a a k k l o u
(born 1847), one of the most prominent representatives of modern
Norwegian music. In his symphonies, opera, oratorio, romances,
etc. he has displayed considerable talent, an independent, energetic
mind, an earnest, artistic endeavour.
M. A. U d b y e of Trondhjem (1820—1889) was also a famous
organist, and has composed a considerable number of works of
various kinds, among them the first Norwegian opera «FredMUa*.
F e u E b i k a N i s s e n (born 1845), who shares with F b u A g a t h e
B a c k e b G e o n d a h l the first place among lady pianists, has an
appointment as organist in Kristiania. She is greatly esteemed,
and by her talented interpretation of the great classic masters’
such as Bach and Beethoven, of modem romanticists such as
Schumann and Chopin, and of the latest Norwegian composers,
such as Nordraak, Grieg and Sinding, has had a marked influence
upon the development of Norwegian musical art. In her professional
tours, she has also gained a name abroad; and a life
annuity has been voted her by the Storthing, in recognition of
her talent, similar to that voted to the poets Ibsen and Bjamson,
and some others.
The first regular musical institutions in the country were
private companies.
In 1809, the Musical Lyceum was founded in Kristiania, and
among its first leaders was the highly-gifted composer and violinist,
W a l d e m a e T h r a n e (1790— 1828). His principal work is the
music to the operetta «.FjeUevmtyreh, the first dramatic work
of which the music bears a really genuine national stamp. One
of the songs .in it is one of the pearls of Norwegian national
music.
After the dissolution of the Lyceum, the Philharmonic Society
was formed in 1847. One of its first leaders was the clever
pianist and thorough theorist and composer, C a b l A r n o l d (1794
1873), who, on the whole, has done much towards the advancement
of Norwegian music. The society existed for 20 years, and
was succeeded by the Musical Union (Musikforeningen), which is
still the only permanent concert company in Kristiania. The so-
called Chambermusic Soirées, which were held for many 'years
under the management of the highly-respected firm of H a i .s
B b o t h e b s , the owners of the first (1847) and largest piano-factory
in the country, have been discontinued.
The Musical Union, whose object it is to perform concert-
music of all kinds, was founded in 1871 by the co-operation of
the famous Norwegian musician, E d v a r d G b i e g , who was afterwards
joined by his friend J o h a n S v e n d s e n . These two talented
men, with their strong, warm interest in the musical art of their
country, obtained, during the time that they conducted, quite
brilliant results, in spite of the very insufficient material upon
which they had to work. After them, the Musical Union has
been conducted by O l e O l s e n , J o h a n S e l m e b , and I v e b H o l t e b .
Of these five conductors of the principal musical institution
in the country, G b i e g , how that S v e n d s e n has become permanently
attached to Denmark, occupies the undisputed place of standard-
bearer of Norwegian music, the foremost in the ranks of Norwegian
musicians, and one of the most talented of living composers.
He is the highest representative of the Norse element
in music; the great beating heart of Norwegian musical art.
He was born in 1843 in Bergen, the capital of the west country,
with its lyric temperament, and keen artistic interests. He
has seldom stayed long in one place, and has travelled much
in Scandinavia, Germany, Holland and Italy. In the latter half
of the sixties, and the first half of the seventies, he lived in
Kristiania, where his labours as teacher, conductor and composer
formed an epoch in musical life there. His work as a composer,
in which he still shows the same youthful freshness and wealth,
extends over a very wide domain ^H long and short choral works,
the music to Ibsen’s dramatic poem, «Per Gynt», and to Bjarnson’s
«Sigurd Jorsalfan, a number of different compositions for the
piano and for strings, and above all his large collection of romances
and songs in which his deep national feeling, his fine poetic
spirit, his talented melodious and rhythmic sense, have found their
fullest expression.
Grieg’s history cannot be written without mentioning two
earlier pioneers in the domain of national art, namely, K j e b u l f
and N o e d e a a k .