Johan Halvorsen

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Johan Halvorsen

Johan Halvorsen (born March 15, 1864 in Drammen , † December 4, 1935 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian violinist , composer and conductor .

Life

Johan Halvorsen, the son of a police officer, received training as a military musician in Kristiania from 1879, after a year he quit his military service and studied violin with a certain G. Böhn in Kristiania (Oslo) from 1881 to 1883, but was also a violinist at the local theater. He then completed a year of study with Jakob Lindberg in Stockholm , where he also had engagements in theater and café bands. For a year he was concertmaster in Bergen . At the Leipzig Conservatory he studied with Adolph Brodsky , who then placed him in Aberdeen . From 1889 to 1892 he worked in Helsinki , where he worked with Ferruccio Busoni . During this time his first compositions were written. After further studies with Leopold Auer in Sankt Peterburg, with César Thomson in Liège, he broke off his career as a violinist. In 1893 he took composition and counterpoint lessons with Albert Becker in Berlin before he returned to Bergen as Kapellmeister of the " Den Nationale Scene ". In 1899 he was offered the position of chief conductor at the National Theater in Kristiania, a position he held until 1929. During this time he conducted 30 operas, among others.

After his retirement, Johan Halvorsen devoted himself more than before to the composition of musical works that are part of the national romantic tradition of his home country. His three great symphonies and his Norwegian rhapsodies are best known , as well as the Bojarenes inntogsmarsj (Entry of the Boyars), the Reisen til Julestjernen (Journey to the Poinsettia ) and the Bergensiana .

Halvorsen named Edvard Grieg , whose niece he married, and Johan Svendsen as his musical role models. The actor Stein Grieg Halvorsen (1909-2013) was his son.

His violin concerto Op. 28, which Halvorsen composed for the then 18-year-old Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow , who performed it in Scheveningen in 1909 , was rediscovered in the library of the University of Toronto in 2016.

Halvorsen Monument in Oslo

In 2003, a statue of the composer by Per Ung was unveiled in front of the National Theater in Oslo.

Works (selection)

In total, Halvorson left about 170 compositions.

  • 1896: Boyarenes inntogsmarsj
  • 1901: 17 Norwegian songs for the folk musician Knut Dale, ( Hardingfele ), 1901
  • 1908–1909: Fiolin Consert, op. 28
  • 1919–1920: Norsk rapsodi no. 1 (Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1) in A major
  • 1919–1920: Norsk rapsodi no. 2 (Norwegian Rhapsody No. 2) in G major
  • 1923: Symfoni no. 1 in C minor
  • 1924: (revised 1928) Symfoni no. 2 in D minor
  • 1929: Symfoni no. 3 in C major
  • Passacaglia for violin and viola on a theme by Handel (1893)
  • Sarabande con variazioni , for violin and viola in D minor on a theme by Handel, dedicated to the violinist Fini Henriques (1900).
  • Norwegian Sea Picture

Footnotes

  1. ^ Long-lost concerto found deep in U of T basement archives. The Star , January 6, 2016, accessed January 7, 2016 .
  2. ↑ A much-played piece, especially popular as an encore , which is often performed in combination with violin and cello.

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Halvorsen, Johan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Drammen
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 1935
Place of death Oslo