Peter Olsen (poet)

Peter Pavia Eigel Nathanael Olsen (born July 20, 1892 in Kuannit , † July 22, 1930 in Aasiaat ) was a Greenlandic poet , composer and catechist .

Life

Peter Olsen was born in 1892 as the illegitimate son of the widowed Danish Udsteds administrator Lauritz Christian Peter Olsen (1833-1902) and the Greenlander Euphemia Ane Sophie (1865-1914). His parents married shortly after he was born.

Peter Olsen was musically gifted and was already working as an organist for his home parish at the age of six . In 1909 he was admitted to Grønland's seminarium and in 1915 completed his training as a catechist. He was employed as a catechist in Aasiaat. On August 6, 1916, he married Sofie Elisabeth Jørgine Andersen (1892–1950) in Aasiaat. The sons Knud (1925–2010) and Jørgen (1928–2017) emerged from the marriage and were later adopted by the Danish pastor Svend Hertling. From 1920 to 1921 he stayed in Denmark, where he was taught as organist by Paul Sophus Rung-Keller . During his time as a catechist, he began to write and compose, and founded the first organized choir in Greenland. This was given the name Nipilukut , which translated means "those with the bad voices". In 1927 he fell ill with tuberculosis and asked for his transfer in 1929. He was then transferred to Attu , where he was appointed chief catechist. Just a year later, two days after his 38th birthday, he died in the hospital in Aasiaat.

His songs often dealt with themes from Greenlandic mythology such as Kaassassuk . Despite his short life, Peter Olsen is considered an important part of Greenlandic literary and musical history.

literature

• Knud Hertling : Ajoqinnguaq: Peter Olsen nulialu Sofie 1892–1992 . Atuakkiorfik, Nuuk 1993, ISBN 978-87-558-0868-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Parish registers Paamiut 1890–1905 (Born boys p. 3)
2. ↑ Church registers Aasiaat 1929–1934 (Dead Men, p. 173)
3. ↑ Paamiut Church Books 1890–1905 (Married people, p. 115)
4. ↑ Biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon