Rolf Karlsen

Rolf Kåre Karlsen (born June 16, 1911 in Kristiania , † August 4, 1982 in Oslo ) was a Norwegian composer, organist and pianist.

At the age of twelve, Karlsen had organ lessons from Arild Sandvold , who accompanied him until his organ exam at the Oslo Conservatory in 1931. He made his debut as an organist in 1933 and as a pianist in 1935. In 1932 he got his first position as organist at Hovik Kirk in Bærum.

In 1936 he was appointed organist and cantor at Ris Kirke in Oslo. He directed the church choir and gave concerts, which were also broadcast on the radio in the 1950s. Since 1938 he has also directed the NRK Chamber Choir. During this time he studied medieval music in Bruges, baroque performance practice in Basel and composition with Per Steenberg , Bjarne Brustad and Karl Andersen .

After 1945 he turned to historical performance practice, preferring baroque organs and small ensembles. He performed Bach's St. Matthew Passion with 18 choir singers and a chamber orchestra and Handel's Messiah with 16 singers. In 1952 he founded the Collegium Musicum , with which he performed both ancient and contemporary music, as well as the Musica Sacra Society for the Musical Renewal of the Church, of which he was director until 1968. Since 1965 he was also a member of the Liturgy Commission.

In 1960 Karlsen became the organist of the Claus Jensen organ in the Trefoldighetskirken in Oslo. Here he performed compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach , Georg Friedrich Händel , Dietrich Buxtehude , Claudio Monteverdi , Heinrich Schütz , Claudio Monteverdi and Hugo Distler . In 1966 he succeeded his teacher Sandvold as cantor and organist at Oslo Cathedral . In this role he supervised all organs in the city and was a consultant for organ building.

From 1935 to 1973 Karlsen taught at the Oslo Music Conservatory, after which he was a lecturer at the Norwegian Academy of Music until 1981. In 1963 he was awarded the Order of Saint Olav, First Class.

Works

• Suite atonale for piano, 1937
• The store gleda for solo, choir and orchestra, 1945
• Organ sonata , 1946
• Fra Alstadhaug , suite for string orchestra after Petter Dass , 1947
• Pro Organo , chorale preludes in five volumes, 1951–58
• Hymnarium , choral music in six volumes, 1953–67
• Min sjel lov Herren , cantata for choir, wind instruments and organ, 1963
• Påske cantata for choir, orchestra and organ, 1965

source

• Store norske leksikon - Rolf Karlsen