Norway

The new Oslo opera house was opened in 2008; architect Snøhetta, 1364 seats. In wintertime the waterfront looks like a glacier or ski slope.

The new concert hall was opened in 1977; architect Gösta Åbergh, 1600 seats. It is the platform of the Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester.

Near the Konserthus a monument of the composer Johan Svendsen, born in Oslo in 1840. Elsewhere there must be another Svendsen monument, a faun in a basin by Stinius Frederiksen; address not found.

The present academy of music, a university college, is the successor of the Lindeman Conservatory (1883-1973).

There are a large library, a collection of instruments, recording studios and two concert halls.

Monument of the piano teacher and composer Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-68). His solo and choral songs and piano pieces were admired by Grieg and are still popular. He is considered the ‘father of Norwegian music’.

Edvard Grieg lived here from 1867 to 1874, working at the 2^nd violin sonata and the piano concerto. The house was demolished in 1932.

Photo: Selskabet for Oslo byes vel.

Here stood the house of the composer, violinist and conductor Johan Svendsen (1840-1911). He was the most important Norwegian composer next to Grieg, but surpassing the latter in his symphonic output. 

Photo: Selskabet for Oslo byes vel.

Originally the house of poet and journalist Henrik Wergelund, the author of the national anthem; from 1922 it was a honorary residence, owned by the State. In the years 1924-1941 lived here the composer Christian Sinding (1856-1941), from whose vast oeuvre the piano piece Frühlingsrauschen became a worldwide hit.

Grave of Christian Sinding, †1941 but interred here in 1946. Also the graves of the folk song collector Catharinus Elling (1858-1942) and the composer of solo- and choral songs Eyvind Aelnes (1872-1932).

Grave of Johan Svendsen, †1911 in Copenhagen, where he lived as conductor of the Royal Opera since 1882.

Grave of Halfdan Kjerulf, †1868, >1005.

Grave of Rikard Nordraak (1842-66), the composer of the national anthem Ja, vi elsker dette landet (1864) and a fervent advocate of a real Norwegian music scene. He died in Berlin, where he stayed repeatedly for studies.

Grave of Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935), violinist, conductor and romantic composer.

Also the graves of two other famous Norwegians: the dramatist Henrik Ibsen and the painter Edvard Munch.

Johan Halvorsen was born here in 1864, his birthplace burned down in 1866. From 1873 to 1878 he lived with his mother and the other children in the poorhouse which is extant.

photo byarkiv drammen

Monument of Halvorsen by Stinius Frederiksen from 1958. Another statue of the composer is inside the local theatre at Øvre Storgate 12.

photo byarkiv drammen

The singer Kirsten Flagstad was born in Hamar in 1895. She was a famous Wagner soprano and became director of the Norwegian Opera Company from 1950 to 1961; one year later she died.

Since 1985, the oldest house (Strandstuel) of Hamar is a Flagstad museum.

Oldest musical capital of Norway, centre of the cult of the country’s patron saint, Olav. The Olavsmusiken contains plainchant from c 1200.

Organ at the northern transept by Joachim Wagner from 1741, restored in 1994; II/p/30. The main organ (Steinmeyer 1930, IV/p/127), originally substituting the Wagner organ, was moved to the Westside and rearranged in 2012-14.

Collection of c 2000 instruments from the whole world, including many typical Norwegian langeleiks and hardangerfeles.

The original birthplace of Edvard Grieg, °1843, was destroyed in April 1944 (historic photo). 

Two composer’s monuments in the city park: Grieg (Roar Bjorg 1917) and Harald Sæverud (2000; >1451).

Monument of violinist Ole Bull (Stephan Sinding 1901)

Grave of Ole Bull, †1880; >1431

The wooden villa and composing hut which Edvard Grieg occupied from 1885, situated in a marvelous setting, is the Grieg museum since 1928, full of documents, images and personal belongings.

A concert room Troldsalen, partly underground and with a view on the composing hut, was built in 1985; a platform for numerous recitals.

Grieg died in 1907. The urn with his ashes has been placed in the rocks beneath the house, overlooking the fjord; in 1935 the urn of his widow Nina Grieg-Hagerup was added.

Another composing hut, used by Grieg during the late 1870s, was at Lofthus near the Sørfjord. It was moved to the premises of this hotel at the old Rikksvejen 13.

House of the violin virtuoso Ole Bull (1810-80) from 1860 to 1873.

Ole Bull made a very successful career, especially in the USA, and married a rich American lady, which enabled him to obtain in 1872 the island Lysøen and to have built a luxurious, quasi-oriental villa, my little Alhambra, as he called it. Living in Cambridge, Mass., he stayed here every summer and died on 27.VIII.1880. Bull was also a composer of several violin works. Visitors will get astonished by the flamboyance of the house and furnishings.

More Bull souvenirs can be found all over the USA.

Less extravagant but with its 60 rooms much larger than Bull’s villa is the house of the composer Harald Sæverud (1897-1992) on an estate of 70 hectare, a dowry from his wife’s family in 1934. The house was designed by the composer, with the help of an architect, and a part of it functions today as Sæverud museum. He lived here from 1939 until his death and was interred in the garden.

As a composer he concentrated on symphonic music, including 9 symphonies and a new Peer Gynt music.