Research Guides: International Music Resources by Country: Norway

Map of Norway

Citation (2)

Norwegian Music

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music-Norway

Norway
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Books

A History of Norwegian Music by Nils Grinde; William H. Halverson (Translator); Leland B. Sateren (Translator) Since its original publication in Oslo in 1971 and through two revisions, Nil Grinde's history of the music of Norway from antiquity to the present has become the standard on its subject. This translation, the first in English, has been updated by Grinde to include the most recent Norwegian musicians and compositions. A History of Norwegian Music is compact, comprehensive, and chronological in its approach except for a major excursion into Norway's folk music. Included in that section are descriptions of indigenous Sami (Lapp) music and of the instruments--among them the Hardanger fiddle and the langeleik --used in the Norwegian folk-music tradition. Grinde bases his survey of Norwegian music on archeaological and literary evidence: surviving instruments; wood carvings depicting musicians; ancient poems and sagas; and rolls and account books of troupes, theaters, and associations. His focus is always on the part music has played in Norwegian culture, from the calls to war on the ancient lurs through church music to the development of music societies, choral festivals, and public concerts. Although a recurring theme is the influence of indigenous folk music on Norwegian composers, flag-waving nationalism does not intrude; Grinde takes full account of the contributions of other countries, especially Germany, to Norway's music. This work will please music lovers everywhere.
Call Number: ML312 .G7513 1991
Grieg by Daniel M. Grimley While Grieg's music continues to enjoy a prominent place in the concert hall and recording catalogues, it has yet to attract sustained analytical attention in Anglo-American scholarship. Daniel Grimley examines the role which music and landscape played in the formation of Norwegian cultural identity in the nineteenth century, and the function that landscape has performed in Grieg's work. It presents new perspectives on the relationships between music, landscape and identity. This tension between competing musical discourses - the folklorist, the nationalist and the modernist - offers one of the most vivid narratives in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century music, and suggests that Grieg is a more complex and challenging historical figure than his critical reception has often appeared to suggest. It is through the contested category of landscape, this book argues, that these tensions can be contextualised and ultimately resolved.
Call Number: ML410.G9 G75 2006
Ole Bull by Einar Ingvald Haugen; Camilla Cai A child prodigy, Bull was admitted to the Bergen orchestra as first violin at the age of eight.  He soon was idolized on both sides of the Atlantic for his superb improvisations and his ability to play the violin polyphonically.  Though he was hailed as "the Paganini of the North,"  some critics labeled him a charlatan for his apparently magic tricks on the violin.     Bull counted among his friends the great names of his era:  Schumann and Lizst, Emerson and Wagner.  Longfellow and Hans Christian Andersen modeled characters on him, and he was in part the inspiration for Ibsen's Peer Gynt.     Although he spent most of his adult life abroad, Bull was a tireless promoter of Norwegian art and culture.  His concert improvisations were rooted in his native slåtter (folkdance tunes), and he modified his own instrument using the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle as a model.  By mid-century, Bull realized his dream of establishing a national theater in Bergen.  He gave Henrik Ibsen a start in theater management, employed the poet Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and promoted the music of Edvard Grieg.  His attempt to establish a Norwegian colony, "Oleana,"  in the United States, however, failed through poor management.     The words of the poet Aasmund Vinje, "That surely would be a man to write a book about," have been taken to heart by authors Einar Haugen and Camilla Cai.  In addition to providing the first comprehensive listing of Bull's works (with full descriptions of all known sources), analyses of his compositions and their influences, and reviews of his performances, this biography gives life once again to a fascinating and flamboyant figure.
Call Number: ML418.B9 H38 1992
Fiddling for Norway by Chris Goertzen Fiddling for Norway is an engrossing portrait of a fiddle-based folk revival in Norway, one that in many ways parallels contemporary folk institutions and festivals throughout the world, including American fiddling. It is a detailed case study in the politics of culture, the causes and purposes of folk revivals, and the cultivation of music to define identity. The book begins with an investigation of the people and events important to Norwegian folk fiddling, tracing the history of Norwegian folk music and the growth and diversification of the folk music revival. The narrative takes us to fiddle clubs, concerts and competitions on the local, regional, and national levels, and shows how conflicting emphases--local vs. national identity, tradition vs. aesthetic qualities--continue to transform Norwegian folk music. Goertzen utilizes a large anthology of meticulously transcribed tunes to illustrate personal and regional repertoires, aspects of performance practice, melodic gesture and form, and tune relationships. Ethnomusicologists and readers who fiddle will enjoy both the music and the stories it tells.
Call Number: ML3704 .G64 1997

Facts in Brief

Capital: Oslo

Official Languages: Danish-based Bokmål and Nynorsk

Population: 5,391,369

Area: 323,809

Climate: Norway’s climate is temperate on the west coast, but colder inland. The monthly average temperature ranges from −7.5°C (18°F) in February to 12.6°C (55°F) in July.

Citation (4)

Traditional Norwegian Music

Traditional Music

Through the centuries economic and political circumstance have fostered close connections and interdependence between Norwegians the peoples of neighbouring Scandinavia and other European countries adjoining the North Sea. It is no surprise therefore that Norwegians culture in general, and folk music traditions in particular, give evidence of comprehensive cultural connections and integration with other nations of the area. Nevertheless, in some respects Norwegians folk music displays striking uniqueness in rhythm, tonality and structure, the result of diverse local processes of fusion of new musical ideas, instruments and techniques with older, indigenous musical idioms.

Vocal Music

Compared with other parts of Europe, Norway does not seem to be particularly rich in early genres. Well-documented types are songs related to animal husbandry, lullabies, religious folktunes, medieval ballads and tunes to metrically standardized poetry known as stev. The impressive cattle-calls known as lokk are seldom heard in their original context; however, a number have been recorded. In its complex form the lokk is a composite of shouting, singing and talking, in an order which may have been established by function.

The medieval ballad exists only as a survival. Pan-Scandinavian in character, it is singular in the class of truly epic folksongs. Most traditional ballad tunes were collected in the county of Telemark before 1875 and form an interesting contribution to rural musical heritage. Ballad texts have been a matter of importance to folklorists who conventionally distinguish chivalric and mythical poetry about giants and trolls. The musical material, however, has not so far been thoroughly studied by musicologists.

Instrumental Music

The violin became the main folk instrument in Norway during the 18th century. Historical and material sources, however, indicate that violin-like, and possibly earlier types of bowed instruments, were known in Norway before 1600. Fiddle music, however, developed in two different directions, based on two types of instrument: the normal violin, used throughout most of the country, and the hardingfele ( Hardanger fiddle ), played principally in western Norway from Hardanger to Sunnfjord and in the central Norwegian valleys...fiddle traditions seem to have shared fundamental instrumental techniques and stylistic features associated with dances whose development pre-dates the introduction of the modern violin by at least two or three centuries. Both fiddle traditions apply the scordatura principle and groups of slåttar within repertories are classified in terms of patterns of tuning. Sources indicate that the re-tuning of instruments was common during weddings, with each tuning having particular ceremonial significance through functional association with the sequence of ceremonial activities. The two traditions also share modal and harmonic characteristics, while their rhythms abound in small but significant ‘irregularities’ typical of Norwegian folk music in general.

Citation (3)

Composer Highlight: Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

1843-1907

Norwegian composer, pianist and conductor. He was the foremost Scandinavian composer of his generation and the principal promoter of Norwegian music. His genius was for lyric pieces – songs and piano miniatures – in which he drew on both folktunes and the Romantic tradition, but his Piano Concerto found a place in the central repertory, and his String Quartet foreshadows Debussy.

Grieg's music spread rapidly through Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. His concert tours and the efficient follow-up marketing of his publisher, Peters, no doubt played a part in this, but no less important was his strong appeal to public taste. Around 1900 Grieg was one of the most popular composers in western homes and concert halls, and though there was some falling off after 1920, his music was well back in favour by the time of his sesquicentenary, in 1993, which brought a peak in scholarship and general enthusiasm.

Citation: Horton, J., & Grinde, N. Grieg, Edvard. Grove Music Online. Retrieved 17 Feb. 2022, from https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011757.

International Music Resources by Country: Norway