Harald Sæverud
Encyclopedia
Harald Sigurd Johan Sæverud (17 April 1897–27 March 1992) was a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He is most known for his music to Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...

, Rondo Amoroso
Rondo Amoroso
Rondo amoroso, Op. 14, No. 7, is a piano piece written by the Norwegian composer Harald Sæverud....

, and the Ballad of Revolt . Sæverud wrote nine symphonies
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, and a large number of pieces for solo piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

. He was a frequent guest conductor of his own works with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...

.

Background and early career

Harald Sæverud was born in Bergen and got his basic music education at the local conservatory where his teacher was the Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

-educated composer Borghild Holmsen
Borghild Holmsen
Borghild Holmsen was a Norwegian pianist, music critic and composer. She studied piano with Agathe Backer-Grøndahl and Otto Winter Hjelm, and continued her studies with Carl Reinecke and Salomon Jadassohn in Leipzig and Albert Becker in Berlin...

. During his conservatory years he began working on what would become his first symphony, outlined as two large symphonic fantasies. The first fantasy was completed in 1919 and was accepted for performance in Kristiania (later Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

) in 1920. It revealed an extraordinary talent and gained him a scholarship for further studies at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik
Staatliche Hochschule für Musik
Hochschule für Musik, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik or Musikhochschule may refer to the following institutions:Berlin*Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler"...

, where Friedrich Koch
Friedrich Koch
Friedrich Ernst Koch was a German composer, cellist and teacher. He was born in Berlin and studied cello with Robert Hausmann and composition with Woldemar Bargiel at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik...

 was his teacher for two years. In Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Sæverud completed the final part of his first symphony, and this new section was premiered by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...

. The performance was conducted by his friend Ludwig Mowinckel, who had hired the orchestra to present a concert dedicated to modern Norwegian music. The critics were mostly favorable to Sæverud's symphony, and this further raised his interest for symphonic and orchestral music.

Harald Sæverud moved back to his hometown of Bergen in 1922, where he stayed - with few exceptions - for the rest of his life. His earliest compositions are coloured by a late Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....

 musical style, but later he developed a personal idiom, often based on classical forms inspired by composers like Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

. But his neo-classicism could often possess dissonant and strong expression. How he has utilized this, is commented on by musicologist Lorentz Reitan
Lorentz Reitan
Lorentz Reitan is a Norwegian musicologist.He was born in Haugesund. He was an associate professor at Bergen Teacher's College from 1976 to 1989, then director of the Bergen International Festival from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was their press director, and in 1998 he became the director...

: "His symphonies, for example, are studies in musical form: Thematic/motive development in accordance with the material's own rules and logic. Classic forms such as sonatas and fugue are for him, to a larger extent, overriding principles rather than forms to be filled out, and his circling around musical constructions often gives his music an abstract
Abstract music
Abstract music may mean:*Abstract electronic music, a style of electronic music commonly practiced in techno, glitch and ambient that involves significant sampling and sound processing....

 quality". (Cappelens Musikkleksikon).

Bergen

In the 1930s Harald Sæverud and his American-born wife Marie Hvoslef built a magnificent mansion on the outskirts of Bergen. It was named "Siljustøl," and the family moved there in 1939. The composer came now into close contact with nature, which had a very strong impact on him and his compositions. His compositions turned towards a more Norwegian and "greener" style. In 1940 Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 invaded Norway. From this point, Sæverud's compositions became weapons against the occupying army. His main compositions from the period are the three "War-symphonies": nr. 5, Quasi una fantasia, nr. 6 Sinfonia Dolorosa and nr. 7. Psalm. Also from this period comes his direct protest against the Nazis: Ballad of Revolt in versions for both piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

.

In contrast to these strong compositions he also shaped a number of lyric piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 pieces inspired by nature and Norwegian folk music (he never borrowed directly from folk music) published in collections called Tunes and dances from Siljustøl and Easy pieces for piano.

Post-war

After the war, Sæverud was considered to be the dean of Norwegian composers and he gained wide popularity for a number of his compositions. Particularly noteworthy from his later years, are his incidental music for Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1948), his symphonies nr. 8 Minnesota (1958) and nr. 9 (1966), the ballet Count Bluebeard's Nightmare, and concertos for piano, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 and bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

. During the two last decades of his long life the orchestra-composer suddenly got an interest in chamber music, and produced, among others, three string quartets and two woodwind quintets.

Harald Sæverud was widely famous for his humour, mainly of a grotesque kind. "I was born on a graveyard," he said, and it is a fact that the ground under the house where he was born was both a former graveyard and a place of execution. He was convinced that his mother's nightmares there had influenced both him as a person and composer: "My music is terribly melancholy - wildly melancholy."

Besides his humour, his uniqueness as a composer is obvious and can be read in a quotation by the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 conductor Sir John Barbirolli: "Whether you like Sæverud's music or not, there is never any doubt about who has written it, and this can be said about very few composers today".

Honours

Sæverud's central place in Norwegian and European music has resulted in a number of honorary awards: He received the State Guaranteed Income for Artists from 1955 until his death. He became an honorary member of the music society Harmonien (the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world's oldest orchestral institutions. It performs some 110 concerts a year, and is based at the 1,500-seat Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.-History:...

) in 1957, and was awarded their Gold Medal. Also in 1957, he became a Knight in the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, and 20 years later became a Commander in the same order. In 1979, he received the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award. He has also received awards from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

 and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

Death

Harald Sæverud died on 27 March 1992. The funeral ceremony which took place in the Grieg Hall
Grieg Hall
The Grieg Hall is a 1,500 seat concert hall in Bergen, Norway. It has been the home of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra since the hall's completion in 1978. It hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986, and is the host of the annual Norwegian Brass Band Championship competition, which occurs in...

in Bergen, was broadcast by the national Norwegian television.
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