1864–1935 · Norway
Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935) was a Norwegian violinist, conductor and composer. For thirty years he led the orchestra of the National Theatre in Kristiania, now Oslo, and wrote theatre music, orchestral works and pieces for violin. His arrangement of Handel for violin and viola is played all over the world.
Johan August Halvorsen was born in Drammen on 15 March 1864. His father, Bernt Halvor Halvorsen, was a police officer in the town and died when the boy was only four years old. His mother was Johanne, known as Hanna, Hansdatter (1821–1880).
Johan took up the violin at the age of seven. In his home town he spent nine years playing the violin and wind instruments, including in the town's military band.
At fifteen he travelled to Kristiania to take violin lessons from Gudbrand Bøhn (1839–1906). At the same time he found work playing at the Folketeatret. When his mother died in 1880, the Italian-born conductor Paolo Sperati enrolled the young man in the armed forces' staff band. The same year, 1880, saw Halvorsen's first composition, the Hallingdal Bataljons Marsch.
In 1884 Halvorsen went to Stockholm and studied at the Royal Academy of Music there. In the autumn of 1885 he became concertmaster for a few months of the orchestra of the Harmonien music society in Bergen, which later grew into the Bergen Philharmonic.
From 1886 to 1888 he studied in Leipzig with the Russian violin virtuoso Adolph Brodsky (1851–1929) and played in the Gewandhaus orchestra. In Leipzig he met the composer Christian Sinding (1856–1941), who had lived there for many years.
From 1888 Halvorsen worked as a violinist in Aberdeen, and in 1889–1892 he taught at the music institute in Helsinki. There the young Busoni made an impression on him, and he also wrote a few compositions in Helsinki.
He also studied with other teachers: in Saint Petersburg from Leopold Auer (1845–1930), in Liège from the Belgian César Thomson (1857–1931), and in Berlin from the German composer Albert Becker (1834–1899).
In 1893 Halvorsen came back to Norway and went to Bergen. There he took charge of the orchestra of the Den Nationale Scene theatre and of the Bergen Philharmonic, the Harmonien orchestra.
In 1899 a new National Theatre opened in Kristiania, and Halvorsen became its first Kapellmeister. He held the post for 30 years, until he retired in 1929.
The work did not always go smoothly: because of disputes over pay and other difficulties, the orchestra was partly out of action during the First World War. In 1919–20 Halvorsen was one of three conductors of the newly founded orchestra of the Philharmonic Society. He thought the pay there was too low as well, so he returned to the National Theatre.
More than thirty operas passed through his hands as a conductor. He wrote for the stage too, supplying music for over 30 plays.
In 1894 Halvorsen married Anna, called Annie, Grieg (1873–1957), a niece of Edvard Grieg. Their son Stein Grieg Halvorsen (1909–2013) became a well-known stage actor.
Halvorsen wrote a great deal for the theatre, and in many forms. His stage works include music for Holger Drachmann's play Gurre (Op. 17), for Jacob Breda Bull's historical play Tordenskjold (Op. 18), for Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's Kongen (The King, Op. 19), for Sigurd Eldegard's Fossegrimen (Op. 21) and for Knut Hamsun's Dronning Tamara. He also has a three-act work, Mod Nordpolen (1911), to a libretto by Vilhelm Dybwad.
The works for violin and orchestra stand somewhat apart. In 1898 Halvorsen wrote Veslemøy's Song and dedicated it to Kathleen Parlow. He dedicated his Violin Concerto in G minor, performed in 1909, to the same violinist; it was then thought lost until early 2016.
He wrote ceremonial music as well. For the coronation in Trondheim Cathedral on 22 June 1906 he composed a cantata to words by Sigvald Skavlan, for soloists, chorus, orchestra, harp and organ. The year 1910 brought Norway's Greeting to Theodore Roosevelt and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson in Memoriam. The year 1899 brought the Norwegian Festival Overture, Op. 16, and in 1911 came the Suite ancienne in memory of Ludvig Holberg.
In 1901, at Grieg's suggestion, Halvorsen wrote down a number of tunes played by the folk musician Knut Dale from Telemark. Grieg later reworked these pieces for piano in his well-known Opus 72.
Halvorsen did a great deal of work arranging Norwegian folk music; it includes the cycle Norwegian Folk Songs and Dances (Norske viser og danse) and other works. Another well-known piece is the short Bojarenes inntogsmarsj, the Entry March of the Boyars. He wrote it after learning about the history of Romania, prompted by an invitation to teach in Bucharest.
Halvorsen liked to name Edvard Grieg and Johan Svendsen as his greatest models, and in his instrumentation the influence of Svendsen is plain. His music carried on the national romantic tradition of Grieg but in a style of its own, with orchestration that broke new ground.
Halvorsen made arrangements, too. He orchestrated Grieg's funeral march, and according to the composer's wishes this version was played at his funeral. His arrangement of Handel's famous Passacaglia for violin and viola is also widely used.
Halvorsen wrote three symphonies and two Norwegian Rhapsodies for orchestra. The most significant of the symphonies is the Second, Fatum, in D minor (1924, second version 1928).
In 1924 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. In 1927 he received honours: he was made a commander of the Order of the Dannebrog and a commander of the Order of St. Olav.
Johan Halvorsen died in Oslo on 4 December 1935. He was buried at Vår Frelsers gravlund.
Halvorsen is best known as a composer for the theatre. His music developed the national romantic line of Grieg, yet it had a character of its own and bold orchestration.
The orchestral side of Halvorsen's output holds three symphonies (the Second, Fatum, is the weightiest), two Norwegian Rhapsodies and stage music for some thirty productions. Among them are Shakespeare productions: Macbeth (1920), the comedy Much Ado About Nothing (1915) and As You Like It (1912). Reisen til Julestjernen was composed for a play by Sverre Brandt, and in 1924 a ballet suite grew out of that score.
Today his best-known works are the Entry March of the Boyars, Bergensiana (rococo variations on an old Bergen melody) and Reisen til Julestjernen.
He also wrote vocal and choral music: songs with piano, pieces for male choir a cappella, the cantata Varde to words by Per Sivle for male choir and orchestra, and Alrune for soprano, female choir and chamber orchestra. From the music for the play Peik, prinsessen og stortrollet he assembled the orchestral suite Norske eventyrbylleder (Norwegian Fairy-tale Pictures), Op. 37.
Halvorsen wrote a great deal for the violin. There are the Norwegian Folk Songs and Dances, 30 arrangements for violin and piano; the Little Dance Suite, Op. 22, marked as easy to play; the Miniatures, Op. 29, five easy pieces for two violins and piano; Veslemøy's Song; and the Norwegian air, Op. 7, for violin and orchestra, as well as the Wedding March (Bryllupsmarsch), Op. 32 No. 1, and the Danses norvégiennes for violin and orchestra. For solo violin there is Slåtter (Peasant Dances, 1903), and among the pieces for solo Hardanger fiddle are the 17 Norwegian slåtter, original transcriptions made from Knut Dale in 1901. There is also a violin concerto in G minor. The Passacaglia and the Sarabande with variations on themes by Handel, for violin and viola (or cello), stand apart.