Geirr (Nils) Tveitt (October 19, 1908–February 1, 1981) was one of Norway's most distinguished composers in the 20th century. Like Prokofiev, Bartok and Rachmaninov, Tveitt also possessed a uniqe talent as a pianist, which won him considerable acclaim in Europe and elsewhere. Tveitt took an almost obsessive interest in distilling and devloping "Norwegianness" in music, and embraced and produced controversial theories to support his arguments and aesthetic. His unique approach made him many critics at home in Norway, but also resulted in some of the most grandiose, intruiging and fascinating art ever to emerge from a Scandinavian composer. Tveitt's music is difficult to pigeon-whole. Many of his works have elements of the barbarism found in Stravinsky's early ballets, the unique rhytms and textures of Bartok's music and the floating and mystic moods of Debussy and Ravel - always underpinned by idioms derived from Norwegian folk-music. Tveitt's almost obsessive chase for a pure Norwegian national school of music, made him sympathise with some of the purist philosophies that came out of Germany in the 1930s. Even though Tveitt repudiated any alleged affinites with Hitler's Germany, the musical and intellectual establishments of Norway have been uneasy to fully embrace Tveitt and his music. Thus the real potential of Tveitt's music to carry the name and culture of Norway internationally, remains unfulfilled. October 19 is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1908 (MCMVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... February 1 is the 32nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev (Серге́й Серге́евич Проко́фьев) (April 271, 1891 – March 5, 1953) was one of the Soviet Unions greatest composers. ... B la Bart k (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a composer, pianist and collector of East European folk music. ... Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, also Sergey Rachmaninov or Serge Rakhmaninov (Серге́й Васи́льевич Рахма́нинов), (April 1, 1873 – March 28, 1943) was a Russian composer, pianist... Pianist Claudio Arrau, Carnegie Hall, 1954. ...

Life

Early Years

Tveitt was born in Bergen, on the Norwegian west-coast, where his father briefly worked as a teacher. His family were of farmer stock, and still retained Tveit, their ancestral land in Kvam - a secluded village on the scenic Hardanger fjord. The Tveit family would relocate to Drammen (ca 20 miles south-west of Oslo) in the winter to work, but return to Hardanger in the summer to farm. Thus Tveitt enjoyed both a countryside existence and city life. Tveitt had originally been christened Nils, but following his increasing interest in Norwegian heritage, he though the name 'not Norwegian enough' and changed it to Geir. He later added an extra r to his first name and an extra t to Tveit to make sure non-Norwegians pronounced his name correctly. It was during his childhood summers in Hardanger that Tveitt gained knowledge of the rich folk-music traditions of the area. Historically, Hardanger's relative isolation allowed for the development of a unique musical culture, with which Tveitt became infatuated. Tveitt was no child prodigy, but discovered that he possessed musical talent, and learned to play both the violin and the piano. And, after having been encouraged by Norwegian composer Christian Sinding, Tveitt decided to try his hand at writing music too. County Hordaland District Midhordland Municipality NO-1201 Administrative centre Bergen Mayor (2006) Herman Friele (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 215 465 km² 445 km² 0. ... From Hardanger, a painting by Hans Gude, 1847 Hardanger is a traditional district in the western part of Norway, dominated by the Hardangerfjord. ... County Oslo NO-03 District Viken Municipality NO-0301 Administrative centre Oslo Mayor (2004) Per Ditlev-Simonsen (H) Official language form Neutral Area  - Total  - Land  - Percentage Ranked 224 454 km² 426 km² 0. ... Christian Sinding Christian August Sinding (January 11, 1856–December 3, 1941) was a Norwegian composer. ...

Leipzig

In 1928 Tveitt left Norway to be educated. Like so many other Norwegian composers and intellectuals, he headed for Germany - to Leipzig and its Conservatory, which had long been the hub of European musical learning and culture. It was an intense time for Tveitt. He studied composition with Hermann Grabner and Leopold Wenninger, and the piano with Otto Weinreich, making extraordinary progress in both fields. The joy of learning from some of the best German educators of the time were often overshadowed by his almost chronic lack of funds - Tveitt having to rely upon translation work and donations to support himself. The Norwegian composer David Monrad-Johansen became Tveitt's great benefactor, and played a key role in helping Tveitt through the student years. Perhaps it was the expatriation from Norway that enkindled in Tveitt a strong desire to completely embrace his Norwegian heritage. Tveitt's profound interest in the modal scales (which forms the basis of the folk-music of many countries) often tested Grabner's patience. However, the latter must have felt great pride when Tveitt had his 12 Two-part Inventions in Lydian, Dorian and Phrygian accepted for publishing by Breitkopf & Hartel in 1930. The following year the Leipzig Radio Orchestra premiered Tveitt's first Piano Concerto - an impressive and beautiful work strewn with idioms and melodies derived from the music of Hardanger. In music, a mode is an ordered series of musical intervals, which, along with the key or tonic define the pitches. ...

Amongst the Great in Europe

In 1932 Tveitt headed on to Paris. Tveitt became increasingly frustrated with the teaching in Leipzig, but found an oasis of spiritual freedom in the French capital - obtaining lessons from some of the greatest and most well-known composers of the time: Arthur Honegger and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He further managed to enroll in the classes of the legendary educatress Nadia Boulanger. Tveitt also made a visit to Vienna, where he was able to study for some time with Austrian composer Egon J. Wellesz - a pupil of Arnold Schonberg. Tveitt made one last educational stop-over in Paris in 1938 before heading home to Norway to work. Tveitt had become one of the highest educated Norwegian composers ever, and had already managed to make a name for himself. His writings and compositions made quite a stir amongst the establishment in Oslo. In the years leading up to the Second World War, Tveitt derived most of his income working as music critic to 'Sjofartstidende' (The Naval Times). Tveitt's highly opinionated reviews contributed to his securing strong opponents - one of these were the Norwegian composer Pauline Hall. Yet, Tveitt focused his energies on composing - works pouring from his pen like "water from a waterfall". When the second world war was over, Tveitt brought his scores with him to Europe, touring extensively - often performing own piano works with similar works by other composers, i.e. Grieg and Chopin. Many of the concerts were great personal and artistic successes for the Norwegian composer, and especially so the 1947 concert in Paris. Here Tveitt premiered his Piano Sonata nos 1 and 29, some of his adaptations of Hardanger Folk-Songs and also the Fourth Concerto for Piano and Orchestra - Aurora Borealis. The piano concerto was performed in a two-piano version, Tveitt assisted by the french pianist Genevieve Joy. The concerto threw the Parisian audience into a paroxysm of ecstacy. Tveitt's powerful, glittering, French-impressionism flavoured rendition of the dancing and mystical northern winter sky, earned him the acclaim of his former teacher, the illustrious Boulanger, in her following review. Arthur Honegger in 1921. ... Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887 - November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, possibly the best-known classical composer born in South America. ... Nadia Boulanger (September 16, 1887 – October 22, 1979) was an influential composer, conductor, and music professor. ... Egon Wellesz, Composer Egon Joseph Wellesz (October 21, 1885 – November 9, 1974) Austrian composer, teacher and musicologist, pupil of Arnold Schoenberg and student of Byzantine music. ... Arnold Schoenberg, Los Angeles, 1948 Arnold Schoenberg, (the anglicized form of Schönberg—Schoenberg changed the spelling officially when he became a U.S. citizen) (September 13, 1874 – July 13, 1951) was a composer, born in Vienna, Austria. ...

Any Composers' Ultimate Nightmare

In spite Tveitt's glorious successes internationally, the contemporary Norwegian establishment remained aloof. Following the atrocities conducted by Hitler's forces in Norway (and elsewhere) anything that resembled nationalism or purism was quickly disdained by the post-war intellectuals. Tveitt's aesthetic and music were fundamentally unfashionable. Tveitt struggeled financially and became increasingly isolated. He spent more and more time at the family farm in Kvam, keeping his music to himself - all manuscripts neatly filed in wooden chests. The catastrophy could therefore hardly have been any worse when his house burned to the ground in 1970. Tveitt despaired - the original manuscripts to almost 300 opuses (including six piano concertos and two concertos for Hardanger fiddle and orchestra) were reduced to singed bricks of paper - deformed and inseparable. The Norwegian Music Information Centre agreed to archive the sorry remains, but the grim truth was that 4/5 of Tveitt's production was gone. Tveitt could not stand up to the hardship and tragedies of his life; he found it impossible to compose and succumbed to alcoholism. Tveitt died in Norheimsund, Hardanger, redused, embittered and with little hope for the legacy of his work. A Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele (Norwegian) is a stringed instrument very similar to a violin, but different enough that a luthier accustomed to repairing violins who works on a hardangerfele is likely to ruin it. ...

Tveitt and Neo-Heathenism

One of the most delicate and controversial areas of Tveitt's biography is his affiliation with the so called neo-heathenistic movement, which centered around the charismatic Norwegian philosopher Hans S. Jacobsen in the 1930s in Oslo. Jacobsen's main thesis - inspired by the theories of the German theologist Hauer - was the total refutation of Christianity in favour of a new heathen system based upon Norse mythology and the Edda poetry. A confused movement sought to 'set the Norwegians free' from the Church, and bring them back to their natural system of belief - the adoration of Odin, Tor and Balder. Furthermore, Jacobsen became a member of Nasjonal Samling - The National Assembly - which led the interim, pro-Hitler government during the German occupation of Norway. Geirr Tveitt became infatuated with the theories of the movement, but is important to notice that Tveitt himself neither became a member of, nor associated himself with the National Assembly. His fascination with Jacobsen's theories however, materialised in conspicuous ways; he invented his own non-Christian timeline based upon the arrival of Leiv Erikson in Canda, and he became an advocate of antisemittism. Tveitt's aesthetic found its way into music; his perhaps most intencely neo-heathen composition is the ballet Baldur's Dreams. In it, Tveitt seeks to establish an extricable link between this world, its creation, cycle and dwellers, and the activites of the benevolent heathen norse gods and their evil opponents, the jotuns. Tveitt began work on the ballett whilst studying in Leipzig, where it was first performed on 24 February 1938. Baldur's Dreams became a remarcable success, and performance were later given in Berlin, Tubingen, Bergen and Oslo. Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... The Edda are collections of poetically narrated folk-tales relating to Norse Mythology or Norse heroes. ...

Another result of Tveitt's obsessive norse purism was his development of the theory that the modal scales originally were Norwegian, renaming them in honor of Norse gods. He also developed an intricate diatonic theory, which interconnected the modal scales through a system of double leading notes. These ideas were published in his 1937 argument Tonalitatstheorie des parallellen Leittonsystems. Even though most musicologists agree that Tveitt's theories are colored by his personal convictions - his thesis is intelligent, challenging and thought-provoking.

The issue of Tveitt's inglorious relationship with 'nazi-ideologies' is so delicate that most commentators have avoided it all-together. It is illustrative that Norwegian scholar Hallgjerd Aksnes, PhD., does not address this matter in her article on Tveitt in the New Grove Dictionary of Music. And perhaps rightly so - anything even loosely connected with Hitler's Germany still stir strong emotions. For Tveitt it proved devastating to his reputation, and contributed significantly to his becoming a persona-non-grata in the post-war musical establishment in Norway. However as the most traumatic years in European history is now becoming more distant, a new generation of scholars and musicians are approaching Tveitt and his music with well-founded revisionism, realising he too could not escape the times in which he lived.

Music

Introduction

Very few of Tveitt's works had been published or properly archived at institutions - aggravating the effects of the 1970 fire. Tveitt himself made visits to universities across Norway, and wrote to friends, asking for spare copies and parts - but little was found. However, over the years, copies of quite a few scores have turned up, and other have been reconstructed from orchestral parts, or from radio and magnetic tape recordings. The fate of Baldur's Dreams is illustrative. Tveitt made numerous versions of the ballett - in Paris he presented a reworked score Dances from Baldur's Dreams. Tveitt then sent it to the choreographer Serge Lifar in London, where the score allegedly was lost in the Blitz. However, after the singed manuscripts held at the NMIC were examined in 1999, it became apparent that Tveitt indeed had a copy of the 1938 original score - and through tedious restoration work by Norwegian composer Kaare Dyvik Husby and Russian composer Alexej Rybnikov, the ballett literally rose from the ashes. It is now available on BIS-CD-1337/1338, where Ole Kristian Ruud conducts the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra.

The Great Treasure of Hardanger

Tveitt's perhaps greatest musical project was the collection and adaptation of traditional folk melodies from the Hardanger district. Many composers and musicologists (including Norway's honorable Edvard Grieg) had successfully researched and collected the music of Hardanger long before Tveitt. However, from 1940 onwards, when Tveitt settled permanently in Hardanger, he became one of the locals, and spent much time working and playing with folk-musicians. He thus happened upon a treasure of unknown tunes, claiming to have discovered almost one thousand melodies, and incorporated one hundred of these into his worklist; Fifty folktunes from Hardanger for piano op. 150, and Hundred Hardanger Tunes for Orchestra op. 151. In these two opuses - their universe, music and history - we find perhaps the very best of Tveitt's qualities as a composer. The tunes reflect both profound (infact) Christian values and a parallell universe dominated by the mysticism of nature itself and not only the worldly, but also netherworldly creatures that inhabit it - according to traditional folk-lore. The major part of the tunes are directly concerned with Hardanger life, which Tveitt were a part of. In his adaptations, therefore, he sought to bring forth not only the melody itself, but also the atmosphere, mood and scenery in which it belonged. Tveitt utilised his profound knowledge of traditional and avant-garde use of harmony and instruments when he scored the tunes - the result is astounding, impressive, beautiful and compelling. Copies of the piano versions and orchestral suites nos 1, 2, 4 and 5 were elsewhere during that tragic fire in 1970, so these works luckily survive. Norwegian musicologists hope that suite nos 3 and 6 might be restored from the burned-out remnants held at the archives in Oslo.

Worklist

Most of his remaining music is published by Norwegian Music Information Centre.

• Prillar in G lydian (1931)
• Suites No. 1, 2, 4, 5 of A Hundred Hardanger Tunes, Op. 151 (many of these are arrangements from the 50 Hardanger Tunes for piano, Op. 150)
• Piano Concerto Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5 (Nos. 2 & 6 have been burnt in the fire)
• Piano Sonata No. 29, Op.129, "Sonata Etere"
• Variations on a Hardanger Folksong, for two pianos and orchestra
• Nykken, symphonic poem
• Jeppe, opera
• Violin Concerto No. 1 (for hardanger fiddle)
• Violin Concerto No. 2 (for hardanger fiddle), Three Fiords
• Baldur, ballet drama (later abridged version for orchestra alone retitled the Sun God Symphony.)
• Halldor Meland
• Telemarkin

Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... Nykken is a symphonic poem composed by Geirr Tveitt for orchestra and hardanger fiddel. ... A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, in one movement, in which some extra-musical programme provides a narrative or illustrative element. ... The Teatro alla Scala in Milan. ... A Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele (Norwegian) is a stringed instrument very similar to a violin, but different enough that a luthier accustomed to repairing violins who works on a hardangerfele is likely to ruin it. ... A Hardanger fiddle or hardingfele (Norwegian) is a stringed instrument very similar to a violin, but different enough that a luthier accustomed to repairing violins who works on a hardangerfele is likely to ruin it. ... Ballet as musical form is a musical composition intended for ballet performance. ...

Recordings and Research

Two record companies, Naxos and BIS, have recorded his music extensively. Naxos Records is a record label specializing in budget-priced classical music CDs. ...

Sources

Andreassen, Thorleif, 'Geirr Tveitt: Quisling ikke rasetenkende nok.' (http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/verdenskrig/article674978.ece, 02 January 2006).

Bleken, Halfdan, 'Den irrelevante fortiden og den gudommelige musikken' (http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/kommentar/2804273.html, 02 January 2006)

Emberland, Terje, 'Religion og rase. Nyhedenskap og nazisme i Norge 1933-1945' (Oslo: Humanist Forlag, 2003).

Storaas, Reidar, Geirr Tveitt: Songjen i Fossaduren (Oslo, 1990).

Storaas, Reidar, 'Geirr Tveitt and Baldur,' sleeve notes for compact disc BIS CD-1337/1338 DIGITAL, 2003, 3 - 6.

External links

• Homepage
• Short biography