Composer Johan Halvorsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. He became professor of music in Helsinki and continued his studies in St. Petersburg, Leipzig, Berlin and Liège.He received his musical education in Kristiania (now Oslo) and Stockholm and became concertmaster in Bergen before he joined the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
In 1893 he returned to Norway and worked as conductor of the theater orchestra at The National Scene in Bergen and of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1899 he was appointed conductor of the orchestra at the newly opened National Theater in Kristiania, a position he held until his retirement in 1929.
Halvorsen conducted performances of over 30 operas and wrote the incidental music for more than 30 plays. Following his retirement from the theater, he had time to concentrate on composition, completing three symphonies and two well-known Norwegian rhapsodies.
Here is a performance of one of Halvorsen’s best-known compositions:
