Christian Blom (20 October 1782 – 22 April 1861) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

ship owner and composer. Blom was born at

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

, Norway. He was the son of Jan Blom (1748–1832) and Anne Cathrine Heegaard (1757–1837). His father was a magistrate and a cousin, Gustav Peter Blom (1785-1869), was County Governor of ''Buskerud Amt'' (now

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

). He attended the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

. He later moved to

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

to work in shipping. Christian Blom is most associated with his music. Blom's compositions included almost 40 songs, 4 chamber works, an orchestral overture and a few small choral movements. His best-known work was the melody to Norway's former national anthem, ''

Sønner av Norge "Sønner av Norge" (originally "Sønner af Norge", ) is the common title of the song "Norsk Nationalsang" (), which was the ''de facto'' national anthem of Norway from 1820 until the early 20th century. From the mid-1860s, "Ja, vi elsker dette lan ...

'', with lyrics by

Henrik Anker Bjerregaard Henrik Anker Bjerregaard (1 January 1792 – 7 April 1842) was a Norwegian poet, dramatist and judge. Born in Ringsaker to Mads Bjerregard and Alet Ørtlien, he grew up in Vågå from the age of eight. He studied at the University of Copenhagen, ...

Personal life

Blom was married twice. In 1812 with Susanne Catharine Blom (1788-1834), daughter of merchant Peter Blom (1743-1825) and Marie Staud (1758-1833). In 1839 with Johanne Marie Mathilde Strauch Bohse (1799-1861).

References

1782 births 1861 deaths People from Tønsberg Norwegian businesspeople in shipping Norwegian classical composers {{Norway-business-bio-stub