Finn Benestad (30 October 1929,

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a seaside resort city and municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 112,000 as of January 2020, following the incorporati ...

– 30 April 2012,

) was a Norwegian

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

and music critic. He was a professor at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

from 1965 to 1998, and is probably best known for his long-term research on composer

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the foremost Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of ...

Life and career

Benestad was born in

as the son of Harald Martin Benestad and Ellen Kittelsen. He married Inge Bergliot Rosendal in 1951. He graduated in musicology from the University of Oslo in 1953. He worked as a school teacher in Oslo from 1950 to 1959, and was assigned a position at the University from 1960 to 1961. In 1961 he was appointed professor at the Teachers' College (later merged into the Norwegian University of Science and Technology) in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

, and from 1965 to 1998 he was a professor at the University of Oslo. Among his books is a study of composer Johannes Haarklou from 1961, ''Waldemar Thrane'' from 1961, and ''Musikklære'' ( en, Music theory) from 1963. He published the songbooks ''Skolens visebok'' ( en, Songbook for schools) in 1972 (co-edited with Klakegg and Lunde), and ''Syng med'' ( en, Sing along) in 1988. He co-wrote the biography '' Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren'' together with

Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe (10 December 1926 – 1 February 2013) was a Norwegian musicologist, composer, music critic and biographer. He was a lecturer at the University of Oslo for thirty years, from 1973 with the title of professor. His research mainl ...

in 1980, a work that has been translated to several languages, including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

. (English title ''Edvard Grieg. The Man and the Artist''). From 1980 to 2004 he chaired the committee responsible for publishing the twenty volumes of Grieg's Collected Works. He has edited books on Grieg's correspondence, and on Grieg's

diaries Diaries may refer to: * the plural of diary *''Diaries: 1971-1976'', a 1981 documentary by Ed Pincus *'' Diaries 1969–1979: The Python Years'', a 2006 book by Michael Palin *''OFW Diaries ''OFW Diaries'' is a Philippine television documentary ...

. In 1990 he published a biographical book on composer

Johan Svendsen Johan Severin Svendsen (30 September 184014 June 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a violin ...

, ''Johan Svendsen – mennesket og kunstneren'' ( en, Johan Svendsen. The Man and the Artist), in cooperation with Schjelderup-Ebbe. He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters ( no, Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick Unive ...

from 1979, the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

from 1991 and

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

from 1992. He held

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

s as St. Olaf College from 1993 and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität from 1996. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benestad, Finn 1929 births 2012 deaths People from Kristiansand Norwegian music critics Norwegian musicologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Members of Academia Europaea