Olav Gurvin (24 December 1893

Tysnes Tysnes () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Uggdal. Other population centres in Tysnes include the villages of Våge and Onarhei ...

– 31 October 1974) 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 ...

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 ...

, 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 1957. He co-edited the first Norwegian music encyclopedia in 1949, and edited the magazine ''Norsk Musikkliv'' from 1942 to 1951.

Personal life

Gurvin was born in

as the son of teacher Elling Olson Gurvin and Kristina Olsdatter Flugem. He married Dagny Siqveland in 1947.

Career

Gurvin studied musicology at the Universities of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, and graduated from the

in 1928. Between 1930 and 1947 he was a conductor for various choirs in Oslo. He delivered his doctoral thesis in 1938, titled '. He lectured at the University of Oslo from 1937. He published the complete works of

Rikard Nordraak Rikard Nordraak (12 June 1842 – 20 March 1866) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known as the composer of the Norwegian national anthem, "Ja, vi elsker dette landet". Biography Rikard Nordraak was born and grew up in Oslo, Norway. His family ...

works in 1942, in cooperation with

Øyvind Anker Øyvind Anker (13 July 1904 – 30 December 1989) was a Norwegian librarian. Personal life He was born in Frankfurt am Main as a son of engineer Nils Botvid Anker (1878–1943) and artist and pianist Gudrun Nilssen (1875–1958). He grew up in V ...

. During the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

he was a member of the resistance movement, and from 1943 he represented musicians in the Coordination Committee's subgroup for culture. He edited the magazine ''Norsk Musikkliv '' from 1942 to 1951, and was a music critic for the newspaper ''Verdens Gang'' from 1945 to 1958. Together with Øyvind Anker he also co-edited the first Norwegian music encyclopedia, titled ''Musikkleksikon'' and published in 1949. His ethnomusicological studies in the 1950s resulted in the development of an electroacoustical apparatus for melody analysis. He was appointed professor in musicology from 1957. He edited the first five volumes of a series of string

air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

s for

Hardingfele A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than f ...

, from 1958 to 1967. In 1962 he published a biography on

Fartein Valen Olav Fartein Valen (25 August 1887 – 14 December 1952) was a Norwegian composer, notable for his work in atonal polyphonic music. He developed a polyphony similar to Bach's counterpoint, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather ...

. He was decorated as a Knight, First Class of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

in 1968.

Selected works

* (thesis). * (Norway's first music encyclopedia. Co-editor with

.) * (Book series on string

s for

. Editor of five volumes from 1958 to 1967). * (Biography of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurvin, Olav 1893 births 1974 deaths People from Tysnes Norwegian musicologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Norwegian encyclopedists Norwegian magazine editors Norwegian biographers Norwegian male writers Male biographers Norwegian music critics Norwegian conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Norwegian choral conductors Norwegian resistance members 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century musicologists 20th-century Norwegian male musicians