Torolf Voss (November 12, 1877 – November 23, 1943) was a Norwegian conductor and composer.

Family

Torolf Voss was the son of the schoolteacher Johan Voss (1834–1882) and Andrine Frogh Voss (1838–1909). His elder brother Olav Voss (1864–1912) was an actor. His brother Johan Ejnar Voss (1868–1948) was a court lawyer and the father of the actor

Tore Foss Tore Foss (21 February 1901 – 6 August 1968) was a Norwegian singer, actor and theatre director. He made his stage début at Chat Noir in 1927. He played at Balkongen from 1927 to 1928, and later worked for the National Theatre, Det Nye Teat ...

(1901–1968). Torolf Voss married the actress Signe Indahl (1890–1965) in 1921.

Life and work

Voss studied at the

Oslo Conservatory of Music Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...

and under the choral conductor and composer

Iver Holter Iver Paul Fredrik Holter (13 December 1850 – 27 January 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He was conductor and music director of the Oslo Philharmonic for a quarter century. Biography Iver Paul Fredrik Holter was born in Gausdal, Oppland, N ...

. He also studied at the conservatory in Berlin from 1897 to 1903. From 1900 to 1904 he was conductor of the Oslo Commercial Association Orchestra, which was established in 1841. After a year with an amusement park orchestra, from 1908 to 1929 he was the conductor at the Central Theater under theater director

Harald Otto Harald Otto (January 24, 1865 – May 13, 1928) was a Norwegian actor and theater director. Otto was born in Nes, Norway, the son of the stationmaster Hans Otto Hansen (1815–?) and Maren Paulsen (1832–?). He moved to the United States in 188 ...

. In the fall of 1928, Voss resigned to become the conductor at the new Kinodromen cinema started by the company Oslo Kinematografer. Voss was a music critic for the newspaper ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

'' from 1930 to 1935, as an alternate for

David Monrad Johansen David Monrad Johansen (8 November 1888 – 20 February 1974) was a Norway, Norwegian composer. He was born in Vefsn and grew up near Mosjøen, where he received his first piano lessons. He came to Oslo, Christiania (Oslo) in 1904 to study at ...

. The same year he became a knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

. From 1935 until his death in 1943, he headed the sheet-music publisher

Norsk Musikforlag Norsk Musikforlag Aktieselskap is 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 * Demographi ...

. Voss occasionally conducted for the Philharmonic Society Orchestra in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

and for the Stockholm Concert Society Orchestra. Voss also led the Norwegian Musical Artists' Society, established in 1912, and from 1917 via a group that broke off to become the Norwegian Composers' Association. Voss composed many pieces, including an arrangement of the workers' song " Vi bygger landet" (We Are Building the Country) in 1935.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voss, Torolf 1877 births 1943 deaths Norwegian conductors (music) Norwegian music journalists Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Composers from Oslo