Martin Andreas Udbye (June 18, 1820 – January 10, 1889) was a
Norwegian composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
and
organist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
.
Martin Udbye
Store norske leksikon
Biography
Martin Andreas Udbye was born 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 ...
, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
to Ole Jonsen Tollrorskar Udbye (1785-1856) and Birgitte Øien (1781-1866). Udbye was employed as a teacher at Domsognets primary school in Trondheim, where he worked from 1838 until 1844, when he became the organist at Church Hospital (''Hospitalskirken'') in Trondheim. In 1851, Udbye took a trip to Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, where he concentrated on organ and composition. The following year he was back in his hometown, where he was hired as a music teacher at Trondheim Cathedral School
Trondheim Cathedral School ( no, Trondheim katedralskole, Latin: ''Schola Cathedralis Nidrosiensis'') is an upper secondary school located next to the Nidaros Cathedral in the center of Trondheim, Norway.
History
There is great dispute regarding ...
.
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
, ''Fredkulla''. Part of Norway's first opera was promoted locally in Trondheim during 1858 and met with enthusiasm.
Udbye's first attempt to present ''Fredkulla'' to a Norwegian national audience was thwarted in 1877 when the Christiania Theatre, where it was scheduled to be performed, closed due to fire. The opera was forgotten until NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...
reconstructed material and produced a concert version on the radio to commemorate its centennial in 1958. The opera was performed as part of the celebration of the 1,000 year anniversary of the founding of Trondheim during 1997.
References
Other sources
*Kari Michelsen. The ''New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). and
External links
*
*
1820 births
1889 deaths
Norwegian classical composers
Norwegian classical organists
Male classical organists
Norwegian opera composers
Musicians from Trondheim
19th-century classical composers
Norwegian male classical composers
19th-century Norwegian composers
19th-century male musicians
19th-century organists
{{Norway-composer-stub