
Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl (15 October 188521 June 1959) was a Norwegian pianist, composer and music teacher.
Biography
Backer-Grøndahl was born in Christiania (later
Oslo
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 ...
) in 1885, the son of the conductor and singing teacher
Olaus Andreas Grøndahl
Olaus Andreas Grøndahl (4 November 1847 — 31 December 1923) was a Norwegian conductor, singing teacher and composer. The music journalist Cecilie Dahm described him as "... a central figure in Norway's choral movement". His best known work wa ...
and the pianist and composer
Agathe Backer Grøndahl. His first studies were with his mother, under whom he made his concert debut at the age of 18. He then went to the
Berlin High School for Music where his teacher was
Ernst Rudorff. He also had private lessons with
Ernst von Dohnányi
Ernst von Dohnányi (Hungarian: ''Dohnányi Ernő'', ; 27 July 1877 – 9 February 1960) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and conductor. He used a German form of his name on most published compositions.
Biography
Dohnányi was born in Pozsony ...
and
Xaver Scharwenka.
He made a special study of the
Piano Concerto in A minor by his countryman (and his mother's friend)
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 ...
.
He toured in Germany and neighbouring countries from 1905. In 1906 (
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
) and 1907 (
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland pe ...
) he played Grieg's Concerto under the baton of the composer. He also played the concerto under
Johan Svendsen.
[''Backer-Grøndahl, Fridtjof'', Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954, Vol. I, p. 341]
From 1920 to 1930 Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl lived in Britain, where he taught at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = � ...
and also concertized, including works by his mother, Grieg, and other Norwegian music in his repertoire,
[ along with those of ]Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
, Chopin, Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
and Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
.
He wrote some piano pieces and song cycles. He made a small number of recordings of Grieg's ''Lyric Pieces
''Lyric Pieces'' ( no, Lyriske stykker) is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 ( Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, ...
'', available on YouTube.
Also he made recordings of his mother Agathe Backer Grøndahl's piano pieces (2 X 10inch 4ss).
Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl died in Oslo in 1959, aged 73.
References
External links
Fridtjof Backer-Grøndahl
Norsk biografisk leksikon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Backer-Grondahl, Fridtjof
1885 births
1959 deaths
Norwegian classical composers
Norwegian classical pianists
Norwegian music educators
Piano pedagogues
Norwegian male classical composers
Norwegian male pianists
20th-century classical pianists
20th-century Norwegian male musicians