Gunnar Sønstevold (26 November 1912 – 18 October 1991) was a Norwegian composer. He was born in

Elverum Municipality Elverum () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Elverum ( ...

, and married composer

Maj Sønstevold Maj Sønstevold (born ''Lundén''; 9 September 1917 – 14 March 1996) was a Swedish composer who lived and worked in Norway. Biography Maj Sønstevold was born in Sollefteå, Sweden. She studied piano in Stockholm and with Billy Mayerl in London. ...

in 1941. He composed orchestral works, vocal music, chamber music, and music to a number of plays, ballets and films. He headed the Music Department of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

/Television from 1966 to 1974. He was awarded Filmkritikerprisen in 1955, for the film ''

Det brenner i natt! ''Fire in the Night'' () is a 1955 Norwegian drama film directed by Arne Skouen. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. Plot Tim is a proofreader at a newspaper in Oslo by day, and a pyromaniac at night. Only one other person kn ...

''. He received the

Arts Council Norway The Arts Council Norway (, often shortened to ''Kulturrådet'') is the official arts council for Norway. Based in Oslo, it is a Norwegian state institution created in as a result of a parliamentary decision in 1964. Arts Council Norway's admini ...

music prize in 1972, and Radioteatret's honorary prize in 1987.

Career

Sønstevold studied music in Oslo, beginning in 1932 with piano studies with

Nils Larsen Nils Larsen (19 June 1900 – 29 September 1976) was a Norwegian sea captain. Larsen is perhaps most associated with the Norvegia expeditions of Antarctica. Larsen was born in Sandar, and became a noted whaler, captaining a number of whalin ...

and Erling Westher as well as composition studies with Karl Andersen. Parallel to his studies, Sønstevold played piano and trombone in one of the leading jazz quartet of the era: Funny Boys (1932–39). After the outbreak of World War II, Sønstevold fled to Sweden where he subsequently met the composer Maj Lundén whom he married in 1941. From 1946 to 1969, Sønstevold composed music for 40 motion pictures and three full-length documentaries. As a theatre composer, Sønstevold penned the score for

Jens Bjørneboe Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society a ...

’s ''Semmelweis'',

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

’s ''Catalina'',

Tarjei Vesaas Tarjei Vesaas (20 August 1897 – 15 March 1970) was a Norwegian poet and novelist. Vesaas is widely considered to be one of Norway's greatest writers of the twentieth century and perhaps its most important since World War II. Vesaas' work is c ...

’ ''Bleikeplassen'' as well as

Georg Büchner Karl Georg Büchner (17 October 1813 – 19 February 1837) was a German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose, considered part of the Young Germany movement. He was also a revolutionary and the brother of physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchn ...

’s ''Woyzek''. When Sønstevold composed the music for

Det Norske Teatret Det Norske Teatret ()Moe, Jens. 2011. ''My America: The Culture of Giving''. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse, p. 133. is a theatre in Oslo. The theatre was founded in 1912, after an initiative from Hulda Garborg and Edvard Drabløs. It opened in 19 ...

’s 1957 performance of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

’s ''The Tempest'', he was one of the first Norwegian composers to utilize electronic elements in his music.

Production

Selected works

Orchestral works

* ''Sinfonietta'' (1949) * ''Concerto for saxophone and orchestra'' (1955) * ''Concerto for flute, trombone and orchestra'' (1965) * ''Forvandling: En fleip'' (1976) * ''Concerto for oboe, harp and orchestra'' (1978) * ''Kork (= Kringkastingsorkesteret) '' (1979) * ''Festkommentate'' (1981) * ''Concertino for harp and orchestra'' (1991)

Vocal works

* ''Intermezzo ''for soprano, violin and tape (1958) * ''5 Sanger til dikt av Tarjei Vesaas'', soprano and guitar (1964) * ''Litani i Atlanta'' (text: W. E. B. du Bois, Norwegian texts: Paal Helge Haugen), choir, children's choir, jazz ensemble, orchestra (1971) * ''Fredskjemperens død'' for choir and chamber ensemble (1978) * ''Forhandlinger i et magert land'' for choir and chamber ensemble (1982)

Chamber music

* ''String Quartet No. 1'' (1945) * ''Duett for flute and oboe '' (1949) * ''Det doriske bur'' for 3 pianists playing 1 piano (1964) * ''Duett for harp and tuba'' (1970) * ''Strykekvartett nr. 1'', Pinter-kvartetten (1971/77) * ''PianoPussel'' for to (1974) * ''Samvirke'', septet (1976) * ''Crico'' (1977) * ''Quintessens'' for chamber ensemble (1979) * ''Sonatine'' for trombone and piano (1990)

Film music

* ''

Reisen til havet ''Journey to the Sea'' () is a Norwegian drama film from 1966 directed by Arne Skouen, who was also the screenwriter. Skouen's daughter Synne Skouen played Pinne, a teenage girl wanted by the authorities. Plot The truck driver Hilmar offers fif ...

'' (1966) * ''

Vaktpostene ''Vaktpostene'' (The Guards) is a Norwegian drama film from 1965 directed by Arne Skouen. The screenplay was written by Skouen and Johan Borgen. Plot The film is about a recruit named Arild, who runs away from his military service and arrives at ...

'' (1965) * ''

Klokker i måneskinn ''Klokker i måneskinn'' (Bells in the Moonlight) is a Norwegian anthology film from 1964 directed by Kåre Bergstrøm. The film is about four men that meet for an evening of bridge. Three of them relate accounts of supernatural events they have ...

'' (1964) * ''

Om Tilla ''Om Tilla'' (About Tilla) is a Norway, Norwegian drama film from 1963 directed by Arne Skouen. Skouen wrote the screenplay, which was based on his 1959 novel ''Bare om barn''. It contained a series of articles from the newspaper ''Verdens Gang'', ...

'' (1963) * ''

Omringet ''Surrounded'' () is a Norwegian film from 1960 directed by Arne Skouen. Plot The film describes how the resistance fighter Per, modeled on Knut Haugland, operated an illegal telegraph station on the roof of the National Hospital in 1944 during ...

'' (1960) * ''De dødes tjern'' (1958) * ''Fjols til fjells'' (1957) * ''

Selkvinnen ''Selkvinnen'' (The Seal Woman) is a Norwegian film from 1953. It was directed by Lauritz Falk and Per Jonson; Falk himself played the lead role in the film. The film script was written by Leif Sinding. Gunnar Sønstevold composed the music for ...

'' (1953) * ''Veslefrikk med fela'' (1952) * ''Musikk på loftet/En dukkedrøm'' (1952) * '' Ukjent mann'' (1951) * '' Vi flyr på Rio'' (1949) * ''Den hemmelighetsfulle leiligheten'' (1948)

Music for stage productions

* ''Bendik og Årolija'', ballet (1947) * ''Musikalsk spectacel'', ballet over Peer Gynt (1966) * ''Koreografen'', ballet (1967) * ''Innberetning til et akademi'' (text: Franz Kafka) (1982/87)

Discography

* Elin & Egil, Dans med Prøysen - ''Greieste hits 2'' (2007) * Alexandra Becker, Rolf Becker, ''

Dickie Dick Dickens ''Dickie Dick Dickens'' is a satirical radio play by and . The play, which tells the story of Dickie Dick Dickens' rise from simple pickpocket to gangster leader in Chicago, was first produced in Germany in 1959 by Bayerischer Rundfunk, which prod ...

- fjerde serie: Nå er han her igjen'' (2003) * Alexandra Becker, Rolf Becker, ''Dickie Dick Dickens - tredje serie'' (2001) * Alexandra Becker, Rolf Becker, ''Dickie Dick Dickens - andre serie'' (1999) * Alexandra Becker, Rolf Becker, ''Dickie Dick Dickens - første serie'' (1998) * Stockholm Philharmonic Wind Quintet, Elisabeth Sønstevold, ''Music For Wind Instruments And Harp'' (1994) * Eva Knardahl, Robert Rønnes, ''The Norwegian Contemporary Bassoon'' (1992) * Kari Svendsen, ''Kari går til Filmen'' (1991) * Geir Henning Braaten, ''Norwegian Panorama'' (1984)

References

External links

*
List of Works supplied by the National Library of Norway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sonstevold, Gunnar 1912 births 1991 deaths People from Elverum Musicians from Elverum Norwegian composers Norwegian male composers NRK people 20th-century Norwegian composers 20th-century Norwegian male musicians