Arne Nordheim

Arne Nordheim was a contemporary Norwegian composer known for his unique synthesis of electronic and organic sounds. He worked tirelessly to promote the acceptance of new music and was one of Norway’s most important composers. He was born in Larvik in 1931, into a musical family. His father was a violinist and instrument technician, and his grandfather was a self-taught organist. Nordheim had been interested in sound and music since he was very young, and he began playing the piano and harmonium around the age of seven. In 1948 he enrolled at the Norwegian Academy of Music where he initially studied the organ and music theory. Later he transitioned to composition under Karl Andersen, Bjarne Brustad, and Conrad Baden. In the late 1950s he sought further refinement and studied with Vagn Holmboe in Copenhagen. However, the Norwegian music community didn’t initially accept Nordheim’s unique sound. Critics argued that his music and the works of other Modernist composers like Ligeti did not represent Norway because it didn’t contain elements of Norwegian folk music. Norwegian musicians refused to play any of the new music at the time, and the Trinity Church in Oslo banned the performance of many modernist works. Frustrated with the Norwegian music community’s resistance to new music, Nordheim openly criticized this ideal and individuals in his writings for the Dagbladet, a popular daily Norwegian newspaper. His fascination with sound led him to Paris where he independently observed and studied musique concrète, and in the 1960s he collaborated at the Polish Radio Experimental Studio. Nordheim was interested in how organic sounds such as instruments or voices could be recorded and altered, and he was inspired to re-create some of these sounds and effects in an orchestral setting. His work Eco, from 1968, was the culmination of this concept, and it won the Nordic Council Music Prize of 1972. He was also awarded the Prix Italia of 1980 for The Descent, which he described as a “radiophonic poem” for reciter, soprano, orchestra, chorus, and electronics. He became highly respected and received several commissions from patrons such as Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Nordheim and his wife were invited by the King of Norway to live in the Grotten in 1982, which is an honorary residence located within the royal palace in Oslo. He also became the National Composer of Norway and was responsible for composing music for major events such as the 1994 Winter Olympics, and the millennium celebration for the city of Trondheim. He suffered from dementia in his final years and he passed away in 2010 in Oslo. ~ RJ Lambert