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All text and pictures are Museet Lysøens property.
copyright © Museet Lysøen.
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION.......... |
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OLE BORNEMANN BULL was born in Bergen in 1810.
Even as a child he showed outstanding musical ability. In his home he not
only met the great European music of the day, but was considerably
influenced by the folk music of Norway. This was of decisive importance in
his musical development at a time when the virtuoso and the improviser
were still highly rated. In Norway, his violin-playing aroused attention
before he was ten years old. By the time he reached his middle twenties he
had won European recognition as a virtuoso, and was bracketed with
Paganini. Ten years later the name of Ole Bull was a name to conjure with
- from the one coast of America to the other. More than any other, Ole
Bull contributed to putting Norway's name back on the map, as he never
omitted to make his origins known. Like a true child of the Romantic era
he attempted, both at the family estate of Vale- strand, north of Bergen,
and on the island of Lysøen, which he acquired in 1872, to realize his
ideal of the hearth - the home - in the frame of a perfect Norwegian
landscape. He rebuilt the former estate with a view to creating a home for
his French wife, but she died before the work was completed. His second
wife was an American, and it was she who accompanied him to their summer
villa on Lysøen. In 1850 Ole Bull founded the first Norwegian theatre, in
Bergen. His next aim was a Norwegian music academy, but almost a century
was to pass before an institution of this kind was established in Norway.
The United States became Ole Bull's second country. In the latter part of
his life he usually spent the winter there, on tour, hurrying home to Lysøen
in the spring. He followed this pattern in 1880, but was then a marked
man, and died in his fantastic villa in the month of August. His funeral
is described as the most magnificent ever seen in Norway. “There both
high and low gathe- red in sorrow over the loss of such a great friend”.
Ole Bull's grave lies in Assistentkirkegården by Stadsporten in Bergen. |
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| BACK to Ole Bull |
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