Geirr Tveitt: Biography
Geirr Tveitt was born in Bergen, Norway 19 October 1908, where
his father worked as a teacher. The family originated from
Norheimsund in Hardanger, and it was here he spent most of his
childhood summers. Through the summers in Nordheimsund he got in
touch with the rich folk music tradition of the Hardanger region,
and this was to inspire most of his later music. However, he did
not use folk tunes in his compositions, like for instance Grieg
did, but he was inspired by the simple themes found in Norwegian
folk music. From his early youth he learned to play piano and
violin, and when he went to school in Voss he decided to become a
composer. The man who has got the honour of persuading him to
follow his dream of becoming a composer was the composer
Christian Sinding. As Edvard Grieg and Johannes Haarklou had did
before him, Geirr Tveitt also went to Leipzig, Germany to study
music. His professors in Leipzig were Grabner, Weinreich and
Wenniger. After four years in Leipzig he went to Paris to study
with the Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos. After a short period in
Vienna, Geirr Tveitt settled down in Oslo, Norway, where he had
his breakthrough as a composer. In 1942 Geirr Tveitt moved back
to Hardanger and started to collect and arrange folk tunes from
the region. As a result from this work we have his most famous
composition "Hundrad Folketonar frao Hardanger" (Hundred
Folk Tunes from Hardanger), Opus 151. After the war Geirr Tveitt
toured Europe as a concert pianist, playing his own, as well as
other composer's, works. As a pianist Tveitt became very popular,
but in light of the war, his national style as a composer was
often criticised in the press. In the 1960's he worked in the
Norwegian broadcasting, NRK. From this period comes many of his
songs, often with texts by poets he presented in his radio
programs (Arnulf Øverland, Knut Hamsun, Aslaug Vaa and Hermann
Wildenwey). In 1970 his home in Norheimsund was destroyed in a
fire, and also many of his works were destroyed. The fire killed
his inspiration to compose, and the man who was described as
"an unstoppable waterfall", died as a reduced man 1
February 1981.
Geir Tveitt was a very productive composer. His compositions can
be described to be a blend of the continental and his strong
interest for the national, where the nature in Hardanger and
Norwegian folklore were important sources of inspiration. The
result was original, the music was often build on modal scales,
which he argued were old Norse keys. Among his most famous works
is the ballet "Baldurs Draumar" (Balder's dreams) from
1938. The theme is from the saga about the god Balder. The score
of this ballet was unfortunately lost during the bombing of
London during world war II. Other famous music by Tveitt are the
songs "Vi skal ikkje sova burt sumanatta" and "So
rodde dei fjorden" and the first piece of Opus 151 "Vekomne
med ære".
© John Hovland, 2000