Literature
There was a close linguistic and literary communion between Norway and Iceland from the time of the country until about 1300. The ancient goddess and heroic poems may have taken their northern form in Norway but were first written down in Iceland in the 13th century (“The Elder Eddan”). The first Skalds were Norwegian, most of them Icelanders. The largest prose work, “Heimskringla” (c. 1230), tells about the Norwegian kings but was authored by the Icelander Snorre Sturlasson (see also kings’ stories), while another major work, “The King’s Mirror”(c. 1250), which in a subtle dialogue form gives an introduction to the European knowledge and education of the time, was created in Norway. The ballad poetry came to Norway in the 13th century (collected and published in the 1850’s). Of the different types, not so many knights and historical visions have been preserved here as in neighboring countries, but several magical and fighting visions. In one class stands “Draumkvedet”, a visionary poem in ballad form.
- Countryaah: Population and demographics of Norway, including population pyramid, density map, projection, data, and distribution.
The hymn poem in the mother tongue after the Reformation received a strong personal contribution in “Siælens Sang-Offer” (1678) by the priest Mennonite Dorothe Engelbretsdatter in Bergen, and the northern Norwegian priest Petter Dass enriched it with healthy folk songs. Today’s “topographical descriptions” received an outstanding addition to his “Nordlands Trompet”, vivid depictions of form-proof verses of the coast and the people of the north.
With his versatile authorship, the European-schooled Bergener Ludvig Holberg became the father of Danish-Norwegian literature during the first half of the 18th century. The Norwegian Society (1772-1813) in Copenhagen defended the Holberg tradition against pre-romantic tendencies in the Danish Literature Society, while with songs and songs to the homeland of the country they strengthened a national consciousness that gained political significance in 1814.
The first fiction writer in Norway, Maurits Hansen, wrote in the 1820’s and 1930’s popular novels and novels from different parts of the country and social environments. Henrik Wergeland, universal romantic in his poetry, European liberal in his thinking, contributed in poetry, prose and action to prepare for a development in a democratic direction, while his opponents in the thought life of the time, Johan Sebastian Welhaven, with his natural poetry and ballad poetry aroused national romantic moods in the bourgeois circles.
With the novel “The County Governor’s Daughter” (1855), Camilla Collett began a life’s work in the service of women’s affairs. Ibsen’s and Bjørnsson’s historical plays from the 1850’s and 1960’s laid the foundation for newer Norwegian performing arts, while the character drawing and storytelling style in Bjørnson’s farmer stories gained widespread importance for prose art. Important contributions to the lyric were “Symra” (1863) by Ivar Aasen and “Poetry Collection” (1864) by Aasmund Vinje – both on land (New Norwegian) – and Bjørnsons “Digte og Sange” (1870) and Ibsen’s “Digte” (1871)..
In 1875 came the two plays that began the modern breakthrough in the Nordic countries, both by Bjørnson, “A Fallen” and “The Editor”; compare Drama and theater below. Bjørnson also wrote novels in which marriage, upbringing, faith and morality came into the spotlight. He was joined by Jonas Lie, the master of Impressionism in Norwegian literature, while the glittering style artist and ironic Alexander Kielland in novels and novels treated class society, business morality, school and religious hypocrisy with stinging satire. With Arne Garborg, the national target got its first significant novelist. He was almost a naturalist but often maintained an ironic distance to the fabric. More prominent naturalist was Amalie Skram, both in her novels about tragic women’s fatalities in men’s society and in the epic major work “Hellemyrsfolket” (1887-98).
Neo-romantic tendencies are noticeable in Ibsen and Lie around 1890, but more conspicuous by Sigbjørn Obstfelder in his use of free verse, prose poems and prose-lyrical sketches, as well as in an anxiety-filled alien feeling in the society of a distinctly modern kind. Others renewed the lyrical tradition that had survived in the 1880’s: Per Sivle, Nils Collett Vogt, Vilhelm Krag. A major work in nineties poetry is Garborg’s epic poem cycle “Haugtussa” (1895).
In Knut Hamsun’s “Hunger” (1890) and “Mysteries” (1892) it is the activity of the mind and the unconscious soul life that is the actual content, in “Pan” (1894) and “Victoria” (1898) the mood and nature poetry. The look of the tension between the conscious and the subconscious and between the individual and the general penetrates deeply with Hans E. Kinck, both in his richly nuanced short story and in his novels, dramatic poems and cultural critical essays.
However, realism survived the neo-romanticism, after the turn of the century as a new realism. But the difference is huge; many of the realistic headlines were plays, the neo-realists preferred to write novels. The realists were critical of the persistent, renalists traditionally conscious. The realists mostly adhered to the urban environment, the new realists to the countryside, the small town and the old forms of society. In Ragnhild Jølsen’s novels, the conflict between the old and the new is depicted with deep ambivalence. Jens Tvedt, Peter Egge, Johan Bojer and Gabriel Scott, who all debuted at the end of the 19th century, wrote with a fondness for abrasive people in agriculture, forestry and fishing in each part of the country, Matti Aikio about the life of the Sami people in Finnmarksvidda.
In the genealogy of the people in Juvika (1–6, 1918–23), Olav Duun sees contemporary conflicts in a broad historical and deep psychological context. The break-up from old forms of society and the encounter with new ones is the subject of Kristofer Uppdal’s romance series about the rallies, “The Dance through the Shadow Secret” (1911-24). Johan Falkberget made a great contribution to the prehistory of the working class in his romances from the old mining community at Røros. The most read of all the epic works was Sigrid Undset’s romance series from the East Norwegian big-farmer environment during the High Middle Ages.
The lyricists of the same generation wrote, like the predecessors of the sea – or the mountain -, death and love, but they also had their realism: Uppdals bold language of speech, the everyday images from the peasant life of Tore Ørjasæter, Herman Wildenvey’s joyful oral language, Olaf Bull’s precise sense of mind, Arnulf Øverland, Olav Nygard’s, Olav Aukrust’s and Alf Larsen’s close relationship to the landscape that surrounds them.
The First World War did not cause any serious crime in Norwegian literature, but a dividing line between the generations can be observed. While the older ones made the years between 1910 and 1935 a heyday of the historical novel, the younger ones turned to the recent past and the problematic contemporary.
The novel was also the dominant genre during the interwar period; the novelists were in the great majority and the women more strongly represented than before. Sigrid Undset wrote on the basis of a conservative, Catholic women’s view, Nini Roll Anker on the basis of a liberal and social one. on the conditions of the female workers and the unmarried mother in “The one who hangs in a thread” (1935). Ingeborg Refling Hagen, Gro Holm and Magnhild Haalke told with strong realism about women’s lottery in recent times. Growing up in the countryside, breaking up and meeting a new and strange reality are central motifs both for them and for male writers – Tarjei Vesaas, Sigurd Hoel, Aksel Sandemose – in more or less autobiographical educational novels. The maturity of the artist is most strongly focused in Cora Sandel’s Alberta trilogy (1926–39),
By and large, during the interwar period, novelists and novelists adhered to traditional forms. But both Hoel’s counterpoint “One Day in October”, the fabulous “Sandelt Tree” by Vesaas, the semi-essential “A refugee crosses its trail” by Sandemose and the report novel “Young may the world still be” by Nordahl Grieg – all from the 1930’s – each represented in its own way something new. A bold experiment was Gunnar Larsen’s “Week-end in eternity”. In “Contemporary” (1936) Olav Duun gave a denser realistic-allegorical picture of the world situation at that time, and in “Menneske og makttee” (1938) of the disaster to come.
Nygard, Aukrust and Bull published their most excellent collections during the interwar period. Øverland in his classic simple and clear style became a glowing spokesman for the working class and the revolution; the young poets from Oslo’s working district Rudolf Nilsen and Arne Paasche-Aasen (1901–78) wrote about the everyday life and struggle of the workers. Folklore in the form of lush comics and low-key pathos characterizes Jakob Sande’s lyric from the 1930’s and postwar.
Women had published hymns and other poems in the 19th century, often anonymously or under pseudonyms, and it usually stopped at one or a couple of books. It was not until the 1930’s that a breakthrough for women’s lyricism came. Zinken Brochmann, later Hopp (1905–87), published form-perfect, small-mouthed poems from his near reality, “Guvernantevers” (1930), “Kitchenvers” (1933) and others. Halldis Moren, later Vesaas, debuted with “Harpe og dagger” (1929), followed by “Morgonen” (1930), Refling Hagen (as a lyricist) with “You want to home” (1932), Aslaug Vaa with “Nord i leite ”(1934) and Inger Hagerup with“ I got lost in the woods ”(1939). It was a breakthrough on a broad front and with lasting effects.
Most lyricists stayed within the tradition, both thematically and formally. But in the 1930’s, new trends emerged. In free verse, Rolf Jacobsen addressed modern technology both as a theme and as a metaphor and symbol. Emil Boyson sought connection to French symbolism, and Claes Gill, inspired by Irish and English modernism, set himself over traditional demands for syntactic and pictorial connection. In the drama, Helge Krog and Ronald Fangen followed closely in the footsteps of the forerunners, while Vesaas in “Ultimatum”, Nordahl Grieg in “Our honor and our power” as well as in “The defeat” and Johan Borgen in “While we wait” radically and effectively broke with the theater traditions.
The occupation of 1940 soon set tight limits for the freedom of poetry in the country. Some books, such as “The Kimen” (1940) by Tarjei Vesaas, an allegorical depiction of the invasion, were not understood by the censors but well by the readers, and stenciled poems by Grieg, Øverland, Hagerup, Gunnar Reiss-Andersen and others. circulated in transcript and came in book form when the occupation ended. The war and social and psychological causes and effects of war and Nazism became the subject of many novels during the first postwar years, by authors such as Vesaas, Sigurd Evensmo, Finn Havrevold (1908–88), Ronald Fangen, Sigurd Hoel, Kåre Holt, Torolf Elster (1911–2006), Nils Johan Rud and Sandemose. Shortly thereafter came trilogies by Evensmo and Rud, where this theme was dealt with in a wider human context, and in the Borg’s “Lillelord” trilogy a decade later it is part of a complex identity and artist problem.
The post-war period was also a great time for comic novels, trilogies and other, not least educational novels such as Torborg Nedreaa’s trilogy “The Magic Glass” (1950), “Music from a Blue Well” (1970), “Ved next nymåne” (1971) and Agnar Mykle’s colorful and powerful but interrupted story about Ask Burlefot (1954–56). Others have social and cultural-historical frameworks, such as Johannes Heggland’s novels and romances from the West Norwegian agricultural and fishery environment, Alfred Hauges emigration trilogy (1961-65) – which is very much comparable to Vilhelm Moberg’s emigrant post – and Åsta Holth’s (1904-99) trilogy. the settlers in Finnskogarna. Ragnhild Magerøy (1920–2010), Vera Henriksen and others look at the known or unknown figures and fate of the saga through women’s eyes, and Kåre Holt sees the hero king Sverre Sigurdsson in a social critical perspective. The most powerful and most shocking of the history trilogies is Jens Bjørnebo’s main work, “The Moment of Liberty”, “The Powder Tower”, “The Stillness” (1966-73), a test map of the horrors of world history and yet not quite without hope. A powerful counterpart is the “Utstein monastery cycle” (1967–84) by Alfred Hauge. It includes works in different genres and styles – novel, lyric, legend – but has a common ground in the landscape and the Christian faith where the author has his roots.
Most of the prose writers clearly adhered to traditional realistic standards, and many still do. This applies, for example. great storytellers such as Terje Stigen, Finn Alnæs (1932–91), Knut Faldbakken, Karsten Alnæs (born 1938), Lars Saabye Christensen and a fine novelist like Kjell Askildsen. And this applies to many of the female writers who write about the situation of women in occupation and marriage as well as in society and a larger human context: Ebba Haslund, Solveig Christov (1918–84), Karin Bang (born 1928), Bergliot Hobæk Haff (born 1925), Bjørg Vik, Liv Køltzow, Tove Nilsen, Anne Karin Elstad, Herbjørg Wassmo and others. In his first books Finn Carling created a heavily stylized reality, but in the 1960’s he approached strongly with realism, while Johan Borgen from “Jeg” (1959) experimented boldly with new means of action.
In the lyrics, the tradition had strong representatives in Inger Hagerup and André Bjerke, who also defended it, with the support of Arnulf Øverland, while Paal Brekke, Erling Christie and later Stein Mehren both in practice and theory represented a symbolist modernism. Gunnar Reiss-Andersen, who debuted in 1921, received strong impetus from the forties in Sweden during the war, as did Brekke, and they seemed to renew his poetry. The great majority of lyricists stayed out of the debate but found their own ways, and many of them reached out loud: Georg Johannesen’s poems are provocatively antipoetic, while Jan Erik Vold praises the close, good things in life in an ingenious, simple language.
Around 1970, a group of young writers, who in the magazine “Profil”, had opposed the psychology and symbolism in the bourgeois literature. They themselves wrote texts that would reveal real and psychological power structures in society and serve the interests of the working class. In the first phase stood Dag Solstad, Espen Haavardsholm, Tor Obrestad and Edvard Hoem, while Kjartan Fløgstad in his great novels kept – and keeps – a certain distance with the help of a lavish storytelling, grotesque exaggerations and fantasies. More radically, novelist Jan Kjærstad in the 1980’s and 1990’s broke with the genre’s standards.
Despite contradictions and distances, it is testament to a deeper sense of belonging that younger fiction writers during the years around 1990 wrote insightful biographies of colleagues in previous genealogies, all the way back: Fløgstad about Claes Gill, Haavardsholm about Sandemose, Hoem about Grieg, Obrestad about Garb Cooling show about Amalie Skram.
Since the start in 1965, the state literary support in Norway has been of great importance to the authors, publishers and readers: 1,000 copies of almost enough newly published fiction have been supported to the country’s library. In addition, since 2005, a smaller number of fact books have also been favored. This has ensured a great breadth and variety in the Norwegian book market, although some titles have performed well on their own. Jostein Gaarder’s “Sofie’s World” (1991) became an international bestseller, Per Petterson’s “Ut og stjæle hester” (2003) was translated into 42 languages and the diction writer Jo Nesbø sells phenomenally well abroad, as does Åsne Seierstad’s “Bookshop in Kabul” (2002), which caused some turbulence. Erik Fosnes Hansen’s “Hymn at the End of the Journey” (1990) is a Titanic novel that has reached internationally,
Many writers have devoted themselves to trilogies, such as the older Øystein Lønn and the younger Thure Erik Lund, Carl Frode Tiller, the minimalist Hanne Ørstavik and Matias Faldbakken (under the pseudonym Abu Rasul). Karl Ove Knausgård’s powerful “My fight” in six parts (2009-11) has been awarded multiple awards. One of Norway’s most enjoyable writers is Erlend Loe, whose novels are written with real underwriting. Jon Fosses and Cecilie Løveid’s drama is staged on stages around the world. However, since Olav H. Hauge and Bjørn Aamodt have died, the great renewal of Norwegian lyric in the 21st century awaits, and immigrant writers are less marked here than elsewhere in the Nordic countries.
In the field of professional literature, interest in domestic subjects remains high. The flood of books on the Second World War is emerging here as well as in Denmark (also in fiction, as in Roy Jacobsen’s “Seierherrene”, 1991), and interest is diminished for greats like Henrik Ibsen (monograph in two parts by Ivo de Figueiredo, 2006), Knut Hamsun, Sigrid Undset, Edvard Munch and the polar scientists Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen (life drawings by Tor Bomann-Larsen 1993 and 1995). Popular historian Karsten Alnæs reportedly told “The History of Norway” in four bands (1996-99) was followed by his equally extensive “The History of Europe” (2003-06), and the philosopher Lars Svenden’s essay collections has gained many readers both in and outside Norway.
The history of the Norwegian children’s book dates back some 200 years and begins with moral examples. With the romance of the 19th century came Asbjørnsen and Moes stories, also in children’s editions. Important for the national self-esteem became the “Norwegian Picture Book” (1888). During the “golden age” from 1890 to 1914, quantitative and qualitative growth occurred. Many then wrote, as now, for both children and adults and portrayed with realism claims Norwegian children in Norwegian environments, such as for example. Dikken Zwilgmeyer. In the years 1948–50, Inger Hagerup’s lyricism meant a modernist breakthrough. The three who have mainly influenced children’s literature since the 1950’s are Thorbjørn Egner, Alf Prøysen and Anne-Cath Vestly. The 1980’s saw innovative children’s fun by, among other things. Einar Økland, Ragnar Hovland and Marit Tusvik and the Norwegian children’s book got illustrations with a new, more poetic imagery, eg. by Harald Nordberg, Wenche Øyen, Iben Sandemose and Fam Ekman. Among new writers, Tormod Haugen and Jostein Gaarder have gained international attention.
Drama and theater
The first known theatrical performances were school dramas that were erected in Latin schools in the 16th century, and later plays were performed by traveling foreign theater troupes. The foundations for a domestic theater business were laid by the citizens of the major cities and the officials. Dramatic societies were formed in Kristiania and Bergen towards the end of the 18th century. In closed circles, an amateur art was developed here that was also based on his own dramatic works. A short-lived attempt to more professionally run theater in Kristiania was made by the Swede Johan Peter Strömberg in the 1820’s. After a fire arose from the project ash Kristiania Theater in 1837.
Norwegian dramatists in the 18th century usually made a career in Denmark. This is mainly the case of the Bergen sergeant Ludvig Holberg, but also Johan Nordahl Brun, the author of the Voltaire-inspired tragedy “Zarine” (1722), and Johan Herman Wessel, whose tragedy parody “Kierigheid without Strømper” (1772) retained its popularity. Danish actors and the Danish language also came to dominate the Norwegian scenes well into the 19th century. The growth of the theater arts was dependent on an institutional activity, which at the same time helped to maintain Danish influence. The national consciousness had a hard time entering the scenes, the domestic drama existed – Henrik Wergeland wrote lyrical pieces and noted satirical comedies – but it dominated far from the repertoire.
The Norske Theater in Bergen played a decisive role in the 1850’s under Ole Bull’s leadership. He engaged the young talents of Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson as playwrights and directors. The theater was discontinued in 1863, but the same year the decisive step was taken towards Norwegian-speaking stage dominance, and the road to a national stage was open when Christiania Theater became the dominant stage.
At the same time, a new drama broke through, which had overcome the national romantic stage aesthetics. This contemporary art, which had its first success with Bjørnsons “En fallit” (1875), immediately placed the theater in the center of public debate. New plays by Bjørnson and Ibsen became social affairs of the first rank. Through mainly Ibsen’s increasingly personal realism, Norwegian drama took the step in world literature. The standard of domestic actors also rose rapidly; often they came from Bergen whose theater reopened in 1876, now under the name Den Nationale Scene.
The National Theater in Kristiania was inaugurated at its present location in 1899 with Bjørn Bjørnson as the first director and one of the first directors in the modern sense. The repertoire was built around the giants Bjørnson and Ibsen, but the national scene was long run without public funds. Johanne Dybwad was the theater’s leading actress and was responsible for some of her most remarkable staging. As a complement, the Norwegian Theater was opened in 1913 as the seat of the New Norwegian drama. The two houses have since dominated Oslo’s theater life. At the same time, the performing arts were expanded abroad by opening new houses in, among other places. Trondheim (1911) and Stavanger (1913).
The following generations pursued the socially oriented realism of the days of modern breakthrough, breaking only half-heartedly against its demands. Gunnar Heiberg tried a stylized stage language in “The Balcony” (1894) and Knut Hamsun approached a Czechovsky symbolism in “The Game of Life” (1896), the centerpiece of a trilogy performed by Stanislavsky at the Artistic Theater in Moscow in 1907. The limits of stage realism also tested Hans E. Kinck with his lyrically impressionistic historical plays. But with few exceptions – to them are some expressionist attempts by Ronald Fangen in the 1920’s – the modernist theater did not get a breakthrough in Norway; In addition, the Ibsen tradition is too strong. Also the most important dramatists of the interwar period, the contemporary conscious Helge Krog and the increasingly politically engaged Nordahl Grieg, was responsible for a renewal within the framework of stage realism. In the latter, however, under the influence of Soviet theater, approaches to a bolder stage language were noticed.
The performing arts in Norway were hardly promoted by the German occupation. The National Theater’s repertoire became adaptable and an attempt to start a workers’ folk theater was stopped. The few expressionist approaches of the interwar period were continued after the war by writers such as Johan Borgen, Tore Ørjasæter and Tarjei Vesaas. At the end of the 1940’s, the small but significant Studio Theater in Oslo introduced works by a.k.a. Jean-Paul Sartre and Thornton Wilder. Others held to the ideals of realism, e.g. Axel Kielland who made theater of the Helander affair in “The Lord and His Servants” (1955).
Perhaps it was not until the 1960’s that Ibsen was left behind. And as in so many other countries, it was Brecht’s impulses and absurdism that made the decision. However, the development thereafter is paradoxical, as it has promoted a broader and varied Norwegian theater life but hardly any important writers renew the drama. In the 1960’s, Jens Bjørneboe and Georg Johannesen wrote Brecht-inspired drama, which also gave way to the cabaret and revue’s contemporary sense. With his “Kassandra” (1968) Johannesen has been called a modern Aristophanes. The theater was ideologically determined in various ways, the agit prop art got its success with “The Black Cat” (1971) and Klaus Hagerup’s western parody “Kuler i sunset” (1972) was played at the National Theater. Bjørg Vik contributed to the gender role debate with “Two Acts for Five Women” (1974). The big theaters had already received their annex scenes before. Now they often became “outreach”. A successful suburban theater in the Oslo area becameThe theater at Torshov.
Theater life in Norway has followed the pattern of a functioning welfare state in recent decades. Since the 1950’s, state subsidies have been guaranteed. The TV theater started in 1960 with its own ensemble. The regional theater was expanded as a complement to the 1949 Riksteatern and also a northern city that Tromsø got its stage, Hålogaland Theater, 1971. Fjordlandet Norway has even an outreach theater boat, linked to Sogn og Fjordane Theater since 1982. At the end of the 1980’s, the Sami group Beaivváš received state support. Otherwise, the movement of the free groups has not been strong in Norway; such a distinctive ensemble that Odinteatret had to leave the country after a short time.
At the same time, there has been a lack of drama of its own, which has been noticeable not least in recent years. Typically, leading younger directors, such as Stein Winge and Terje Mærli, have just as well managed the classic heritage. Other contemporary dramas include Cecilie Løveid, Marit Tusvik and Ola Bauer. A notable performance from recent years was the extensive dramatization at the National Scene in Bergen by Amalie Skram’s genealogy “Hellemyrsfolket”. Directors of a newer generation include Eirik Stubö and Alexander Mörk-Eidem, the latter also active in Sweden.
Even through the recurring Ibsen festival since 1990, the National Theater has consolidated its central position in the country’s theater life. Despite its international character, the festival can be seen as an expression of the central symbolic position that Henrik Ibsen still holds for the country’s cultural identity.
However, around the turn of the millennium, Norwegian drama was given a new world name. The author of the prose Jon Fosse broke through with a number of plays, which in a simple but at the same time mysterious saturated form and on the Norwegian man’s contemporary and loneliness and strangeness. Among his many plays are “Nokon kjem til kom come” (1996) and “Draum om hausten” (1999) and “Svevn” (2006). Just after a few years, Fosse was played everywhere on the European continent and also in, among other things. Japanese. Among contemporary playwrights can also be mentioned Johan Harstad (born 1979), who in 2009 was active as a house playwright at the National Theater in Oslo.
Revue
The first Norwegian review was performed in Kristiania New Year’s Eve 1848 and was written by the Danish Erik Bøgh. The student community managed the revue genre through its comedies with current features. Greenland’s Folketeater became Norway’s main stage for revivals in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Variety and revision scenes with serving, e.g. The Olympics, the Dover Hall, the Bazaar Hall and Eldorado, were popular events in the early 1900’s.
When Bokken Lasson started Chat Noir in Kristiania in 1912, the city was given a distinguished stage for revue and cabaret, inspired by continental role models. Chat Noir has continued to be Norway’s foremost revision scene with reviews of, among other things. Dizzie Tunes and Dag Frøland. Leif Juster started the spider in 1942 and for several decades Juster fought with Jens Book Jenssen on Chat Noir and the Circus Revue about the public favor. Writers such as Finn Bø, Arne Svendsen and Einar Rose provided the scenes with numbers, and revisionists such as Lillebil Ibsen, Botten Soot, Victor Bernau and Per Aabel made several of them classic. During the last decades of the 20th century, revival stars such as Arve Opsahl, Aud Schønemann, Elisabeth Granneman and Rolv Wesenlund became well known outside Norway.
In the early 2000’s, the tradition of lavish revue sets was increasingly replaced by amateur revival in various parts of the country. At the same time, performances with stand-up comedy have to some extent filled the gap with the traditional reviews.
Film
The film came to Norway in 1896, when Max Skladanowsky (1863-1939) demonstrated his Bioscope at the Circus Varieté in what was then Christiania. Norway’s first domestically produced feature film was “The Dangers of Fisheries” (1908). During the first period in Norwegian film, 1908-19, attempts were made to imitate foreign film, with some emphasis on social melodrama. At the same time, churches and other moral guardians mobilized nationwide campaigns against the film. As a consequence of the moral debate, Norway in 1913 got a film act that led to the municipalities taking over the cinema operation and establishing a state censorship.
The 1920’s were characterized by peasant and national romance with films such as “Till Säters” (1924) and “Fjelleventyret” (1927). The Norwegian film was hampered by the fact that, unlike in other countries, the private producers were not allowed to run their own cinemas and thus could not make the profits from it in new films. In 1932, however, the production company Norsk Film A / S was founded with 40 municipalities as shareholders.
With the audio film, the Norwegian film got a more socially engaged focus. Several of Oskar Braaten’s social-realist stories were filmed. Director Tancred Ibsen emerged as the foremost exponent of the popular environmental depiction with the films “Fant” (1937) and “Gjest Baardsen – a Norwegian Lasse-Maja” (1939). An important feature was also the Norwegian worker film, with highlights such as “It drones through the valley” (1937), “The links are broken” (1938) and “Gryr i Norden” (1939) – all by Olav Dalgard (1898-1980).
During the German occupation during the Second World War, the Norwegian-produced film consisted predominantly of harmless suspense films and fun games. Even during the post-war period, the simplified entertainment film had a prime time, but the period was also marked by a series of serious films, both occupation dramas and “England Fathers” (1946), “The Battle of the Atomic Bomb” (1947) and “The Bloody Way” (1955) as Arne Skouens (1913–2003) “Street boys” (1949), “Nine lives” (1957) and “Om Tilla” (1963). Thor Heyerdahl’s and Per Høst’s (1907–71) documentaries also belong to the well-known work of Norwegian films.
One of the biggest cash successes in Norwegian cinemas during the 1970’s was the films with the Olsen band, made according to the Danish role model. The tendency during the 1970’s was to invest in debuting directors, for example. Pål Løkkeberg (1934-98) with “Liv” (1967) and “Exit” (1970). These also included several female directors who made a mark on the modern, socially engaged film, eg. Anja Breien and Vibeke Løkkeberg. You could say that during the 1970’s, the Norwegian film evolved from the artistically experimental to the internationally marketable, with films such as Ivo Caprino’s puppet film “Flåklypa Grand Prix” and Breiens “Wives” (both 1975).
The 1980’s and 1990’s reinforced the tendency of action and thriller-focused films such as “The Orion’s Belt” (1985) by Ola Solum (1943-96), “The Guide” (1987; the first film in Sami) by Nils Gaup, “Zero Kelvin – the freezing point of love “(1995) and” Aberdeen “(2000) by Hans Petter Moland (born 1955),” Insomnia “(1997, American new recording 2002) by Erik Skjoldbjærg (born 1964) and” Junk Mail “(1997) by Pål Sletaune (born 1960).
Among those who stuck to the European art film tradition are Unni Straume (born 1955). “To an Unknown” (1990), Berit Nesheim (born 1945), e.g. “Frida – with the heart in hand” (1991), Erik Gustavson (born 1955), best known for “Telegraphist” (1993) and “Sofie’s world” (1999), and Liv Ullmann with “Kristin Lavransdotter” (1995).
Norway has, on average, produced about 10 feature films annually in recent decades – often in co-production with the Nordic neighboring countries – but in 2007 the Storting set a new film policy objective, the Veiviseren, which aims to produce 25 films per year, of which five documentaries and five children films., achieve 15% of the DVD market, participate in all major film festivals (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) and double exports and have at least 40% women in key positions (script, director, producer, etc.). The state-regulated Norwegian Film Institute (founded in 1955) was remodeled in 2008 through a merger with the Norwegian Film Fund, Norwegian Film Commission and Norwegian Film Development. In 2010, 26 Norwegian feature films were produced.
The investment in a more internationally oriented, craft-polished film has also been reflected in increased exports as well as festival exposure and in a production where the experimental live side by side with the commercially high profile.
Notable and successful exports in recent years include the thriller “Gryningsland” (2001) and the historical drama “The Escape from Bastöy” (2010) by Marius Holst (born 1960), the documentary “Awesome and Enthusiastic” (2001) by Knut Erik Jensen (born 1940), comedy “Elling” (2001, sequels 2003 and 2005) by Peter Ness (born 1960), story drama “I Am Dina” (2002) by Danish Ole Bornedal, “Psalms from the Kitchen” (2003) by Bent Hamer (born 1956), the animated “Free Jimmy” (2006) by Christopher Nielsen (born 1963), the war drama “Max Manus” (2008) and the adventure drama “Kon-Tiki” (2012) by Joachim Rønning (born 1972) and Espen Sandberg (born 1971), the splatter film “Dead Snow” (2009) by Tommy Wirkola (born 1979) and drama “Upperdog” (2009) by Sara Johnsen (born 1970).
Art
THE PAST
In addition to ornamental elements of ceramics, the preserved art from the Stone Age mainly includes rock carvings with animal motifs, including moose, reindeer and whales. The art of the Bronze Age is characterized by elegant geometric ornaments on objects, while the rock carvings during this time receive an increased element of human figures and activities. Often, stately ships were made. As in the rest of Scandinavia, a highly stylized animal ornament developed in Norway during the Viking Age, which is preserved mainly on metal objects. The finds from the Osebergsgrave (800’s) also show what the wooden sculptors of the time were capable of. Both the ship and the funeral took place in which the accompanying objects are adorned with extremely richly varied forms, and the many variants of the complicated animal ornamentation have attracted researchers to see a number of anonymous artists such as “The Academician” and “The Baroque Master” on style-critical grounds. Among the finds from Oseberg are also narrative picture suites in wood and textiles, whose motives may have been derived from the Nordic myth. These fragments complement the notion of the art of the time we get from the imagery rune stones, which are, however, mainly decorated decoratively.
THE MIDDLE AGES
The animal ornamentation of the Viking Age lives on in the art of the Christian era, mainly in the form of wood carvings on the stave churches. As a notable example, Urnes (c. 1060) appears with elegant animals that bite into each other’s throats and meander around the entrance. Animal ornamentation is found throughout the Middle Ages, divided between church and folk art. However, the figure of human figures is increasing, and the design language also shows a relationship with European book painting. For example, in Hylestads church portal in Valle (c. 1200) contains carved medallions with Romanesque plant ornaments that frame the story of the killer Sigurd. In the ecclesiastical environment, general European motifs also flourish, and there are outstanding freer sculptures preserved, such as the English-inspired Saint Michael of Mosvik and the Queen of Heaven from Hove (both 13th century). Norway’s own patron saint, Saint Olav, was portrayed in the 13th century mainly as a king of the throne, but later often as a warrior with the enemy as dragon underfoot. The stone sculpture was developed mainly in connection with the cathedral buildings’ huts, where ornaments and figures formed an integral part of the building. In Trondheim there are examples of Romanesque fantasy animals and plant vines in relief, and in the cathedral’s octagon the Gothic style intrusion is mirrored around 1200. The colorful churches’ wooden paintings glorify Christ and the saints, as in the blood-dripping Margrete legend in Torpo. Above all, the Gothic painting is well represented in the so-called antemensals (altar faces) so characteristic of Norway. After about 1350, imported art became more dominant, and contacts with Hansan promoted German-made sculpture such as the Maria altar cabinet in Bergen (c. 1500). Above all, the Gothic painting is well represented in the so-called antemensals (altar faces) so characteristic of Norway.
Between 1500-1700
In the 16th century, the first portrait of individuals, preferably of priests, was added. Through the use of epitaphs, like the bourgeoisie, these have provided testimony to both piety and self-esteem. In the 16th century, weavings influenced by Flemish wallpaper and stylized biblical motifs were added. Immigrant artists such as the van Haven family and Elias Fiigenschoug in Bergen held a high standard in portrait painting in the 17th century. Fiigenschoug’s picture of Halsnøy monastery (1656) can be seen as the oldest Norwegian landscape painting. In addition to epitaphs, the church environment needed to be supplemented with altarpieces and pulpit decor, where painters such as Gottfried Hendtzschel in Stavanger worked in an almost Late mannerist spirit.
Profane painting developed rapidly in the 18th century when the wealthy bourgeoisie took the habit of being portrayed. Many artists were trained in Copenhagen, eg. Eggert Munch, whose portrait shows a slightly heavy-footed but colorful rococo style. HCF Hosenfelder performed expressive portraits reflecting the viewer’s view of the child as an individual. Mathias Blumenthal in Bergen mainly focused on decorating wealthy merchant houses with allegorical images in vivid and colorful rococo. The farms of priests and big-banders were also provided with imaginative landscapes on the walls by, among other things. Peder Aadnes. Some churches such as Kongsberg (c. 1760) had completed rococo furnishings, where painting and sculpture decor interplay to dissolve the room. Although Blumenthal also performed landscape paintings, it was not until the late 18th century that the Norwegian landscape became established as a motif through, among other things. the Danish Erik Pauelsen. HisSarpsfossen (1789) was multiplied in copper engraving and inspired later artists to travel in Norway.
1800’s
Neoclassical visual art is represented mainly by portrait painter Jakob Munch and by sculptors such as Thorvaldsen student Hans Michelsen. Decorative painting according to the Pompeian pattern was developed by Danish JH Nebelong. Parallel to a classifying flow, a strong painting-like orientation is found in, among other things. Mathias Stoltenberg’s portrait painting. In 1818, Tegneskolen started in Kristiania, where the Danish-born Johannes Flintoe was the leading teacher in 1820–51. Flintoe created the earliest cosmoram food in Oslo in 1825, but otherwise devoted himself to decorative painting for the needs of the growing capital as well as to models for posters with national motifs. Patriotic lithographic albums after works by Norway’s leading artists were published by Christian Tønsberg in Oslo.
Reputability even outside the country’s borders reached Norwegian art during the 19th century, mainly through the landscape painting. The development of motifs from mountains and fjords was initiated by Johan Christian Dahl, who did almost all scientific studies of clouds and painted motifs with pronounced national character, such as Vinter ved Sognefjord(1827) with a bautasten as the main motif. Dahl was also a driving force in the newly preserved cultural heritage. The romantic possibilities of the Norwegian landscape were further developed by Thomas Fearnley and by Hans Gude, whose activities as a teacher became significant several generations ahead. Even more dramatic compositions, with rapids in powerful light, were created by August Cappelen and by Peder Balke, whose rock formations are almost visionary in nature. In this context, Lars Hertervig’s light studies also have their place. Much of the painting of Norwegian national romance was developed in Düsseldorf, where, apart from Gude, Adolph Tidemand is the main representative. In the co-production The Bride in Hardanger(1848) they combined the high mountains with colorful folk customs. Tidemand also dealt with current topics such as the religious movements in eg. The Fanatics (1866). From the 1870’s a landscape painting was developed with alternatives to the mountain motifs such as Kitty Kielland’s factual images from Jæren. Along with Eilif Peterssen and Christian Skredsvig, in the 1880’s, she also explored the Nordic light in summer night motifs. Dazzling daylight was studied by Frits Thaulow, who did outdoor painting in the winter. About 1880, the French-influenced artists’ opposition to the view of art was actualized, for example. Christiania Kunstforening (founded in 1836) and new exhibition opportunities such as the Autumn Exhibition were started, partly supported by the state.
National romance motifs were radicalized by painters such as Christian Krohg and Hans Heyerdahl to become naturalistic reality studies. Through tendency paintings, Krohg sought to influence social ills, such as the prostitution in Albertine (1886). Together with Hans Jæger he published the magazine Impressionist. Harriet Backer’s figurative painting concentrated on painting qualities, as did Erik Werenskiold, in whose images the national content is, however, clearer. Werenskiold was also one of the leading fairy tale illustrators along with Theodor Kittelsen, who also created the image of the Norwegian troll. Among the artistically designed books can be mentioned Kittelsen’s own Svartedauen(1900), which in densified black and white images depicts the ravages of poet death. The mysterious and psychologically powerful within folk culture was also emphasized by Halfdan Egedius in e.g. Games and Dance (1896). The traditional picture weave was given a renaissance through Gerhard Munthe’s archaic design language and the more internationally oriented Frida Hansen.
The exploration of the human psyche got its artistic representative in Edvard Munch, who in the painting suite Life’s Life with expressive form treatment raised eternal issues of love and death. Munch also stands out as a pioneer through his woodcuts and lithographs, but for a wider spread of graphics, the Radérklassen at the Arts and Crafts School in Oslo, started in 1899 under the leadership of Johan Nordhagen, played a major role.
1900-2000 centuries
In 1909 the Academy of Fine Arts in Oslo was founded under the leadership of Christian Krohg, but private painting schools such as Harriet Backers were also of great importance. Many young people applied to the European studios where modernism developed. Then came the Matisse students Ludvig Karsten, Jean Heiberg and Henrik Sørensen to present subjective colorist interpretations of reality. The development of modernism in Norway had less character of revolt than in e.g. Sweden when many of the middle-aged generation such as Christian Krohg and Werenskiold also continued to experiment. Munch’s painting also served as a bridge to the new. Performing art came to dominate the first half of the 20th century, and although Per Krohg experimented with formal problems in the borderland of cubism, an extremely abstract painting had only a few representatives such as Thorvald Hellesen. Following the dissolution of the union in 1905, public art became more important. Both for the clients and for many artists, this meant a conscious effort to reach a wider audience and thus emphasize the unity of the independent kingdom. In 1916 both Gerhard Munthe’s decoration of Håkonshallen in Bergen and Edvard Munch’s paintings for the University of Oslo were completed. The real fresco took its start in the 1920’s with Alf Rolfsen’s decoration of the Telegraph Building in Oslo and Axel Revold’s pictures for the Bergen Stock Exchange as the first major work. Along with Per Krohg, they formed the group “Freskobröderne”, but they were far from alone in participating in the decoration work that characterizes Norwegian painting until the 1960’s. Oslo City Hall is the prime example of an artistic venture here.
Among the many sculptors who have created public works can be mentioned Wilhelm Rasmussen, Stinius Fredriksen, Dyre Vaa and Nils Aas, but the century’s most magnificent sculptural effort is the Vigelands facility in Oslo with works by Gustav Vigeland. In addition to public art, there was also a trend painting that raised current issues, which was reinforced during the war years. Political commitment was expressed through expressive figure painting as at Reidar Aulie and more abstract forms as at Sigurd Winge. Illustrators such as Ragnvald Blix hostage Nazism, and textile artist Hannah Ryggen used a traditional medium to depict contemporary times. The political involvement of the 1960’s is most evident with Kjartan Slettemark and Per Kleiva. In the graphics collective GRAS, Kleiva and Anders Kjær worked with screenplays in the anti-imperialist spirit. Gunnar S. Gundersen created analytical, almost concrete image forms. The abstract sculpture also broke through about 1960 with Arnold Haukeland’s expressive figures, which received a follow-up by, among other things. Boge Berg. Man is also the starting point for Kristian Kvakland’s grotesque wooden figures and Ola Enstad’s enlarged concrete heads, which have also been used in absurd photo montages. The sculpture takes a conceptual direction through Bård Breivik. The breadth of two-dimensional art can be illustrated by Inger Sitter’s energetic new expressionism, Knut Rose’s association-rich figure painting and Odd Nerdrum’s return to the 16th-century masters’ technology for contemporary subjects. Man is also the starting point for Kristian Kvakland’s grotesque wooden figures and Ola Enstad’s enlarged concrete heads, which were also used in absurd photo montages. The sculpture takes a conceptual direction through Bård Breivik. The breadth of two-dimensional art can be illustrated by Inger Sitter’s energetic new expressionism, Knut Rose’s association-rich figure painting and Odd Nerdrum’s return to the 16th-century masters’ technology for contemporary subjects. Man is also the starting point for Kristian Kvakland’s grotesque wooden figures and Ola Enstad’s enlarged concrete heads, which were also used in absurd photo montages. The sculpture takes a conceptual direction through Bård Breivik. The breadth of two-dimensional art can be illustrated by Inger Sitter’s energetic new expressionism, Knut Rose’s association-rich figure painting and Odd Nerdrum’s return to the 16th-century masters’ technology for contemporary subjects.
The exploration of the Norwegian landscape continued in the 1990’s through Marianne Heskes (born 1946) video art. The painting during this decade was characterized by an attraction to the decorative by artists such as Terje Uhrn (born 1951) and Geir Yttervik (born 1955), who work with traditional painting techniques and often refer to the history of art in their works.
International views and genre resolutions characterize the beginning of the 21st century. Bjarne Melgaard has challenged the audience with his art with sadomasochistic themes and his controversial video films. Anne Katrine Dolven expresses herself in several media but is best known for her abstract landscape paintings in monumental format. Mention can also be made of Ida Lorentzen (born 1951) with her melancholy interior paintings and portraits.
Crafts
A high-quality wood carving art has since the Middle Ages characterized Norwegian furniture crafts. The oldest preserved furniture is decorated with powerful relief or elegant flat cut ornaments of band-shaped animal bodies, fable creatures and intricate braiding masks.
In the bourgeoisie, the Renaissance gained entry in the 16th century, when furniture and textiles were imported from Northern Germany, Denmark and, above all, the Netherlands. The style traditions of the Viking Age and the Middle Ages were united with the Baroque during the 18th century, when a rich folk art was developed, mainly in eastern N’s peasant settlements. It manifested itself in wood carving and furniture painting as well as in textile works, of which the pictorial tissues with biblical motifs are the most striking. A fashion art under the Baroque was the ivory sculpture, for Norway represented by Magnus Berg.
At the same time as the Queen Anne and Chippendale styles prevailed in the city-floor lounges, a rural rococo, distinguished by exquisitely cut acanthus pines, flowers, fruits and putti, developed in the countryside, all usually painted in bright colors (see rose painting).
An interesting variation of the interior art of neoclassicalism is the magnificent, independently designed furniture that was introduced around 1780, possibly after drawings by furniture architect JC Lillie. Later in the period, the Biedermeier in Danish vintage came to dominate in bourgeois circles, while the strict French empiricism remained a court style.
The unconventional attitude that sometimes made its mark on older Norwegian crafts is not least evident in ceramics, where Herrebøe Fajance Fabrique gave the national rococo a lavish artistic expression. The glass art also had a flourish in the 18th century with the Nøstetangens chandeliers and engraved cups as highlights.
See also Baldisholtpeteten, Hadeland Glassverk, Egersunds Fayancefabrik, Høylandet carpet and Porsgrund’s Porcelain factory.
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, objects were decorated with dragon-style ornaments. Its most striking expression found these Viking Age-inspired motifs in metal art. Around the turn of the 1900, the enamel technology also had a breakthrough. through Gustav Gaudernack’s exquisite work with transparent window enamel. Enamel works during the 20th century were a kind of art characteristic of Norway. through the works of Grete Prytz Kittelsen for the company J. Tostrup. Silver for the same producer by Oskar Sørensen and Jacob Prytz, together with Thorbjørn Lie-Jørgensen’s vessel for David Andersen, is also important for the 1930’s and 40’s, as is Hannah Ryggen’s powerful free tissues. When Scandinavian Design made its victory train through the world in the 1950’s, Tias Eckhoff’s porcelain and cutlery, as well as Arne Jon Jutrem’s glass, essential. Strong expressiveness characterized the 1970’s; Erik Pløen’s pottery, Benny Motzfeldt’s glass and Tone Vigeland’s jewelry were the bearers of this new freedom. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, bold free ceramics and imaginative theatrical jewelry became something of a sign of Norwegian craftsmanship.
Since the 1980’s, Norwegian crafts have flourished. Several directions can be discerned, one with roots in folk art, which – freely and expressively – refers to “own” in a time of change. Examples are painted furniture by Liv Sætrang. Others belong in the urban environment and show changing forms of expression, from Morten Kleppan’s minimalist wall clock to Liv Blåvarp’s “baroque” wooden jewelry in neopop. Peter Opsvik makes personal furniture from recycled materials, but also draws chairs for Balans, a Norwegian program for ergonomic sitting.
In 2005, the Norwegian Design and Architecture Center (DOGA) opened in Oslo as an exhibition venue and center for design and architecture.
Architecture
Norway has a strong tradition of building in wood. Already during the Viking age a refined wooden craft had been developed in Norway. in parts of Urnes Stave Church. The stave churches are Norway’s most distinctive contribution to the history of architecture, and the wooden building art, which culminated in the Middle Ages, has characterized the work of Norwegian architects into our time. Stones came to be used for the most primitive buildings on the one hand, such as sheds and fire houses in the mountain areas, on the other the most representative. The cathedral in Nidaros (Trondheim), mainly erected in the 12th century, is Norway’s most important stone work. The status of the new community was also marked in Trondheim with a huge archbishop’s courtyard in stone. Slightly older, and simpler, are the cathedrals in Stavanger and Hamar (burnt down in 1567). Of recent churches, Kongsberg’s magnificent Rococo Church from 1761 occupies a special position. The absence of a powerful knighthood limited the castle construction to the royal estate in Bergen (seeBergenhus) and Akershus in Oslo, both from the 13th century. Among the later noble residence is the Rosenkrantztornet in Bergen from the beginning of the 16th century and Austråt at the entrance to the Trondheim Fjord from the middle of the 1600’s.
The peasant building condition has varied from valley to valley with a dense and bulky cluster of houses as a common settlement pattern; compare Folklore below. Gudbrandsdalen exhibits the oldest preserved and richest popular building culture, where timber technology and pole building technology were combined in giant loft sheds. After the introduction of the water-driven saw, a rich panel architecture was developed, especially in the coastal areas, in the south and in the West country, usually with landscape boards.
Urban construction was made more difficult by the constant urbanization of ash trees. Since the old Oslo was laid in ruins for the fourteenth time in 1624, Kristian IVthe new Kristiania following a modern grid plan. A fire destroyed the whole of Trondheim in 1681. A fortified city rose from the ashes in accordance with General JC de Cicignon’s plan. In the 18th century Trondheim grew strongly, and the new prosperity received its most magnificent monument in the Stiftsgården, Europe’s largest wooden building, erected in 1774–78. In 1702 Bergen also burned down. In the reconstruction, the dramatic terrain made it impossible for a regulated building, and the new city came to be very similar to the old. The city’s new character traits were created by lots of small, individual houses on the mountain sides without the farm formations that characterized Trondheim and Kristiania. This urban villa culture, often with features of rococo, has characterized the Bergen architecture into the 20th century. Among other Norwegian cities with large parts of traditional wooden housing preserved are Stavanger and Røros.
Architecture’s development in Norway during the 19th century was largely concentrated on emerging industrial species, in particular Oslo. The ambition to shape a domestic architecture was initiated by Holm H. Munthe (Frognerseteren sports restaurant 1891) and was developed mainly in the important residential construction of Norwegian architecture that is so important to Norwegian architecture. Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson, as well as Frederik Konow Lund. With the opening of the Technical University in Trondheim in 1910, the country received its first regular architectural education. With a class grant, Christian von Munthe designed by Morgenstierne and Arne Eide Bestun school outside Oslo (1918), Lorentz Ree Vigelandsmuseet (1928) and Gudolf Blakstad and Herman Munthe-Kaas Haugesund City Hall (1924-31). With restaurant Skansen in Oslo (1927) Lars Backer introduced modernism, later developed by Ove Bang, Arne Korsmo and Sverre Fehn; the latter together with i.a. theorist Christian Norberg-Schulz joined the PAGON group, a Norwegian branch of CIAM. A softer modernism, often expressed in wood, was represented by Knut Knutsen and Wenche and Jens Selmer and subsequently received support in Norberg-Schulz’s internationally acclaimed writings on critical regionalism. Notable efforts have also been made by the companies Lund & Slaatto with Sankt Hallvard monastery and church in Oslo (1958-66). Knut Knutsen and Wenche and Jens Selmer and subsequently received support in Norberg-Schulz’s internationally acclaimed writings on critical regionalism. Notable efforts have also been made by the companies Lund & Slaatto with Sankt Hallvard monastery and church in Oslo (1958-66). Knut Knutsen and Wenche and Jens Selmer and subsequently received support in Norberg-Schulz’s internationally acclaimed writings on critical regionalism. Notable efforts have also been made by the companies Lund & Slaatto with Sankt Hallvard monastery and church in Oslo (1958-66).
Many large-scale building projects are characterized by ecological thinking; for example, Gardermoen’s new airport terminal is completely heated by geothermal energy. The terminal building from 1998 (the main architect Gudmund Stokke, born 1949) and the extension from 2008 relate to the Norwegian wooden building tradition.
A tendency in Norwegian architecture in the early 2000’s is to look back on 1930’s functionalism. This new functionalism or minimalism has been expressed in several residential and commercial buildings, including Fokus Bank’s head office in Oslo (2005), designed by Kristin Jarmund (born 1954). A controversial landmark in the port city of Molde is the 82 m high hotel Rica Seilet (2002), with glass facade shaped like a sail, designed by Kjell Kosberg (born 1953).
The biggest impact, even internationally, in today’s Norwegian architecture is the architectural firm Snøhetta, now with offices also in New York. Among its most notable buildings are the Museum of Art in Lillehammer (1992), the University of Nydalen (2001–05), Bærum Kulturhus in Sandvika (2003) and the Opera House in Oslo (2008).
LANDSCAPE-GARDENING
The earliest traces of garden art in Norway come from about 20 monastic gardens, built in the 1100’s-1200’s. The Dominicans Olav Monastery (now bishop’s yard) in the Old Town of Oslo, built in 1239, is an example. In the middle of the 16th century, Norway was reached by the Italian Renaissance ideas for refined nature in perfect balance, geometrically bounded to the surroundings. The impulses came via the Netherlands, with which Norway had trade relations. In Vestlandet, at the Rosendal Manor in Kvinnherad, is Norway’s best-preserved Renaissance garden, built in the 1680’s.
In Norway, the baroque garden was never given the lavish expression as a symbol of the central power it received in southern countries, but one can find examples of the typical symmetry and axiality of the baroque in the form of wide grass spars and snow-straight alleys. Norway’s largest plant of this type is Jarlsberg in Tønsberg, built about 1760.
As in other countries, the English direction in the art of gardening in Norway meant a drastic settlement with earlier eras. The regularity and monumentality were replaced by the free, pastoral landscape with soft, undulating shapes. Norway’s earliest example is Bogstad outside Oslo, built about 1785. A neoclassical reaction to this geometric free style gave the formal garden restoration; The main work is Olav L. Moen’s plan from 1924 for the park at NLH (Norwegian Agricultural College) in Ås. The landscape style and the regular style lived side by side, leading to functionalism. This emphasized the social value that could be developed in parks and green areas. Development of park programs with park play, excursion paths and recreational opportunities, including in Oslo under the direction of city gardener Marius Røhne,
Music
Four bronze earrings are the earliest finds that testify to music in Norway. From the Viking Age and the Early Middle Ages there are literary sources regarding musical culture; The Norwegian-Icelandic oath and shell poetry, as well as the saga literature, supplemented by pictorial representations and instrument finds, show that harp instruments were primarily used. The sounding practice of the pre-Christian song and music is unrepresented in the source material. However, in the well-known two-song song from Iceland it is possible to recognize an original Norwegian song style.
Classical music
With the medieval games and with the church music, Norway was tied to the European continent. Especially for Norway was the Olav music, the liturgy that was associated with the national saint. During the period 1380-1814, Norway’s music culture was intimately connected with Denmark. Norwegian musicians often served in Copenhagen. The art musical elements in Norway were few; courtship and a more widespread high-end culture were lacking. However, a German-born composer, Johan Daniel Berlin, appeared in Trondheim in the 18th century, as did his son Johan Henrich Berlin. Touring artists and the emergence of local music companies laid the foundation for a public concert life.
The music company Harmonien in Bergen was founded in 1765. From the first years of the union with Sweden can be mentioned the composer Waldemar Thrane (1790-1828), the world famous violinist Ole Bull and the church musician Lindeman. Moving in from Germany was the versatile Friedrich August Reissiger (1809–83), among others. chaplain at the Christiania Theater, where opera art was cultivated during the 19th century.
In Kristiania the Philharmonic Society was further organized, followed by the Music Society. Halfdan Kjerulf appears as Norway’s foremost composer before Grieg, famous for his songs and choral works; Kjerulf was important in the thriving male choir and solo singing culture of the mid-19th century. With Edvard Grieg, Norway got its first internationally important composer. He also characterized the image of Norwegian national romance and exported his music as a frequent touring pianist.
Further to Grieg’s generation was Johan Svendsen, active as a composer and conductor in both Kristiania and Copenhagen. At a later national romantic stage, Agathe Backer Grøndahl, who was also a pianist, and Christian Sinding are noticed. Grieg’s influence and the national sense of identity continued to guide Norwegian music for several decades into the 20th century. Among the 20th century composers are David Monrad Johansen, Ludvig Irgens Jensen (1894–1969), Harald Sæverud, Klaus Egge and Geirr Tveitt (1908–81). A young man with an advanced modern profile was Fartein Valen.
In 1972, with the founding of the Oslo School of Music, Norway received a higher education in music. Previously, higher music education had been linked to a number of local conservatories. One of the foremost figures in higher education was Finn Mortensen. Arne Nordheim was one of Norway’s most internationally acclaimed composers, while Knut Nystedt also gained notoriety as choir leader and Egil Hovland as creator of church music. Also in the post-war generation are Olav Anton Thommessen and Lasse Thoresen (born 1949), who both received the Nordic Council Music Prize (1990 and 2010, respectively).
Among a younger generation of composers are Rolf Wallin (born 1957), who received the Nordic Council Music Prize 1998, Asbjørn Schaatun (born 1961), Åse Hedstrøm (born 1950), Cecilie Ore (born 1954), Eivind Buenen (born 1973) and Maja Ratkje (born 1973).
Despite the long absence of a permanent opera scene (The Norwegian Opera was first founded in 1958), Norwegian singers have often attracted international attention. Famous names are Kirsten Flagstad, Aase Nordmo Løvberg, Knut Skram (born 1937), Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (born 1959), Solveig Kringlebotn (born 1963) and Randi Stene (born 1963).
Also among the country’s instrumentalists are artists known all over the world: violinists Arve Tellefsen and Terje Tønnesen (born 1955), cellist Truls Mørk (born 1961) and pianists such as Robert Riefling, Eva Knardahl and Leif Ove Andsnes. The most important orchestral institutions are the Oslo Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (as the Music Company Harmony is now called) and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, but several smaller ensembles have also attracted international attention, for example. TrondheimSolistene, Vertavo Quartet and Cikada.
A fixed point in Norwegian cultural life is the Bergen International Festival (since 1953). During the latter part of the 20th century, public music was given new opportunities by means of modern concert halls in, among other places. Bergen (Grieghallen, inaugurated 1978), Oslo (Oslo Concert Hall, inaugurated 1977) and Trondheim (Olavshallen, inaugurated 1989). The New Opera has also been operating in the Grieg Hall in Bergen since 2005. In 2008, the Opera House opened in Oslo, where The Norwegian Opera & Ballet has since housed.
A special feature of Norway’s amateur music is the countless music venues for youth.
As in Sweden, there is in Norway an organization for the distribution of music across the country: Rikskonsertene (founded in 1967).
Folk music
The geography of Norway, with many relatively isolated villages, has favored the emergence of musical traditions. The functional music of the peasant community in the livestock care of livestock farmers was further introduced in the 20th century.
The Western European ballad, which has medieval origins, gained an early foothold in Norway. Stev is a song form with concise text for music that links to the melody of the songwriters. The instrumental folk music is usually divided into two areas according to the two dominant violin types among the playing men. Hardingfelanhas its widespread use in Vestlandet and in the valleys within this region. The common violin is found in the rest of the country. Today, however, the boundaries are not as sharp as before. The Harding fault, akin to viola d’amore, probably developed during the 17th century. It has come to gain a position as a landmark for Norwegian music culture. The repertoire consists mainly of runs, corridors and halling. Both repertoire and playing technique for common violin have great similarities with Swedish musicians’ tradition.
The Swedish Polish has direct counterparts in three-stroke dances, which include bears the dialectal names springleik, wrist and all around. The Norwegian instrumentation also includes langeleik, a citrus-like instrument played with plectrum. The Langeleik tradition has its strongest foothold in Valdres. During the 1900’s and 2000’s, folk music cultivation was influenced by the many competitions in games, singing and dance (the first competition at hardingfela was organized in 1888). Every year, the Landscape Championship, a national championship competition, is organized, which promoted the soloist game and the connection between games and dance.
Documentation of Norwegian folk music has been going on more or less systematically since the mid-19th century. Prominent collector names from the first era include MB Landstad, Sophus Bugge and Ludvig Mathias Lindeman.
Today, the Norwegian Folk Music Collection at the University of Oslo is the country’s central institution in the field, but in many places there are regional folk music archives that are actively involved in documentation work. The Norwegian Folk Music Collection is responsible for a publishing project aimed at publishing most of the collected instrumental material.
The folk music in Norway also includes the Sami music, where contemporary artists such as the group Adjágas and Mari Boine have achieved great success. Other modern Norwegian folk music artists include the group Majorstuen, Annbjørg Lien (born 1971), Unni Løvlid (born 1976) and Ragnhild Furebotten (born 1979).
Popular music and rock
The first Norwegian jazz orchestras arose in the early 1920’s. Jazz, dance music and revue and cabaret music dominated Norwegian popular music during the interwar period. After the Second World War, the jazz scene expanded, the Norwegian Jazz Federation was formed in 1953, and the jazz festival in Molde was first organized in 1961. Several Norwegian jazz musicians were later attracted international attention, including. Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen, Karin Krog, Jan Garbarek and Bjarne Nerem. In the 2000’s, Norwegian jazz was revitalized by a number of artists incorporating elements of electronica into their music, eg. Nils Petter Molvær (born 1960), Bugge Wesseltoft (born 1964) and the group Jaga Jazzist.
The post-war period meant a boost not only for the jazz but also for a Norwegian spirit tradition with names such as Thorbjørn Egner and Alf Prøysen. The strong tradition of wisdom has subsequently been supported by, among other things, Finn Kalvik (born 1947), Åse Kleveland, Halvdan Sivertsen (born 1950) and Jan Eggum (born 1951).
Within the butcher and revue area, artists such as Wenche Myhre and the groups Monn-Keys, formed by the chaplain Egil Monn-Iversen, and Dizzie Tunes have also become popular in Sweden. Singer Sissel Kyrkjebø, with his folk-like appearance, has also had success in the rest of Scandinavia.
Since the 1980’s, there has also been a growing dance band environment, partly designed according to the Swedish model. The band Ole Ivars is one of the most successful.
From the late 1950’s Norwegian rock was played after American and British role models. In the 1960’s, The Pussycats was one of the most acclaimed pop groups. After punk and new wave in the 1980’s, Norway had its biggest export success with the melodic pop group a-ha, which broke through internationally in 1985. During the 1980’s and 90’s, the pop and rock scene was characterized by groups such as DumDum Boys, CC Cowboys, the Lillos, Hellbillies and Motorpsycho. Also popular abroad for his dark and energetic punk rock is the group Turbonegro (until 2010 with singer Hank von Helvete, really Hans Erik Dyvik Husby, born 1972). The new age group Secret Garden has also achieved success abroad. Among younger artists that were noted during the 2000’s are Venke Knutson (born 1978), Sondre Lerche (born 1982), Alexander Rybak, Ane Brun and the Kings of Convenience and Madrugada groups.
In electronics, Röyksopp and Biosphere have achieved international success since the 1990’s, as well as several groups playing heavy metal, especially black metal, such as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon and Dimmu Borgir.
Dance
In 1910 Gylda Christensen (1872–1964) started the first vocational training in classical ballet in Norway, with a ballet academy at the National Theater in Olso. The first big Norwegian dance star was Lillebil Ibsen. An important peacemaker was the educator and choreographer Inga Jacobi (1891-1937).
Norway’s only classical ballet ensemble had a modest beginning in 1948 in the New Norwegian Ballet, founded by Gerd Kjølaas (1909–2000) and the British Louise Browne (1906–96). In 1958, the ballet went up in the newly founded The Norwegian Opera with Australian Harcourt Algeranoff (1907–63) as ballet manager.
Important artistic leaders have been Sonia Arova (1927– 2001) 1966–71, Anne Borg (born 1936) 1971–77 and 1983–88, Jens Graff 1980–83, Viveka Ljung (born 1935) 1988–90, and Dinna Bjørn (born 1947) 1990–2001. In 2002, Espen Giljane (born 1962) was named head of ballet. The repertoire has consisted of contemporary choreography by Balanchine, Tudor, Cullberg and Cramér as well as promising Norwegian choreographers such as Kjersti Alveberg (born 1948) and Kari Blakstad (born 1938). In 1992, the ballet changed its name to The Norwegian National Ballet, which since 2008 is housed in the Opera House in Oslo and which in 2012 had 61 dancers.
The scene dance in Norway has developed significantly in recent decades. In 1979 the State Ballet School was founded, and in 1984 the ensemble Carte Blanche was started, which in 1989 became a state institution with location in Bergen. An important manager was Arne Fagerholt (born 1964). Under his leadership in 2001–08, the ensemble was established as the country’s national ensemble for contemporary dance. In 1994, a foundation for dance information was started, which in 2007 was named Danseinformationen. In 2008, Dansens Hus in Oslo was opened as a national dance scene; artistic leader since 2010 is Un-Magritt Nordseth (born 1961).
Successful choreographers with their own dance groups are Ingunn Bjørnsgaard (born 1962) and Jo Strømgren (born 1970).
Folk dance in Norway is usually divided into the main groups countryside dance (runs, corridors, halling, roll and wrist), round dance (variants of drum, polka, mazurka and Rhineland), tour dance (contra dances, grooves, pair dances) and song games (traditional games for singing). The song dance, with patterns from Faroese ballad dance, was established by Hulda Garborg in 1902. The dance dance is the most important Norwegian dance group, partly because it dominated the Norwegian dance repertoire until about 1900, and partly because it has a musical and choreographic character and strength that make it interesting. Local variants are documented in all parts of Norway.
The Norwegian folk dance movement arose around the turn of the 1900’s with races and courses in rural dance as well as through the work for song dance. This attracted work with other dance genres and was organized within the Norwegian Youth Team. Organized round dance activity started in earnest in the 1960’s, when many old dance associations were created. In the 1970’s the swing dance got a similar renaissance. The Council for Folk Music and Folk Dance has a large archive in Trondheim.
folk culture
The pre-industrial Norwegian folk culture is based on some common conditions for much of the country. Norway, with the exception of the coastal fish culture, belongs to the northern Scandinavian coniferous forest area, where the economic framework consists of an extensively conducted livestock management with livestock farming, farms, which in our own time played an important function. Not only the business world at large but also numerous phenomena that depend on it are common to Norway and Northern Sweden, so in terms of food (eg unleavened thin bread, flat bread, long or dairy milk, ted milk)), building condition (knot carpentry, pillars) and social relationships (night weddings), but also in terms of folktale and folk poetry (including several sayings related to the shepherd culture). The coast of Sørland from Lista to the Swedish border was “Maritime Norway”, while the coast to the north of Lista was “Fiskarnorge”. In both areas the industry was conducted in combination with agriculture. Through the men’s long away stances, women gained a strong position, so-called women farmers. The most important fishing was carried out at Lofoten, especially herring and cod.
The Norwegian peasantry should probably be regarded as the most politically, economically and culturally independent in Europe, especially since the indigenous nobility has largely lost its position of power towards the end of the Middle Ages. The peasants came in most places to form a culturally leading layer and promoted the emergence of, among other things. a rich decorative art, in whose form world you can read the countryside’s economic boom at varying times – the Renaissance forms of the Renaissance, late Baroque and rococo in Eastern Norway. The relatively limited contact with international parenting orientations such a popular culture shows, when compared to a society where nobility and citizens have good relations with similar elements in other countries and can convey cultural loans, led in many places to conspicuous conservatism and style retaliation. At the same time, the local traditions were taken care of, whereby a rich variety between the often strongly isolated settlements emerged. By contrast, Sørlandet was in close contact with the Netherlands and other North Sea countries, which is reflected in its entire cultural environment.
The village system did not occur in Norway. The farm forms varied and can be taken as an example of Norway’s cultural boundaries. In Western Norway there was an unstructured klungbebyggelse where one yard (tun) could accommodate several farms buildings, often densely crowded together but please oriented with the ends at an inlet or a valley floor. North and southeast of this area, i.a. in Setesdal and Telemark, it was preferred to place housing and outbuildings in two parallel rows, an arrangement that is usually assigned to a high age, as the landowners in Iceland followed this model. In Gudbrandsdalen and an area around its upper part has buildings grouped around two tun, with manor house (inntun) and farmyard (uttun), much like the central Swedish farm type. Otherwise, as in Northern Sweden, the four-building courtyard has dominated either open with great distances between the buildings (so in most of Østlandet) or with the houses close together (Trøndelag and the areas farther south). In an area opposite the border with Värmland and Dalsland, there has been a more irregular settlement, reminiscent of it on the Swedish side, while the cluster building returned in Northern Norway. The division into western, eastern and northern mountainous forms that characterize the farm types can be found in several cultural elements. Thus, Vestland’s use of a chimney-smokeless furnace contrasts markedly with the open hearth (oar) that was common in the rest of the country to be gradually replaced by the same chimney- equipped fireplace (fireplace) as in large parts of Sweden (or by a stove or stove).
The contradiction to the west-east in Norwegian folk culture is a consequence, among other things. of the fact that Vestlandet has long been in close contact with Western Europe, not least the British Isles from the Viking Age, while Østlandet has received important impulses east and south-east from and the Danish influence has been most evident in Sørlandet. An important innovation area, in which news has been transmitted far north and also into Swedish territory (eg the upturned cooker hood), extends from the Oslofjord along Glomma and Gudbrandsdalen. As distinctive relic areas, some of the southern Norwegian valley areas appeared for a long time, e.g. Setesdal and Telemark.
In the area of folklore, Norway exhibits some deviation from Swedish tradition, for example. that you continue to celebrate midsummer with making bonfires in the open air. In popular belief, it can be noted that the troll in Norway has become more poetic than religious, while the people of hollow (compare hollows) fulfill their and the white faith’s function in religious contexts. Norway’s folk tales have become internationally known through the collections of Asbjørnsen and Moes from the mid-19th century.
Norwegian folk culture is documented and preserved partly by central institutions in Oslo (Norwegian Folk Museum, Norwegian Ethnological Review and Norwegian Folk Memorial Collection, the latter now in the University’s Department of Folkloristics), but in addition there are significant local collections in Bergen, Lillehammer (Maihaugen) and in Kaupanger in Sogn (The Heibergian Collections). The system of regional folk museums is comprehensive. Individuals also created large collections of folklore in the 20th century, for example. Rikard Berge (in the county museum in Skien).
See also Sami.
Sports
Winter sports traditionally have a very strong position in Norway. Skiing is considered the country’s national sport with broad popular anchoring and practice as well as a very strong elite level.
Skiing has its roots in Norway where military competitions were organized as early as the second half of the 18th century. The first civilia competition was held in Tromsø in 1843 and the first ski club was formed in Trysil in 1861. The downhill skiing styles practiced in Telemark in the 19th century came to prohibit today’s slalom, downhill skiing and jumping.
Norway has had a number of prominent ski profiles, including cross-country skiers Bjørn Dæhlie, Petter Northug and Marit Bjørgen, downhill skiers Kjetil André Aamodt and Lasse Kjus (born 1971), back- hitter Birger Ruud and biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen.
Speed skating also has a strong tradition in Norway with stars such as Ivar Ballangrud, Hjalmar “Hjallis” Andersen and Johann Olav Koss. Figure skater Sonja Henie is another of the country’s top athletes.
In recent decades, Norway has also been successful in handball and football, not least on the women’s side, as well as athletics and bicycles. Spear thrower Andreas Thorkildsen is the country’s most qualified athlete (including two Olympic golds). Further back in history is sailing and shooting sports where the country has asserted itself well.
Norway has arranged the Winter Olympics on two occasions: 1952 in Oslo and 1994 in Lillehammer. The most notable annual events are the ski competitions in Holmenkollen and the athletics gala at Bislett in Oslo.
Norwegian sport is organized by the Norwegian Sports Federation (NIF), established in 1861. Since 1996, the country’s Olympic committee has also been part of the organization. NIF has about 2 million members distributed among 54 special associations and about 12,000 associations.