Johan Halvorsen

Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and musician. As well as theatre music, he conducted performances of over 30 operas and composed the incidental music for more than 30 plays. Following his retirement from the theatre he finally had time to concentrate on the composition of his three great symphonies and two well-known Norwegian rhapsodies. Halvorsen's compositions were a development of the national romantic tradition exemplified by Edvard Grieg though written in a distinctive style marked by brilliant orchestration. His two best known works today are the Bojarenes inntogsmarsj (Entry March of the Boyars) and Bergensiana, along with his passacaglia on a theme by Handel for violin and viola. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.