Nordraak, Rikard

Born June 12, 1842, in Oslo; died Mar. 20, 1866, in Berlin. Norwegian composer, pianist, and collector of folk songs and dances.

Nordraak was active in the social movement for the development of a national music. He was a friend of E. Grieg and exerted an important influence on the latter’s musical work. In Copenhagen in 1864, he organized the Euterpe Society, which popularized the new Scandinavian music. He was the author of the national anthem to the text by B. Bjørnson and the music for Bjørnson’s dramas Mary Stuart in Scotland (1870, Stockholm) and Sigurd the Bad. He also composed choruses for male voices, art songs, piano works, and folk-song arrangements.