Bjørn Fongaard

Bjørn Halsten Fongaard ( born March 2, 1919 in Oslo, † October 26, 1980 ) was a Norwegian composer, guitarist and music educator.

Life and work

Fongaard was the son of a working class family in Oslo and grew up in Ekeberg district. The parents were Paul Anton Fongaard and Sigrid Hjelmberg.

Bjørn Fongaard initially studied harmony and piano with Kristian Lange. In 1945 he completed an apprenticeship as a guitarist and pianist at the Conservatory of Oslo, and 1947 as a conductor. Privately, he studied composition with Per Steenberg, Sigurd Islandsmoen, Bjarne Brustad and Karl Andersen.

Hindemith, Schoenberg and Webern were early sources of inspiration, and Fongaard wrote music in traditional genres before he started to focus on microtonal music. To realize his ideas, he first built a quarter-tone guitar, later a fretless guitar and finally a prepared guitar.

Fongaard was a prolific composer; total he wrote more than 250 pieces, 150 with Opus numbers, including orchestral works, electronic music, chamber music, concertos, piano and organ suites, songs, choral works and symphonies.

Works

Orchestral works

• Uranium 235 (1963)
• 23 concertos for piano and orchestra, Op 118
• 12 concertos for solo instrument and orchestra, Op 120
• 12 symphonies
• Composer
• 18 concerts for various wind instruments
• 7 Violin Concertos
• 5 Organ Concertos

Chamber Music

• 21 string quartets
• 12 String Trioen
• 57 sonatas
• 41 concertos for solo instrument and tape, Op 131

Electronic music for microtonal guitar

• Galaxe op 46 (1966 )
• Homo Sapiens, Op 80 (1966 )
• Epic (1967 )
• Aforismer (1968)
• Elektrofonia 1-7, 1970
• Genesis
• Microtonalis Sinfonia op 79
• Orchestra Antiphonalis
• Sonata (1970 )
• Suite ( 1971)
• Andromeda, Ballet (1971 )
• Dimensjoner, Ballet (1972 )

Media

• Fongaard: Elektrofoni. Works For Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978, PRISMACD711 2010