Rikard Nordraak

Rikard Nordraak ( born June 12, 1842 in Christiania, † March 20, 1866 in Berlin) was a Norwegian composer. He composed as a 18 -year-old Norwegian national anthem Yes, vi elsker dette lands ( "Yes, we love this country " ) after a poem by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.

Life

Nordraak was born in the Norwegian capital, but studied in Copenhagen. At the age of 18 he moved to Berlin and studied under Theodor Kullak and Friedrich Kiel. He died only 23 years old in Berlin from tuberculosis and was buried in the cemetery IV of the community in Jerusalem and New Church in Berlin- Kreuzberg. Nordraak was a cousin of Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and a friend of Edvard Grieg, whom he greatly influenced his idea of an independent Norwegian music. At his death, Grieg composed a funeral march.

The 40th anniversary of his death in 1906 was the occasion to make the grave representative. In a ceremony of the now aged Bjørnson unveiled a five -meter-high granite from Norway, who was placed on Nordraaks Berlin grave.

1925 bones were exhumed and interred in Oslo on the Vår Frelsers Gravlund, the Norwegian National Cemetery Nordraaks again. The magnificent grave building in Berlin was preserved.

In Oslo (then Christiania ) was built by sculptor Gustav Vigeland in 1911 a statue.

Rikard Nordraaks first grave stone ( back, detail )

Rikard Nordraak grave since 1925 on the Vår Frelsers Gravlund in Oslo, Norway