Eivind Groven

His mother, Aslaug Rikardsdotter Berge (1863–1946), was the youngest daughter of Rikard Aslaksson Berge, known for preserving a great amount of old tunes, religious songs and dance-tunes and a friend of Myllarguten's. Two of Groven's maternal uncles also played the hardanger fiddle, and his mother's sisters, as well as Aslaug herself, were talented folk singers.

Groven was the youngest of five brothers.

Two of his brothers began to play the fiddle, and soon Eivind joined them.

His father Olav was also an apt player, and in their childhood, the brothers learned notes, and sometimes played together, when they got their hands on classical sheet music.

Otherwise, local folk music ruled.

As Eivind grew up, he understood the value of writing down the tunes he heard from other fiddlers, and in this way, he soon gained great knowledge.

At the age of 16, Groven was infected with a serious case of wet gangrene in the lungs and barely survived it.

During his reconvalescent period, he studied music and played the fiddle.

He later recalled: "I was free to do whatever I wished in that time".

Eivind Groven studied at Notodden to become a teacher, but soon abandoned this.

His father, Olav Åsmundsson Gjøitil (1865–1947) was the youngest of eight siblings.

Two of his father's brothers played the hardanger fiddle.

Groven was the brother-in-law of author Ingeborg Refling Hagen (1895–1989).

This resulted in a fruitful artistic relationship and Groven created music based on the texts written by his sister-in-law.

Groven continued composing, and was in later years greatly admired for his musical style and his use of the orchestra.

Eivind Groven began writing down fiddle tunes from an early age.

Eivind Groven (8 October 1901 – 8 February 1977) was a Norwegian composer and music-theorist.

He was from traditional region of Vest-Telemark and had a background in the folk music of the area.

Groven was born in the village of Lårdal in Telemark, Norway.

Groven's rural background was filled with traditional music.

He came from a family of talented musicians and artists, prominent in his home area.

Starting in the autumn of 1925, he studied musical theory and composition at the Oslo Conservatory of Music mostly Berlioz and Beethoven.

He held Beethoven in highest esteem for the rest of his life, and wished for the 9th symphony anthem to be played at his funeral.

Unlike many other young Norwegian composers at the time, he refused to go abroad, but stayed at home composing, and developing his own distinct musical forms, based on a merging of the sonata form with the special metamorphic principles unique to the dance music from Telemark, closely related to the forms of late baroque.

In 1931, Groven was appointed by the Norwegian Broadcasting Company, NRK, to be responsible for half an hour of folk music every week.

This allowed him to broadcast many rural musicians to the radio, helping to preserve the folk music for posterity.

Reactions from the urban public were harsh and unfriendly.

Debates intensified, and people living in Oslo mostly expressed their disgust for this "barbaric music".

Groven worked on, said little, as was his way, but it is known that he silently burnt all the hate-mail.

He received great and valuable support from his original rural community, and from his family.

The first recordings are dated 1936.

From those recordings, he wrote down a number of tunes.

From 1938 and into World War II, Groven started his work on just intonation, which resulted in his special organ, completed in 1952.

Albert Schweitzer wrote to Groven and wished he could try this organ, and when he was granted the Nobel Peace Prize, he seized the opportunity.

He exclaimed that a great organ had to be built.

During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, Groven resigned his post in NRK after a brief and unwelcome encounter in his studio with Joseph Goebbels.

After WWII, Groven participated in editing and publishing seven volumes of written and collected tunes for hardanger fiddle, along with two fellow folk musicians in Norway.

The work was completed after their deaths.

During his life, he collected some 2000 fiddle tunes from various parts of the country.

He worked as a consultant in NRK, and here, he was instrumental in creating a folk music archive, and in getting the company proper facilities for recording.