"Harding Puls"
Hardanger Artists inspired by Olav H. Hauge and Geirr Tveitt
Celebrating the Olav H. Hauge and Geirr Tveitt Anniversary 08
Exhibit on display May 15- Sep 7

About Olav H. Hauge and Geirr Tveitt

Olav H. Hauge (1908-1994)

Olav H. Hauge was born in the village Ulvik in the region of Hardanger in 1908, where he also lived all his life until he passed away in 1994. He worked as a gardener and was largely self-taught as a poet. From his debut collection Glør i Oska in 1946, and to his final collection Janglestrå in 1980, Hauge published seven collections of poems that have come to constitute a unique authorship in the Norwegian literary tradition.

Hauge’s poetry represents a remarkable unity of tradition and modernity, and he influenced a whole generation of poets, critiques and journalists from the 1960’s and onwards. Hauge received several prizes and awards for his work, including The Norwegian Critics’ Award in 1961 for the collection På Ørnetuva. His work has been translated into nearly 30 languages.

His literary world offers a stark connection between the down-to-earth and the universal. We are sometimes being providing with general insights coming out of calm observations of animals and vegetation, while at other times everyday-observations are distilled through observations of international affairs. In this respect, Hauge passes on a tradition that stems from American authors and thinkers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803—1882) and Henry David Thoreau (1817—1862). There are also similarities to be found in particularly Thoreau’s life, as portrayed in the book Walden, and Hauge’s own life.

Hauge’s literary interests were to a large degree shaped by inspiration from the local librarian, Magnus Hakestad, and Hauge’s uncle Edmund Hakestad. Both Magnus and Edmund lived in America in longer periods of their lives, and from his uncle Edmund young Olav received several books and also Edmund’s own thoughts on literature. Later in life, Olav got strongly connected to the poet Robert Bly, and they translated each other’s poems and also met on several occasions.

Hauge was also an outspoken translator, and he introduced several poets for Norwegian readers. His diaries, written in the period between 1924 and 1994, and published in 2000, leaves us with an insight into international and national affairs within the realms of politics and everyday life in Norway.

Øystein Hide
Head of Friends of Olav H. Hauge.

Geirr Tveitt (1908-1981)

Geirr Tveitt was the most colourful Norwegian composer of his generation – and the most productive. He had the spiritual wing span and the flight of imagination that characterizes the artists touched by genius. Hardheaded and stubborn, certainly – like Beethoven, Munch and Picasso. Some thought him difficult. They didn’t experience the other Geirr; a celebration of generosity and festivity, a man who communicated warmth and a wonderful sense of humour, often blended richly with self-irony. But when he spoke of his own music it was with understatement and humility.

He had his debut as a composer while still a student in Leipzig, with a piano concert which received great acclaim. His breakthrough came in 1938, with the orchestral version of ’Baldurs draumar’ (’Baldur’s Dreams’), Norse inspired ballet music, described as ”The music event of the year” in Oslo. His collection of folksongs and melodies before and after the occupation resulted in ’Femti folkatonar frao Hardanger for klaver’ (Fifty folk melodies from Hardanger for piano’) and ’Hundrad hardingtonar for symfoniorkester’ (’Hundred Harding melodies for symphony orchestra’). This is his most well known work, and it shows the relationship to Bartok and Ravel, with a musical language which is both impressionistic and specifically inspired by folkmusic, in this case Norwegian. As piano virtuoso and conductor, Geirr Tveitt toured extensively throughout Southern Europe and North Africa, and his greatest success was in Paris. Tveitt’s enormous production spanned from opera, symphonies, and solo concerts, to the simplest little song. Some of his songs, such as ’Vi skal ikkje sova bort sumarnatta’ (We Shouldn’t Sleep Away the Summer Night’), is today part of every Norwegian’s repertoire.

Reidar Storaas
Author of the biography ”Tonekunstnaren Geirr Tveitt”