Halfdan Cleve born Halfdan Klewe (5 October 1879 – 6 April 1951) was a Norwegian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and father of the singer and composer

Cissi Cleve Cissi Cleve, born Cecilie Schou Cleve (17 December 1911 – 27 December 1993), was an operatic singer and composer, and the daughter of the composer Halfdan Cleve. Biography Cleve danced ballet for 14 years, and studied under Per Aabel and Lowe ...

Biography

Cleve was born and raised in

Kongsberg, Norway Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production and for ...

. He lived some time in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Some examples of his output as a composer are

piano concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...

s, other

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

works, and some

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

. He was described as a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

. He married pianist (10 February 1878 – 23 September 1964) and they had four children. Berit changed her name to Berit Windern Cleve after marrying Halvdan. Their four children was Cissy Cleve, Signy Cleve, Dagny Cleve, and Astri Cleve. In an interview with ''Aftenposten'' on March 19, 1957, Berit Cleve stated that all four daughters were performing musicians.

was an opera singer. Signy Cleve was a pianist, Dagny Cleve a violinist, and Astri Cleve was a singer who also danced ballet. Throughout his early childhood he was tutored with a firm hand by his father, the organist Andreas Johan Julius Klewe (1832–1903). A child prodigy, he made his first appearances on the concert stage at the age of five. The strictness of his training is exemplified by the fact that he was not allowed to play anything other than the works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

until he was sixteen. For the next three years his musical training was undertaken by

Otto Winter-Hjelm Otto Winter-Hjelm (8 October 1837 – 3 May 1931) was a Norwegian musician, conductor, writer, composer and music critic. Life and career Otto Winther-Hjelm was born in Christiana (Oslo), and studied in Leipzig and Berlin. During his career, he ...

, after which he studied in Berlin under and the brothers Xaver and

Philipp Scharwenka Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (16 February 1847, in Szamotuły, Grand Duchy of Posen – 16 July 1917, in Bad Nauheim) was a Polish-German composer and teacher of music. He was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka. Early training Scharwenka was bor ...

. In 1902, Cleve debuted his First Piano Concerto in Berlin. That same year, he married Berit Winderen, a student of

Teresa Carreño María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García (December 22, 1853June 12, 1917) was a Venezuelans, Venezuelan pianist, composer, soprano, and conductor. Over the course of her 54-year concert career, she became an internationally renowned v ...

, and made numerous concert appearances together, both in Norway and abroad. Cleve composed five piano concertos, a violin sonata, a piano quintet, songs with orchestral accompaniment and over one hundred piano pieces. In the last period of his life (1926–50), he worked as a piano teacher at Music Conservatory in Oslo and died 1951 in Oslo.

Works

* 1900: ''7 Klaverstykker'', op. 1 * 1901: ''Klaverkonsert nr. 1'', op. 3 * 1904: ''Klaverkonsert nr. 2'', op. 6 * 1907: ''Klaverkonsert nr. 3'', op. 9 * 1908: ''Four songs with orchestra to palms by Olaf Schou'', op. 11 * 1912: ''Klaverkonsert nr. 4'', op. 12 * 1915: ''Klaverkonsert nr. 5'', op. 20 * 1931: ''Sonata for violin and piano'', op. 21 (op. 33–36 is not released)

Discography

* 1980: ''Halfdan Cleve, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, New Symphony Orchestra of London, Roy Wales - Klaverkonsert Nr. 4 A-Moll / Klaversonate D-Moll - Etyde Fiss-Dur - Vårbølger Dess-Dur'' (Norsk Kulturråds Klassikerserie) * 1992: ''Halfdan Cleve, Geir Henning Braaten - Piano Works'' (Norsk Kulturråds Klassikerserie) * 2018: ''Ballade Tragica, Halfdan Cleve Chamber Works'' (SIMAX)

References

External links

* 1879 births 1951 deaths Norwegian classical composers Musicians from Kongsberg Composers for piano {{Norway-composer-stub