Bjørn Fongaard (2 March 1919 in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

– 26 October 1980 in Oslo) was a Norwegian composer,

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

, and teacher. In addition to being concerned with

microtonal Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones— intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of t ...

and

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

, he was perhaps the first to use the

prepared guitar A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques. This practice is sometimes called tabletop guitar, because many prepared guitar ...

. "Fongaard's output is considerable...Due to the partly experimental notation, these works have not become widely known."

Life

Fongaard grew up in the Oslo

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

of Nordstrand. He studied at the

Oslo Conservatory of Music Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...

with teachers including

Per Steenberg Peder Steenberg (March 17, 1870 – June 28, 1947) was a Norwegian organist and composer from Nedre Eiker, best known for his church music. Life and career Steenberg graduated from the Oslo Music Conservatory and also studied abroad in Leipzig, ...

Sigurd Islandsmoen Sigurd Islandsmoen (August 27, 1881 – July 1, 1964) was a Norwegian composer. Sigurd Islandsmoen made significant contributions to the music of the Church of Norway. In all he wrote some 70 opus, among these five feature-length works for ...

, Bjarne Brustad, and

Karl Andersen Karl August Andersen (29 September 1903 in Oslo - 15 August 1970 in Oslo) was a Norwegian cellist from Vaterland, in his time the leading Norwegian cellist and solo cellist in Oslo Philharmonic for many decades. Biography At the age of 17 Ander ...

.Bjørn Fongaard - Biography
", ''mic.no''. He started off by constructing a

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, ...

guitar with adaption of the

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...

, but very early left this in favor of a diverse set of prepared guitar techniques. His first pieces in this genre came in the mid 60's. A sampler CD of his own recordings entitled ''Elektrofoni: Works For Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978'' , ''Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter''. was released in 2011. In 2015, a double disc of new recordings by Norwegian guitarist Anders Førisdal was released on Aurora Records.

List of works

*''Galaxy'' op. 46 *''Homo Sapiens'' op. 80 *''Genesis'' *''Sinfonia Microtonalis'' op. 79 *''Orchestra Antiphonalis'' *''Symphony of Space'' *''Universum'' *''Mare Tranquilitatis'' *23 Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 0p. 118 *12 Concertos for Solo Instrument and Orchestra op. 120 *21 String Quartets op. 123 *57 Sonatas for One Instrument op. 125 *41 Concertos for Solo Instrument and Tape op. 131

References

External links

Bjørn Fongaard: Elektrofoni 3CD/1DVD Box-Set
, ''PrismaRecords.BlogSpot.com''.
Bjørn Fongaard, "Elektrofoni: Works for Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978"
, ''BrainWashed.com''. 1919 births 1980 deaths 20th-century classical composers Norwegian classical composers Norwegian guitarists Norwegian male guitarists Norwegian male classical composers Oslo Conservatory of Music alumni 20th-century guitarists 20th-century Norwegian male musicians {{Norway-musician-stub