Finn Benestad (30 October 1929,

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

– 30 April 2012,

) was a Norwegian

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

. He was a professor at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

from 1965 to 1998, and is probably best known for his long-term research on composer

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

Life and career

Benestad was born in

as the son of Harald Martin Benestad and Ellen Kittelsen. He married Inge Bergliot Rosendal in 1951. He graduated in

musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

from the University of Oslo in 1953. He worked as a school teacher in Oslo from 1950 to 1959, and was assigned a position at the University from 1960 to 1961. In 1961 he was appointed professor at the Teachers' College (later merged into the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

) in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

, and from 1965 to 1998 he was a professor at the University of Oslo. Among his books is a study of composer Johannes Haarklou from 1961, ''Waldemar Thrane'' from 1961, and ''Musikklære'' () from 1963. He published the songbooks ''Skolens visebok'' () in 1972 (co-edited with Klakegg and Lunde), and ''Syng med'' () in 1988. He co-wrote the biography ''

Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren ''Edvard Grieg – mennesket og kunstneren'' (''Edvard Grieg. The Man and the Artist'') is a biography of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg, written by Finn Benestad and Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe in 1980. The book treats the life and works of Edvard Gr ...

'' together with

Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe (10 December 1926 – 1 February 2013) was a Norwegian musicologist, composer, music critic and biographer. He was a lecturer at the University of Oslo for thirty years, from 1973 with the title of professor. His research main ...

in 1980, a work that has been translated to several languages, including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. (English title ''Edvard Grieg. The Man and the Artist''). From 1980 to 2004 he chaired the committee responsible for publishing the twenty volumes of Grieg's Collected Works. He has edited books on Grieg's correspondence, and on Grieg's

diaries Diaries may refer to: * the plural of diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally bee ...

. In 1990 he published a biographical book on composer

Johan Svendsen Johan Severin Svendsen (30 September 184014 June 1911) was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, he lived most of his life in Copenhagen, Denmark. Svendsen's output includes two symphonies, a vi ...

, ''Johan Svendsen – mennesket og kunstneren'' (), in cooperation with Schjelderup-Ebbe. He was a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

from 1979, the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ({{Langx, da, Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ''Videnskabernes Selskab'') is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on 13 November 1742, and was create ...

from 1991 and

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

from 1992. He held

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

s as

St. Olaf College St. Olaf College is a private liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1874 by a group of Norwegian-American pastors and farmers led by Pastor Bernt Julius Muus. The college is named after the King and th ...

from 1993 and Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität from 1996. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the

Order of St. Olav The Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav (; or ''Sanct Olafs Orden'', the old Norwegian name) is a Norwegian order of chivalry instituted by King Oscar I on 21 August 1847. It is named after King Olav II, known to posterity as St. Olav. Just be ...

in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benestad, Finn 1929 births 2012 deaths Writers from Kristiansand Norwegian music critics Norwegian musicologists University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Oslo Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters Members of Academia Europaea Grieg scholars