Gunnar Rugstad (5 January 1921 − 14 June 2000) 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 ...

. He was born in

Gjerpen Gjerpen is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Skien Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Gjerpen, which is now part o ...

, and his own main instrument was the trombone. As a musician he was hired in the orchestra of

Chat Noir (French language, French for 'black cat') is a cabaret and revue theatre in Oslo, Norway. It was established in 1912 by Bokken Lasson. The current director is Tom Sterri. Establishment Chat Noir was established as a cabaret in 1912 by singer B ...

in 1940. He left Norway for Sweden during the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

, playing in the orchestra of the Norwegian police troops in Sweden. From 1946 to 1968 he was a trombonist in

Kringkastingsorkesteret The Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Norwegian, ''Kringkastingsorkestret'', abbreviated as KORK) is a radio orchestra affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (''Norsk rikskringkasting AS'', or NRK). Its principal base is the ''Store Studi ...

, playing solo in works arranged for his instrument. After leaving the Kringkastingsorkesteret, he was a sometime soloist in the Musikselkabet Harmonien. Rugstad studied music at the

Oslo Conservatory of Music The Oslo Conservatory of Music () was a music school in Oslo, Norway. The school was established by Ludvig Mathias Lindeman and his son Peter Brynie Lindeman in 1883 in Christiania (as Oslo was then called) and was named the Organist School () ...

and musicology 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 ...

, graduating with a ''magistratus'' degree in 1953. From 1968 to 1974, he was an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...

Norwegian folk music Much has been learned about early music in Norway from physical artifacts found during archaeological digs. These include instruments such as the lur. Viking and medieval sagas also describe musical activity, as do the accounts of priests and ...

at the

University of Bergen The University of Bergen () is a public university, public research university in Bergen, Norway. As of 2021, the university had over 4,000 employees and 19,000 students. It was established by an act of parliament in 1946 consolidating several sci ...

. In the first phase, he mainly worked with Arne Bjørndal's folk music collection, before being granted a research fellowship to study the composer

Christian Sinding Christian August Sinding (11 January 18563 December 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known for his lyrical work for piano '' Frühlingsrauschen'' (Rustle of Spring, 1896). He was often compared to Edvard Grieg and regarded as his succ ...

. In 1977 he took the

dr.philos. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

degree with a thesis about Christian Sinding. From 1974 to 1988, Rugstad headed the music department of the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (), commonly known by its initialism NRK, is a Norwegian state-run, government-influenced radio and television public broadcasting company. The NRK broadcasts three national TV channels and thirteen nat ...

. The appointment in 1974 was praised by music writers such as . ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

'' had suggested Rugstad as a director of the

Norwegian National Opera The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet () is a Norwegian opera company and ballet company. The first fully professional company each for opera and ballet in Norway and the only such professional organisation in the country, it is currently resi ...

. From 1967 to 1968 he also chaired the

modernist music In music, modernism is an aesthetic stance underlying the period of change and development in musical language that occurred around the turn of the 20th century, a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories o ...

organization . He was a board member of the Oslo Conservatory of Music and the Bergen Music Conservatory, and a subcommittee in the

Arts Council Norway The Arts Council Norway (, often shortened to ''Kulturrådet'') is the official arts council for Norway. Based in Oslo, it is a Norwegian state institution created in as a result of a parliamentary decision in 1964. Arts Council Norway's admini ...

for recording older classical works. As a music critic, Rugstad among others wrote for ''Aftenposten''. The thesis about Christian Sinding was published as a biography in 1979 by

Cappelen Cappelen is a Norwegian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Cappelen (family), a distinguished Norwegian family * Andreas Zeier Cappelen (1915–2008), Norwegian jurist and politician * August Cappelen (1827–1852), Norwegian pai ...

. The biography received favourable reviews, albeit with some reviewers commenting that the study was quite specialized. After retiring from his professional career, he studied

Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...

. Gunnar Rugstad died in 2000, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rugstad, Gunnar 1921 births 2000 deaths People from Skien Norwegian expatriates in Sweden University of Oslo alumni Academic staff of the University of Bergen Norwegian trombonists Norwegian musicologists NRK people