Pauline Margrete Hall (2 August 1890 – 24 January 1969) was a Norwegian composer and music critic. She was the founding chairwoman of Ny Musikk (1938–1961) and served as president of the

International Society for Contemporary Music The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music. The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following the ...

(1952–1953).

Background

Pauline Hall was born at

Hamar Hamar is a List of cities in Norway, town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Hedmarken. ...

Hedmark Hedmark () was a Counties of Norway, county in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, bordering Trøndelag to the north, Oppland to the west, Akershus to the south, and Sweden to the east. The county administration is in Hamar. Hedmar ...

, Norway. She was the daughter of Isak Muus Hall (1849–1914) and Magdalena Catharina Agersborg (1854–1934). Her father was a pharmacist who operated several pharmacies in

, at

Kabelvåg , , or is a village in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern shore of the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. Kabelvåg lies about to the southwest of the town of Svolvær, the administrat ...

Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...

and in

Tromsø Tromsø is a List of towns and cities in Norway, city in Tromsø Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The city is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the administrative centre of Troms county. The city is located on the is ...

. From 1908 she studied piano with composer and pianist Johan Backer Lunde (1874–1958) in Kristiania (now Oslo). From 1910 to 1912 she studied the theory and composition of classical composers with music educator Catharinus Elling. She also had a study stay in Paris from 1912 to 1914.

Career

Hall's debut as a composer came in 1917 with a full-length concert evening in Oslo featuring solely her works. Hall was initially known as a composer of romances, but today her orchestral works, and in particular 1929's ''Verlaine Suite'', stand out as centerpieces of her compositional output. French impressionism and literature would prove to be key sources of inspiration for Hall, an influx that would not necessarily resonate well with the prevailing national romanticism sentiment of 1930s Norway. Throughout her compositional career, Hall would find it challenging to introduce new stylistic impulses to the Norwegian music scene. In addition to her orchestral output, Hall also composed a number of choral works and music for stage productions. Theatre remained close to her heart, and Hall translated a number of major works into Norwegian including

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

’s ''Soldier’s Tale'' and

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss-French composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. Honegger was a member of Les Six. For Halbreich, '' Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' is "more even ...

’s ''

Le Roi David ''Le Roi David'' was composed in Mézières, Switzerland, in 1921 by Arthur Honegger, as incidental music for a play in French by René Morax. It was called a dramatic psalm, but has also been performed as oratorio, without staging. The plot, ba ...

''. In 1930, she translated, staged and directed ''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a 1928 German "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François V ...

'' (''Die Dreigroschenoper'') by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

and

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

. Hall also served as instructor and conductor for its Oslo premiere. She wrote music for radio and started Pauline Hall's vocal quintet in 1932. From 1934 to 1964, she worked as music critic for the Oslo daily newspaper ''

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 ...

''. Hall was known for criticism of dilettantism and superficial national composers and her promotion of modern music. In 1938 she was the founding chairwoman of Ny Musikk, the Norwegian section of the

(ISCM). She also served as president of ISCM International from 1952–53, and took over management of the ISCM International Music Festival in Oslo in 1953. She served as chair of Ny Musikk until 1961 when she was succeeded by composer

Finn Mortensen Finn Einar Mortensen (January 6, 1922 – May 23, 1983) was a Norwegian composer, critic and educator. Mortensen was born in Oslo. His parents were publisher Ernst Gustav Mortensen (1887–1966) and Anna Marie Damnæs (1886–1960). ...

Personal life

Pauline Hall received the

King's Medal of Merit The King's Medal of Merit (Norwegian: ''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') is a Norwegian award. It was instituted in 1908 to reward meritorious achievements in the fields of art, science, business, and public service. It is divided in two classes: gold ...

(''Kongens fortjenstmedalje'') in gold in 1938. She died in Oslo and was buried at

Vestre gravlund Vestre Gravlund is a cemetery in the Frogner borough of Oslo, Norway. It is located next to the Borgen (station), Borgen metro station. At , it is the largest cemetery in Norway. It was inaugurated in September 1902 and also contains a cremator ...

Selected works

Hall composed orchestral works, theater and film music, chamber music and vocal works. Selected compositions include: *1929 ''Verlaine Suite'', for orchestra *1933 ''Cirkusbilleder'', for orchestra *1949 ''Suite av scenemusikken til «Julius Caesar» på Nationaltheateret'', for orchestra *''Foxtrott'', for orchestra *1950 ''Markisen'', ballet, première: 1964, Oslo, Den Norske Opera *1947 ''Ro ro te rara'', for male choir *''En gutt gikk ut på elskovssti'', for male choir, text: Gunnar Larsen *''Nachtwandler'', for 6 part mixed choir and orchestra, text: Falke *''Til kongen'', for mixed choir *''To Wessel-tekster'', for male choir, op. 7, text: Johan Herman Wessel *1945 ''Fangens aftensang'', for voice and piano *1961 ''Fire Tosserier'', for voice, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet and French horn *''Du blomst i dug'', for voice and piano, text: Iens Petter Jacobsen *''Rondeau'', for voice and piano, text: E. Solstad *''Tagelied'', for voice and orchestra *''Tango'', for voice and orchestra *''To sanger'', for voice and piano, op. 4, text: Knut Hamsun Auerdahl *1945 ''Suite'', for wind quintet *''Liten dansesuite'', for oboe, clarinet and bassoon Her music has been recorded and issued on CD, including: *''Pauline Hall: Verlaine Suite/Julius Caesar Suite/Suite for Winds/4 Tosserier'' (26 June 2007) Simax Records/Premiere, ASIN: B000027ALU

References

Other sources

* * *

External links

List of works supplied by the National Library of NorwayNy Musikk website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Pauline 1890 births 1969 deaths Musicians from Hamar Norwegian classical composers Norwegian music critics Norwegian women music critics Norwegian women non-fiction writers 20th-century Norwegian classical composers Norwegian women classical composers Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold Burials at Vestre gravlund 20th-century Norwegian women composers 20th-century Norwegian women 20th-century Norwegian people 20th-century Norwegian musicians