Ludvig Irgens-Jensen

Paul Ludvig Irgens-Jensen (13 April 1894 – 11 April 1969) was a Norwegian twentieth-century composer.

Irgens-Jensen studied piano with Nils Larsen while a philology student at the University of Oslo. He began composing in 1920, and the radical nature of his work attracted some interest. Irgens-Jensen's oratorio Heimferd (for solo choir and orchestra) won first prize in a national competition, and is considered a national monument of sorts for Norway. The song Altar is one of his most familiar works.

During the Second World War, Irgens-Jensen composed several songs and orchestral works to patriotic texts; due to the restrictions imposed by the Nazis, these works had to be distributed anonymously and illegally. Irgens-Jensen is often characterized as a neo-Classical composer.

Works

• Tema con variazioni (1925)
• Passacaglia (1927)
• Heimferd (1930)
• Der Gott und die Bajadere (1932)
• Pastorale religioso (1939)
• Symphony in D minor (1942)
• Canto d'omaggio (1950)
• Japanischer Frühling (1957)
• Air (1959)

References

• Music Information Centre Norway