Composers / Arne Nordheim / Routes
Trasa Larvik, Stavern
This route passes through Arne Nordheim’s home town of Larvik. It was here that the composer was born, on 20 June 1931, and here that he lived – for his first few years at 3 Olavsgate, then at 13 Øvre Jegersborggate – in a typical working class district. He attended school on Romberggata. The school building is now used as the town hall.
Of considerable significance in Arne Nordheim’s life was the church in Larvik. Here, he had the opportunity to set the church bells in motion, to play the organ and also to walk among the graves in the cemetery, reading the inscriptions on the gravestones and philosophising on life. Nordheim’s father worked as a watchman at the Festiviteten, a building housing a theatre-concert hall, and he also lived there. The Quality Grand Farris hotel was where the composer stayed when in town, wrote letters on the hotel’s notepaper and, in his youth, held conversations with the poet Herman Wildenvey, who lived in nearby Stavern, where Nordheim was also a frequent visitor. Those meetings were of huge importance for his literary interests and his further path as a composer. (jc)
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A portrait of Herman Wildenvey.
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Arne Nordheim in front of the Larvik cemetery. Phot. The Arne Nordheim Centre.
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Arne Nordheim plays the trombone in ”Larvik guttemusikk” orchestra. Phot. The Arne Nordheim Centre.
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Arne with brother Johan and their parents Erling and Emma, 1947. The Arne Nordheim Centre.
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Brothers Arne and Johan Nordheims in 1938. The Arne Nordheim Centre.
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Family house on Øvre Jegersborggate 13 in Larvik. Phot. Roy Olsen.
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„Festiviteten” on Storgata 44, Larvik. Phot. Morten Bakkeli
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House of Gisken and Herman Wildenvey in Stavern. Phot. Mahlum (creative commons)
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Inside Larvik church. Phot. Eaglestein (creative commons).
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Larvik church bells. Phot. Eaglestein (creative commons).
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Larvik church. Phot. Mahlum (creative commons).
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Letter to Lena Anderson, friend of Norheim.The Arne Nordheim Centre.
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New church organ in the Larvik church were built in 1997 by a Danish master Carsten Lund. Arne Nordheim belonged to the committee which initiated the construction. Phot. Magnus Hagtvedt.
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Olavsgate 3, Larvik. (creative commons)
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Portrait of Herman Wildenvey, before 1919.
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Postcard with photo of school, before 1906. Jan Einar Bredal collection.
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When Arne grew up, father made a small fiddle for him – from a plank taken out of a chest from a margarine. Phot. Harald Herresthal.
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44 Storgata
3290 Stavern
3263 Larvik
38 Storgata, 3256 Larvik
4 Rombergata, Larvik