Øyvin Dybsand

• Dybsand, Øyvin (2025). Vorwort – Preface – Préface. In Andreas, Pernpeintner, (Eds.), Johan Halvorsen: Passacaglia and Sarabande. Urtext Edition. p. III–VII. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2024). Johan Halvorsens engagemang i Helsingfors 1889–92 som katalysator för hans arbete som kompositör. Musiikki. 54(3), p. 27–67. doi: 10.51816/musiikki.148474. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The first part of the article examines the Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen’s activities in Helsinki during the years 1889-92. The flourishing musical life of the Finnish capital, which actually inspired Halvorsen to begin composing, as well as Halvorsen’s musical agency, are examined from a variety of perspectives, both socio-cultural and biographical. The research is based on extensive historical archival material. The aim of the article is twofold: first, to map the musical and personal impulses that inspired Halvorsen’s emergence as a creative artist, and second, to highlight his contribution to Helsinki’s musical life during this period. The second part of the article presents Halvorsen’s String Quartet in E minor (1892). This is his most important work from this period in terms of its scope and the prestige of the genre. The public response to the work’s first performance was positive, but the composer himself was not satisfied: a few years later he destroyed most of the material, but transcribed the slow movement for orchestra. Since Halvorsen was a self-taught composer, it is natural to ask why: was the destruction of the work the result of a lack of quality, the composer’s excessive self-criticism, or simply the conviction that the work did not represent his stylistic idiom as a composer? These questions will be explored through a transcription of the surviving orchestral score, an analysis of musical structures such as form (macro and micro), melody and harmony in the one surviving movement, the contemporary reception of the work, and finally a comparison of the work with Halvorsen’s oeuvre as a whole.

• Dybsand, Øyvin (2021). Johan Halvorsen as Young Violin Student in Leipzig, “The City of Music”, in the Late 1880s. In Dinslage, Patrick & Keym, Stefan (Ed.), Edvard Grieg und seine skandinavischen Kollegen in ihren Beziehungen zu Leipzig: 8. Deutscher Edvard-Grieg-Kongress vom 15. bis 17. Oktober 2020 in Leipzig. Gudrun Schröder Verlag. ISSN 9783926196828. p. 243–261. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). Johan Halvorsen og Musikkfesten i Bergen 1898. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. ISSN 0332-5024. 42, p. 7–26. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2960-2016-01-03. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). The Allegretto movement of Reger‚s Piano Trio Op. 102 – a musical game at the intersection between Brahms and Messiaen. Reger-Studien 7 - Festschrift für Susanne Popp (=Schriftenreihe des Max-Reger-Instituts Karlsruhe, bd. XVII). 17, p. 265–285. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). Leif Halvorsen (1887–1959) : Musikk til Hamsun-filmen Markens Grøde. In Sandmo, Erling Sverdrup (Eds.), Et eget århundre. Norsk orkestermusikk 1905 - 2005 / Music in a free state. Norwegian orchestral music 1905 - 2005 (dobbeltspråklig utgivelse). Music Information Centre Norway/Press forlag. ISSN 9788275471572. p. 44–49. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). Arvid Kleven (1899–1929) : Symfonisk fantasi op. 15. In Sandmo, Erling Sverdrup (Eds.), Et eget århundre. Norsk orkestermusikk 1905 - 2005 / Music in a free state. Norwegian orchestral music 1905 - 2005 (dobbeltspråklig utgivelse). Music Information Centre Norway/Press forlag. ISSN 9788275471572. p. 50–55. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). Johan Halvorsen : Kantate ved kroningen i Trondhjems domkirke 22. juni 1906. In Sandmo, Erling Sverdrup (Eds.), Et eget århundre. Norsk orkestermusikk 1905 - 2005 / Music in a free state. Norwegian orchestral music 1905 - 2005 (dobbeltspråklig utgivelse). Music Information Centre Norway/Press forlag. ISSN 9788275471572. p. 22–27. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (1999). "Musikken til det indiske skuespillet Vasantasena. Johan Halvorsens første større orkesterverk. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. ISSN 0332-5024. p. 284–312. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (1991). Noen særdrag i Max Regers musikk, med særlig vekt på Pianotrio i e, op. 102. Studia Musicologica Norvegica. ISSN 0332-5024. p. 7–30. Full text in Research Archive

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• Engeset, Bjarte; Fossheim, Jørn & Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). Johan Halvorsen: Fiolinkonsert, op. 28, kritisk utgave. Norsk Musikforlag A/S. ISBN 9788200012467. 150 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Molde, Audun & Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). Musikkhistorisk oversikt - 2. utg. Finn Benestad revidert i samarbeid med Øyvin Dybsand; med bidrag fra Yngve Blokhus og Audun Molde. Universitetsforlaget. ISBN 9788215006123. 109 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2000). Johan Halvorsens musikalske virksomhet i 1890-årenes Bergen. Troldhaugens venner. ISBN 9788291738130. 5 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (1993). Regers Klaviertrio op. 102 - eine Komposition 'der Nase nach, ohne Inspiration, ohne wesentlichen Plan, ohne Pointen und erkennbare Ziehle'? i Reger-Studien 5 - Beträge zur Regerforschung. Breitkopf & Härtel Verlag. ISBN 9783765102936. 30 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Andreas, Pernpeintner,; Dybsand, Øyvin & Kraggerud, Henning Kristofer (2025). Johan Halvorsen: Passacaglia and Sarabande. Urtext Edition. doi: https:/www.henle.de/de/Passacaglia-Sarabande-con-Variazioni-nach-Haendel-fuer-Violine-und-Viola/HN-1670. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2020). Johan Halvorsen in Leipzig: His Study Time and Later Contacts with C. F. Peters. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2018). Johan Halvorsen - «født i 4/4-takt», men uskikket som militærmusiker. In Persen, Niels Kristian (Eds.), I storm og stille (Forsvarets musikk 1818-2018). Forsvarets musikk. ISSN 9788230339275. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2017). Konsertforedrag om norske komponisters tonesettinger av tekster av Henrik Wergeland, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson og Henrik Ibsen. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). Halvorsen & Nielsen violin concertos. Naxos CD Booklet. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). Innledning om Johan Halvorsen og hans Konsert caprice over norske melodier for to fioliner. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin; Homzy, Andrew; Sawa, Suzanne Meyers; Behzadi, Houman; Mason, James & Engeset, Bjarte [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2016). Johan Halvorsen’s Violin Concerto rediscovered after being “lost” for more than 100 years (International Panel). Full text in Research Archive
• Lie, Marit Christina & Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). Fiolinkonserten som forsvant. [TV]. NRK. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2016). «Johan Halvorsen: Kva ville han med livet?». Dag og Tid. ISSN 0803-334X. p. 26–26. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2012). Konfransier ved "Johan Halvorsens Fødselsdagskonsert". Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2012). Johan Halvorsen’s Rhapsody Air norvégien, “a Folk-tune Medley, … so well done that the Result is a Work of Art”? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In 1896 the Norwegian Composer, Violinist and Conductor Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935) received a travel scholarship and stayed several weeks in Germany where he had opportunity to attend Joseph Joachim’s violin classes and listen to great musical performances in Bayreuth and Berlin. Far away from his native Norway he wrote several violin pieces, among them a “Norwegian Rhapsody”, later to be given the French title Air norvégien. Halvorsen scored it originally for violin and piano, completing the orchestration in 1903. In his diary Edvard Grieg describes the work as “a folk-tune medley, but so well done that the result is a work of art”. Like his predecessors Halvorsen picked the melodies from Lindeman’s collection: • The opening section combines “St. Thomas-Klukkelåten” (“The Ringing of the St Thomas Bells”) and a ‘Huldrelokk’, imitating the attractive song of the hulder, a kind of witch, or temptress of the woods or mountains. • The middle section uses the troll song ‘Åsmund Frægdegjæva’ from Telemark, known from Johan Svendsen’s Norwegian Rhapsody No. 3. • The last part of Air norvégien is mainly based on the halling-dance “Underjordisk musikk” (“Subterranean music”), notated as early as 1695 and published by Johann Mattheson in Hamburg in 1740. All the original tunes are associated with Christian mysticism or fabled creatures from Norwegian folklore. One can only wonder why Halvorsen’s publisher, Wilhelm Hansen in Copenhagen, did not suggest a more fancy title of the work. “Air norvégien” is a virtuosic violin piece in the tradition of Ole Bull, whose rhapsody Et Sæterbesøg [A Mountain Vision] Halvorsen often played at his concerts. The first part of the rhapsody allows the violinist to evoke the sound of bells through the playing of harmonics as well as passages imitating and exaggerating the characteristics of a rather virtuosic cow-call of vocal origin. In the middle section it is interesting to note how Halvorsen adopts a slow harmonic rhythm that leads to many expressive, late-romantic dissonances against the melody, quite unlike Svendsen, who harmonised the same melody more or less note by note in his rhapsody. The thrilling dance of the third part is very suggestive, built up as a long crescendo. After a while the halling-dance theme is intertwined with the themes from the first part of the rhapsody, the violinist’s the virtuosic playing building up a brilliantly effective finale. A main question in analyzing a showpiece like Air norvégien, is to evaluate the use of virtuosic effects. As stated by Adorno in «Das Schema der Massenkultur» the bourgeois class of the 19th century were more attracted to the instrumental soloists’ exhibition of their personas and virtuosic skills than the «music itself». Hence, many Halvorsen’s contemporary music critics were sceptical towards music composed by amazing instrumentalists, and during the following, style-historical aera scholars tended to categorize such instrumental-technical elements as empty figurations not being capable of constituting a true, «organic» work of art. The paper will aim to prove that such elements also could be used as integrated parts of the structural and inner-dynamic development of the musical piece.

• Dybsand, Øyvin (2011). The influence from Grieg in Johan Halvorsen's Symphonies. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2011). Johan Halvorsen’s music to the “Troll-play” Fossegrimen – a conversion with nature and Norwegian folklore. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2009). Traces of Delicate Lyricism among Sausages, Kohlrabi Stew and Plum Pudding? - On possible Grieg-influences in Max Reger‟s Chamber music. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2007). “Johan Halvorsen’s music to the ‘Troll-play’ Fossegrimen – a conversion with Grieg as well as Norwegian Folk music”. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2006). Teatermusikeren Johan Halvorsen og hans forhold til å skrive symfonier og annen musikk i de ’store’ former. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin (2004). Johan Halvorsen - nordmann og skandinavist. Full text in Research Archive
• Guldbrandsen, Erling E. & Dybsand, Øyvin (1996). Johan Halvorsen, i lyset fra Grieg - Del 2. [Radio]. NRK P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Guldbrandsen, Erling E. & Dybsand, Øyvin (1996). Johan Halvorsen, i lyset fra Grieg - Del 1. [Radio]. NRK P2. Full text in Research Archive
• Dybsand, Øyvin & Wikshåland, Ståle (2016). JOHAN HALVORSEN (1864-1935). En undersøkelse av hans kunstneriske virke og en stilistisk gjennomgang av hans komposisjoner. Med en tematisk verkoversikt og en kronologisk fortegnelse over Halvorsens konsertvirksomhet. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Bind 1-2 er en undersøkelse av Johan Halvorsens kunstneriske virke og en stilistisk gjennomgang av hans komposisjoner, mens bind 3 inneholder en tematisk verkoversikt, en kronologisk fortegnelse over Halvorsens konsertvirksomhet og registre. Fiolinisten, dirigenten og komponisten Johan Halvorsen (1864–1935) var en sentral figur i norsk musikkliv. Gjennom sitt 36-årige virke som kapellmester ved teater- og operascenene i Bergen og Kristiania stod han svært sentralt i framveksten av et nasjonalt norsk kulturliv. Som komponist var Halvorsen selvlært, og brorparten av hans musikk, komponert med korte tidsfrister og innimellom andre gjøremål, har vært rubrisert som «kapellmestermusikk». I utgangspunktet har den derfor hatt problemer med å passe inn en norsk kanon av musikk med «blivende verd». Verk som de tre symfoniene er blitt trukket fram i stedet. Denne avhandlingen har et annet utgangspunkt, idet den framhever hans mangesidige virke som fiolinist og kapellmester og hans fantastiske omstillingsevne og fantasi som selve kjernen i hans kompositoriske virke, noe som har nedfelt seg i alle typer komposisjoner av Halvorsen, ofte tilsynelatende som det reneste konglomerat av heterogene elementer side om side i samme verk. En kan vanskelig nærme seg en forståelse av Halvorsens musikk uten å se helheten i hans virke, uten å ta innover seg at han ved hver eneste komponistoppgave, liten som stor, kunne bygge på hele sitt arsenal av erfaringer som teaterkapellmester, fiolinist og orkesterdirigent. Dette begrenser seg ikke til rent musikalske erfaringer, men omfatter alle hans erfaringer som objekt for og deltaker i diskursene i og rundt musikklivet i hans samtid. Viktige begivenheter som musikkfesten i Bergen 1898 og prosessene rundt tilsetting av dirigent ved Nationaltheatret i 1899 og det Filharmoniske selskap i 1919 drøftes derfor inngående. En barriere for studier av Halvorsens musikk har vært mangelen på en systematisk gjennomgang av det notematerialet han etterlot seg. Basert på manuskripter i inn- og utland inkluderer avhandlingen en ny, kronologisk ordnet verkliste, samt en oversikt over Halvorsens musikalske gjøremål dag for dag i perioden 1876–1935.

• Dybsand, Øyvin (1990). En presentasjon av komponisten Max Reger, med utgangspunkt i en analyse av hans Pianotrio i e-moll op. 102. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

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