Olav Anton Thommessen (born 16 May 1946) is a Norwegian contemporary composer who has been one of the foremost modernist composers in Norway since the 1970s. His main compositions include Et glassperlespill and Gjennom Prisme. He was a professor of composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music until retiring in 2014, and has also been an influential figure in music education and music organisations in Norway. Thommessen has played a significant role in aesthetic discourse in Norway and is known for his modernist and atonal stance. In later life he has become known for engaging in a critical public dialogue with his former student Marcus Paus about the future of art music, that has resulted in the opera monologue The Teacher Who Was Not To Be with a libretto by Thommessen; a 2015 debate between the two was described as "the biggest public debate about art music" in Norway since the 1970s.Alexander Zlatanos Ibsen, "Tonal provokasjon," Minerva, 4 March 2015
Background He is a son of the diplomat Knut Thommessen (né Knut Saenger), a grandson of the German gynecologist Hans Saenger and a great-grandson of the gynecologist Max Saenger (also spelled Sänger)."Nu er jeg beskeden. Og mer enn det." Fra Tyskland til Norge i 1934 He trained in the United States, earning degrees from Westminster Choir College and Indiana University School of Music with a bachelor of music in 1969. He is a former professor of composition at the Norwegian Academy of Music, where he was employed in 1972. He retired in 2014.
Thommessen in aesthetic discourse Thommessen has also been active in stylistic and aesthetic discourse and is regarded as a critic of non-modernist and tonal music. In addition to public debate, his stance on this matter has also led to compositional output by third parties: a 2006 letter he wrote to the then-26 year old composer Marcus Paus was years later utilized as the libretto for Paus' opera monologue The Teacher Who Was Not To Be, which premiered at the concert "Paus & Paus" (with works by Marcus Paus and Ole Paus) in the Atrium of the University of Oslo as part of Oslo Opera Festival in 2013. Thommessen was later identified by Paus as the previously anonymous librettist. The opera monologue was included on the album Requiem/Trisyn/Læreren som ikke ble (2022) alongside the work Requiem by Marcus and Ole Paus. It was also featured in the first episode of the podcast series Paus og Castle blir kloke på musikklivet (Paus and Castle Figure Out Music Life) in 2021. In the letter/libretto, Thommessen wrote:
In 2015 Thommessen initiated a lengthy debate in the music journal Ballade over Paus' Concerto for Timpani and Orchestra and the merits of the contemporary use of tonal music;Olav Anton Thommessen, "Annen-gangs er som regel annen-rangs," Ballade, 3 March 2015Alexander Zlatanos Ibsen, "Tonal provokasjon ," Minerva, 4 March 2015Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen, "Alt er lov – heldigvis?," Ballade, 4 March 2015Ragnar Søderlind, "Varer modernismen evig?," Ballade, 18 March 2015Arild Pedersen, "Annengangs?," Ballade, 24 March 2015 it was described as "the biggest public debate about art music" in Norway since the 1970s.
Production Selected works Some Sound for choir and orchestra, op. 8, 1971 Et Konsert-Kammer, for amplified soprano and antiphonally arranged instrumental groups, 1971 "Down-Up/Sunpiece" for orchestra, op. 13, 1972–73 "Mutually" for two voices and instruments, op. 14, 1973 Stabsarabesk for wind instruments, op. 15, 1974 The Hermaphrodite, a ballet opera, op. 18, 1970–80 Stabat mater speciosa for choir, op. 28, 1977 Banners for Music for choir and orchestra, op. 32, 1978 Melologer og monodramaer. En ordløs kammeropera, op. 32, no. 2, 1979/82 The Second Creation. An orchestral drama for trumpets, op. 32 nr. 4, 1988 A Glass Bead Game op. 34 nr. 2, 1979–82 Ekko av et ekko op. 36 nr. 2, 1980 Macrofantasy On Grieg's, 'Piano Concerto in a Minor''', op. 39 nr. 1, 1980Beyond Neon. Post-commercial Sound Sculptures for horn and symphony orchestra, op. 41 1980Through a Prism A Double Concerto for cello, organ and orchestra, op. 44 nr. 1, 1982–83EingeBACHt. InnBACHt parafrase over Toccata in G-major, first movement for piano, op. 47 nr. 1, 1984L'éclat approchant for synthesizer and chamber orchestra, op. 52 nr. 1, 1986The Duchess Dies, op. 56 nr. 1, 1987The Phantom of Light. A Miniature Concerto for cello and two wind quintets, op. 62 nr. 1, 1990Edda-Da. Monodrama op. 63a, 1991 Near the Comet Head, op. 64 nr. 4, 1993–94Kassandra op. 69, 1996Music for Vandals, op. 76, 1998Corelli Machine op. 82, 2002Veslemøy synsk – en GRIEGsk musi-collage over Arne Garborgs HAUGTUSSA for mezzosopran og klaver, 2007Motett over Wergeland (2008)Smykke eller saga (2009)Kristi Brud (2012) Tuba Mirum (2012)The Teacher Who Was Not To Be (2013), librettist (music by Marcus Paus)Felix Remix, strykekvartett nr. 4 (2014) A symphonic scherzo for strings and orchestra (2015)Purpose: For symphonic wind orchestra (2015)
DiscographyRequiem/Trisyn/Læreren som ikke ble (2022), with The Teacher Who Was Not To Be by Marcus Paus/Thommessen and Requiem by Marcus and Ole Paus Bjørn Sagstad, Ila Brass Band, Klang (!) (2012) Ernst Simon Glaser, Zvezdochka in orbit (2012) Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces, A Tribute to the Northern Winds (2011)Veslemøy synsk (2011) The Oslo Philharmonic, Peter Herresthal, Bull's Eye; Please accept my ears; Cantabile (2006)Corelli Machine (2006) Einar Henning Smebye, Guri Egge, Songs from the Last Century (2006) Christian Eggen, Oslo Sinfonietta, Norges Musikkhistorie - Bind 5 (2001) Kyberia, Navigations (2000) Peter Herresthal, Partita für Paul 1. sats (1998) Peter Herresthal, Please Accept my Ears! (1998)Jeg er flerspors - variasjoner over Olav Anton Thommessen (1998) Håkon Austbø, Juni Dahr, Edda-Da (1995)Oslo Sinfonietta (1993) Gaute Vikdal, Skygger (1992)Frode Thorsen (1991)Ensemble K 4 Live at Henie-onstad Art Center (1990) Frantisek Veselka, New Norwegian Violin Music, Vol.II (1990) Frantisek Veselka, New Norwegian Violin Music, Vol.I (1990) The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, A Glass bead from above (1990) Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, Scandinavian Tour 1988 (1988) Geir Henning Braaten, Norwegian Pianorama'' (1984)
References
External links Olav Anton Thommessen page from Music Information Centre Norway site Olav Anton Thommessen biography from Music Information Centre Norway site List of Works supplied by the National Library of Norway