Background
Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen was born in Stavanger, Norway.
composer conductor Academic musician
Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen was born in Stavanger, Norway.
From 1922, he studied violin with Herman van der Vegt.
His composition style is lyrical with a strong grounding in Norwegian folk tunes. When he was a year old, the family moved to Copenhagen, but settled in Oslo during 1909. In 1923, he became a violinist at the Oslo Philharmonic.
He continued there for the next ten years.
From 1926 until 1930, he received instruction in composition from Norwegian composer Fartein Valen. He also traveled to Berlin, Germany to study with composer Max Butting from 1930-1931.
He also traveled to London to study with Australian-born composer and pianist Percy Grainger in 1936. Starting in 1934, he accepted a teaching position at Griegakademiet, the music conservatory in Bergen, Norway.
His teaching position continued until the early 1940s.
During the same period he conducted for the Bergen Trade Unions Choir. Olsen was also a critic for the newspaper Bergens Tidende. In 1936, he became a nationally sponsored artist (komponistgasje) and had started receiving state income for artists.
After World World War II broke out in 1940, moved to Nordfjord where he lived until 1947, when he settled in Gausdal in Oppland and lived there until 1966, he settled in Lillehammer.
Composer Later years He also published two biographical writings, George Percy Grainger (1963) and Tor Jonsson (1968). When Sparre Olsen died in Lillehammer during 1984, his urn was set down at the Lom stave church in Gudbrandsdal.
Sparre Olsen was a member of the Norwegian National Broadcasting Council from 1950-1958.