Halfdan Kjerulf 1815 – 1868

Biography

Halfdan Kjerulf was born on September 17, 1815, in Christiania, Norway, during a formative period in his nation’s cultural development. He devoted his life to music as a composer, contributing to the artistic heritage of his homeland during the nineteenth century. Living his entire life in Christiania, Kjerulf remained connected to the city of his birth throughout his years.

On August 11, 1868, Kjerulf passed away in Christiania at the age of fifty-two. His final resting place is Vår Frelsers gravlund, a significant cemetery in Oslo Municipality, where many notable figures of Norwegian society were laid to rest. Though the specific circumstances of his death were not recorded for posterity, his legacy as a composer endured in his native country. Kjerulf’s life spanned the middle decades of the nineteenth century, a time when Norwegian music and culture were gaining greater independence and recognition on the European stage.