Composer, born in Bergen, Norway. He studied at Leipzig, where he was much influenced by Schumann's music, then worked in Copenhagen (1863--7), and developed into a strongly national Norwegian composer. After some years teaching and conducting in Christiania, the success of his incidental music for Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1876), and a state pension, enabled him to settle near Bergen. His other major works include the A minor piano concerto, orchestral suites, violin sonatas, and numerous songs and piano pieces.