Catharinus Elling: String Quartet No. 1 in D Major

Catharinus Elling ca. 1925

(13 September 1858 – January 1942) was a Norwegian music teacher, organist, music critic and

composer. He was also a folk music collector and the author of a number of books. 

String Quartet No. 1 in D Major

I. Allegro vivace 0:00
II. Andante 5:30
III. Allegretto quasi allegro 10:53
IV. Poco lento - Vivace 14:38

The Engegård Quartet

Elling was born in 1858 in what is now Oslo. He studied piano and composition in Leipzig from 1877–78 and in Berlin from 1886–87. From 1896–1908, he was teacher at musikkonservatoriet i Oslo. He was also (1908–26) organist at Gamlebyen kirke.

As a composer, he wrote symphonies, a violin concerto, chamber music, an opera, and more than 200 songs, most in the 1890-1905 period. His works are seldom performed now, but many musicians were influenced by him, such as Fartein Valen, who studied music under Elling.

Elling was named to a state stipend in 1899, and conducted a folk music collection across many parts of the country: Trøndelag, the valleys of Oppland, Telemark and Setesdal. At the same time, folk music collector Olav Sande was also named to a state stipend, and the two "divided the country between them", Sande taking the music tradition from Sogn to Vest-Agder. Elling's mandate was to collect music and also work to preserve it. He published a range of music books with titles such as Norske folkemelodier for klaver, Norske folkeviser for sang og klaver and Slåtter for fiolin og klaver. Both at the time, and since, he has been criticised for wanting to rearrange folk music to fit within a classical music style.

He was the brother of engineer Ægidius Elling, who invented the gas turbine.