Biography
During his boyhood Kjerulf pursued piano studies along with what was likely advanced theoretical instruction within the family home, since Christiania—today’s Oslo—offered no chance for formal tuition at that time. Although his initial works appeared in print in 1841, the deaths of his parents and one sister the previous year left him responsible for his remaining siblings, a duty that consumed most of his energies. While employed as a journalist he continued to compose, eventually assuming leadership of a male student chorus and establishing a male quartet of his own. Systematic instruction came later through lessons with Arnold in Christiania, Gade in Copenhagen and Richter in Leipzig; only after the Copenhagen and Leipzig sojourns did his more refined works begin to emerge. Three categories absorbed the greater part of his creative attention: folk-song arrangements, lieder and keyboard miniatures. The folk settings encompassed Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German and French texts, all deeply colored by indigenous Norwegian melodic turns. Pieces such as “Evening Mood,” “Ingrid’s Song” and “Synnove’s Song” drew specifically on Norwegian dance rhythms. In his remaining vocal works Kjerulf favored straightforward forms that placed the voice foremost, while the piano part—whether in concise or extended settings—served chiefly to evoke the prevailing atmosphere. His keyboard output proved the most overtly Romantic of all, exemplified by “Wiegenlied,” the “Berceuse” and the “Caprice” from the set titled “New Sketches.” Throughout these scores he combined bold dissonances and concise two-bar motifs with a successful fusion of Norwegian folk traits and Romantic procedures.