Bjørn Bjørnson was a Norwegian stage actor and theatre director.

Biography

He was born in Kristiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, the son of author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Bjørnson is considered as one of The Four Greats Norwegian writers; the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland...

 and his wife Karoline Bjørnson

Karoline Bjørnson

Karoline Bjørnson was a Norwegian actress. She is best known as the wife and supporter of poet, playwright, popular speaker and Nobel laureate Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, being model for several of Bjørnson's literary women figures, and helping out with articles and other literary works. Several of...

. In 1876, he was admitted as a student at the Stern Conservatory

Stern conservatory

The Stern Conservatory was a private music school in Berlin with many notable tutors and alumni.-History:It was originally founded in 1850 as the Berliner Musikschule by Julius Stern, Theodor Kullak and Adolf Bernhard Marx. Kullak withdrew from the conservatory in 1855 in order to create a new...

 operated by Julius Stern

Julius Stern

Julius Stern was a German musician.Stern was born at Breslau. He received his elementary education in music from the violinist Peter Lüstner, and at the age of nine played at concerts...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He also attended the Vienna Conservatory.

He was the artistic leader of Christiania Theatre

Christiania Theatre

Christiania Theatre, or Kristiania Theatre, was Norway's finest stage for the spoken drama between October 4, 1836 - September 1, 1899. It was located at Bankplassen by the Akershus Fortress in central Christiania, in Norway...

 from 1885 to 1893, and he was the first theatre director at the National Theatre

Nationaltheatret

The National Theatre in Oslo is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts.The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiania Theatre, which was founded in 1829...

, from its opening in 1899 until 1907, and again from 1923 to 1927. Besides being an actor and director, he also was a playwright.

In 1893 he married Norwegian opera singer Gina Oselio

Gina Oselio

Gina Oselio was a Norwegian operatic mezzo-soprano. Her signature role was the title heroine in Georges Bizet's Carmen....

. Their marriage was dissolved in 1909.

Plays

• Moppy og Poppy (with M. O. Hansson), (1885)
• Johanne, (1898)
• Solen skinner jo (1913)
• En tørst kamel, (1919)

Books

• Vom deutschen Wesen: Impressionen eines Stammverwandten 1914-1917, (1917)
• Mit livs historier. Fra barndommens dage, (1922)
• Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Hjemmet og vennene. Aulestad-minner, (1932)
• Bare ungdom, (1934
• Det gamle teater. Kunsten og menneskene, (1937)

Other sources

• Rønneberg, Anton (1974) Nationaltheatret, 1949-1974 (Gyldendal) ISBN 978-8205062542
• Marker, Frederick J. and Lise-Lone Marker (1996) A History of Scandinavian Theatre (Cambridge University Press) ISBN 978-0521392372
• Murer, Annette with Julian Garner translator (1977) The National Theatre of Norway (Boksenteret) ISBN 978-8276831566