Oscar Borg

Oscar Borg (11 June 1851 – 29 December 1930) was a Norwegian composer and conductor. He is best known for his compositions of marches for wind bands.

Alfred Oscar Johannessen Borg was born in Halden, Norway. His father, Ole Peter Johannesen (1816–1890), was from the Borg farm in Solør, from which the family name originated. His father was music sergeant in the 1st Brigades Band of Fredriksten Fortress in Halden.

Oscar Borg attended the Royal College of Music (Musikaliska Akademien) in Stockholm, under the sponsorship of the Crown Prince of Sweden, later King Oscar II of Sweden. He entered the Academy in 1869 and took the music director exam with top marks in the spring of 1872. He had a contractual obligation to return to his old band. He gave his first concert in his hometown as flautist and violinist during October 1872. When in 1881, conductor Friedrich August Reissiger resigned as director of the 1st Brigades Band, Oscar Borg was his replacement. Borg remained the director of the 1st Brigades Band in Halden until he resigned 11 June 1918.

Borg's compositions are characterized by good melodies, euphonious harmonies and skillful instrumentation. Oscar Borg composed 60 marches for military bands, 275 songs and about 170 arrangements. Among the marches most played are Kong Haakon VIIs Honnørmarsj (1905), Kronprins Olavs Honnørmarsj, Den Norske Løve (1894) and Norsk Turnermarsj (1886). He received the King's Medal of Merit in gold and was made a Knight 1st Class of the Order of Vasa. He was awarded the King Oscar II Medal in gold, and Kaiser Wilhelms Krieg Verdienstmedalje.

Read more about Oscar Borg:  Personal Life

Famous quotes containing the word oscar:

    Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.
    Frank Pittman (20th century)