Poul Rovsing Olsen
1922 - 1982
Danish
Summary
Poul Rovsing Olsen was a Danish composer and ethnomusicologist. Fascinated by Arabic and Oriental music from a young age, Rovsing Olsen unfolded his passion in Paris while studying with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen.
His early works show the influences of Stravinskij, Poulenc, Bartók and Carl Nielsen, but also included 12-tone serialism after inspiration by a course with composer Milton Babbitt.
Biography
Poul Rovsing Olsen was a Danish composer and ethnomusicologist. Fascinated by Arabic and Oriental music from a young age, Rovsing Olsen unfolded his passion in Paris while studying with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen.
His early works show the influences of Stravinskij, Poulenc, Bartók and Carl Nielsen, but also included 12-tone serialism after inspiration by a course with composer Milton Babbitt.
In 1958 he participated in an archeological dig in the Persian Golf working as an ethnomusicologist. The work there influenced his compositions and thus he found the perfect outlet for his childhood passion. This can be heard in for example Alapa-Tarana and in his opera Belisa, based on ‘The Love of Don Perlimplín and Belisa in the Garden’ by Federico García Lorca.
In 1965 he received the Carl Nielsen Prize.