Per Reidarson

Who was Per Reidarson?

Per Reidarson was a Norwegian composer and music critic.

In the early twentieth century he was an acknowledged composer. For his body of work he was granted kunstnerlønn, a guaranteed minimum income for artists, by the Norwegian state in 1938. He had also worked as a music critic in the newspapers Tidens Tegn and Arbeiderbladet.

However, he eventually joined the political party Nasjonal Samling and began writing for their official publication Fritt Folk. In 1941-1942, while Norway was occupied by Germany, he held the lecture Norsk og unorsk i musikken, anger directed at the perceived "Jewish and Marxist" Modernist music.

In 1945, when the occupation of Norway ended, Reidarson was marginalized and immediately lost his artist's income.