Composer and Organist

Egil Hovland

When we think of church music, we often think of hymns and great works for the organ. According to this definition of church music, Egil Hovland is a master. His organ compositions are heard in churches around the world, and he has numerous hymns to his credit, including Gathered in God’s Presence, which he wrote for the 1996 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. The Lutheran hymn supplement, With One Voice, includes an arrangement he made of an African hymn. Many of his hymns for the Church of Norway have also been adopted by other religious communities in Norway and around the world.

As a great master, however, Hovland not only has worked brilliantly within the traditional realm of church music, he has expanded it. In his more than 150 compositions, Hovland has created music for liturgical dance and liturgical drama. He has even written a church opera, Fange og Fri (Imprisoned or Free), that tells the story of a 19th century lay preacher in Norway. With these and other works, Hovland has provided new ways for using music to enhance worship.

Hovland’s career is also notable in that it bridges the worlds of church music and what is often thought of as secular classical music. He studied with numerous influential composers, including Aaron Copland and Luigi Dallapiccola, and received the Serge Koussevitsky Prize in 1957. In addition to works for the church, he has written numerous symphonies, concerti for various instruments, chamber works, choral works, operas, and music for children. The style of his compositions is as wide ranging as his career, including neo-classical, romantic, neo-expressionst, and 12 tone works. For this reason, he has been called a “stylistic chameleon.”

Hovland has been very active in the updating of the liturgical books of the Church of Norway and has contributed numerous compositions to the standard collections of works used by that church. He has won many awards and in 1983 was made a Knight of the Royal Order of Saint Olav in recognition of his services to Norwegian music as a composer and a performer.