Ole Bull

Ole Bull was born February 5th, 1810, in an apothecary in Strandgaten in Bergen. Through his keen interest in folk-music he played a central part and was a pioneer within the development of Norwegian culture after the separation from Denmark.

Ole Bull travelled and played almost all over the world during his long career. He was a musician and virtuoso, a networker, inspirator, adventurer, marketer and Norway’s first superstar.

Ole Bull died on August 17th in 1880 on Lysøen and was buried on Assistenkirkegården in Bergen. Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson gave a speech at his funeral and titled him “the People’s first and finest celebration!”.

Famous compositions: “The Herdgirl’s Sunday”, “La Mélancolie”, “Polacca Guerriera”.

Early years and studies

Ole Bull’s parents took him to concerts and the theatre from an early age. At the age of five he received his first violin, and barely nine years old he made his debut as a soloist with orchestra Det Harmoniske Selskab. In Bergen he was tutored by Danish Johann Henrich Paulsen and later Swedish Mathias Lundholm, both highly skilled musicians and connected to the harmonic orchestra in Bergen.

18 years old Ole Bull goes to Christiania to start his studies at the university. His parents wanted their eldest son to follow the family tradition, and he studies to become a priest – but fails his Latin exam. He asks for his parents’ permission to go to Copenhagen, where he wants to give concerts and study harmony. 21 years old he decides on Paris, but here he must start from scratch without a recognized name or any reputation. He meets rejection after rejection, and he falls ill and have no money.

The breakthrough

He had his breakthrough in 1834, at a concert in Bologna. Several successful concerts earn him favourable reviews, and he returns to Paris in triumph. The next year, he moves on to London where he gives concerts to overwhelming reviews. In the years that followed, he went on an extensive tour of Germany, Russia, Finland and Sweden. Bull had Northern Europe at his feet and is celebrated home in Norway.

First marriage

Alexandrine Félicité Villeminot, called Félicie (1819–1862), becomes Ole Bull’s first wife. They get married in Paris when he is 26 and she is 18. They live in London, and Bull gives hundreds of concerts in Great Britain. Félicie gives birth to their first child, Ole Storm Felix, in 1837.

While in Germany in 1839, Ole Bull receives the tragic message that his firstborn is dead. Later the same year, Félicie gives birth to their second son, who is named Alexander Ole Felix Etienne. The couple’s third son, Thorvald, is born in 1841. This event takes place when the family spends a long-awaited holiday at the family farm in Valestrand outside Bergen.

A life on the move

Bull leaves his family in Paris and travels to the USA in 1843 as the first Norwegian musician. Ha has been announced in advance by his promoter as “the world’s greatest violinist”, and his first concert in New York is received with enthusiasm. Bull then travels on to the South and then on to Havana, Cuba.

Meanwhile, Félicie is unhappy in Paris, and their fourth son, Ernst Bornemann, dies only five months old without his father having even seen him. Because of the unreliable postal delivery and Bull’s constant travelling, the news doesn’t reach him until half a year later.

After a series of concerts on the American continent, Bull gives a farewell-concert in New York in autumn 1845. The next year he goes back on tour, in France, Algeria and Spain. In 1846, their sixth child, their daughter Lucie Edvardine, is born.

Finally, back in Norway, he throws himself into various projects. He organizes a successful concert with Myllarguten, composes the classical piece “Et Seterbesøg” and announces his plan to establish Det Norske Theater in Bergen.

Oleana

In 1852, Ole Bull purchased over 10, 000 acres of land from a land speculator, and he establishes a Norwegian colony, Oleana. During the first year, over 300 Norwegian settlers arrived, but the land was difficult to farm, and with the nearest railway about 100 kilometres away, it was a hard life. Already the next year, people started to leave the colony, and Bull transferred the land back to the seller.

In 1855 he gets involved in yet another grand project: the establishment of an opera in New York. This turns out to be a costly mistake and the opera has to close after only five performances. A series of financial losses and unfortunate transactions follow, and back in Norway the rumours of Bull’s problems circulate. Félicie receives neither letters nor money, and she sends her eldest son, Alexander, who is only 17 years old, to the USA to bring his father home. Instead of returning, Ole Bull takes his son on tour for a year.

Connections

Back in Norway, Ole Bull is now closely connected to names such as Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. The story says he meets 15-year-old Edvard Grieg (1843–1907) one summer as he is visiting the boy’s parents. After having heard him play, Bull advises his parents to let the young Grieg study abroad. Already the same autumn Grieg is sent to Leipzig for musical studies.

Fra 1860 to 1862, Bull tours Europe. During these years his relationship with his wife has greatly deteriorated. Félicie is struggling with her mental health, and she dies in February 1862, only 43 years old.

Second marriage and purchase of Lysøen

Ole Bull keeps on travelling, to Moscow, Paris and back to the USA, together with his son Alexander. There he meets young Sarah Torp (1850–1911), and he marries her when he is 60 and she merely 20. Their first and only child, the daughter Sara Olea, is born in 1871.

During a visit to Norway, Ole Bull buys the island Lysøen in Os municipality outside Bergen to build a home for his new family. The year after, the house is completed.

In 1876 he climbs the Cheops Pyramid in Cairo, where he plays at the top on his 66th birthday.

Towards the end

Ole Bull loved celebrating the 17th of May in Bergen. During a stay in Norway in 1789 it is the last time he gets to do this, and the people of Bergen celebrates him with a song. On Midsummer Eve he gives what is probably his last concert in Norway, in the music hall at Lysøen with 200 people attending.

During a concert in Chicago the year after, towards the end of his last USA tour, Ole Bull feels unwell. Ill and reduced from cancer he insists on returning to Norway to recover. On August 17th he asks his wife Sarah to play Mozart’s requiem on the organ. To the sound of these notes Ole Bull passes away, 70 years old, in his home at Lysøen.

Bull was buried with full honours on August 23, 1880, on Assistentkirkegården in Bergen. Thousands of people flanked the route where the procession passed, and his old friends held emotional speeches.

Edvard Grieg expressed the following at Bull’s funeral: