Carsten Woll

{{Infobox person | name = Carsten Thorvald Woll | image = File:Carsten Thorvald Woll.jpg | image_size = 225px

| caption = | birth_name = Carsten Thorvald Woll | birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|07|31}} | birth_place = Oslo, Norway | death_date = {{Death date and age|1962|12|21|1885|07|31}} | death_place = Eugene, Oregon | occupation = composer, <br> singer, <br> teacher | spouse = Esther Erhart Woll }} '''Carsten Thorvald Woll''' (1885-1962) was a leading Norwegian-American singer and recording artist of the 1910s and 1920s.

==Biography== The singer and composer Carsten Woll was born in Oslo, Norway. He took his student exams in 1903 and subsequently studied music and voice in Denmark and Germany.<ref name="leksikon">''Norsk pop- og rockleksikon'', (Oslo: Vega Forlag, 2005).</ref>

Woll immigrated to America in 1913 and was a professor first at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and then at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In 1926 he also became the director of the Woll Music Studio in Minot, North Dakota. After retiring as a teacher of singing and music at St. Olaf College in 1951, he moved to Eugene, Oregon.<ref name="leksikon"/>

==Music== Carsten Woll was one of the big names in Norwegian-American music with nearly two thousand live performances and frequent appearances at choral festivals. He wrote several songs and compiled a songbook that was published by the Sons of Norway in 1926.<ref>[http://www.mic.no/nmi.nsf/micdoc/art2006053111170366978713 Carsten Woll: sanger og komponist] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402051323/http://www.mic.no/nmi.nsf/micdoc/art2006053111170366978713 |date=April 2, 2012 }} ''mic.no''. Retrieved: October 21, 2011.</ref> There were over one hundred Norwegian songs in the collection as well as ''Home, Sweet Home'' and the songs of Stephen Foster.<ref>''Sangbog for Sønner af Norge'' edited by Carsten Woll, (Minneapolis: Sønner af Norges forlag, 1926).</ref>

Woll's popularity as a singer made him one of the most sought-after Norwegian-American recording artists in the acoustic period. From 1913 to 1925 he recorded almost 200 titles for a number of record companies. Most of his recordings were made for Victor and Columbia, but he also appeared on the Edison, Vocalion, Okeh and Brunswick labels.<ref name="Records 1990">[https://books.google.com/books?id=TvB2hsWm8HwC&dq=%22Carsten+Th.+Woll%22+%22Ethnic+Music+on+Records%22&pg=PA2640 ''Ethnic Music on Records: A Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893-1942'' by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) LCCN 89-020526. Volume 5, pp. 2640 - 2646.]</ref>

Norwegian immigrants in America had a strong emotional attachment to the folk melodies of their homeland, and Carsten Woll probably made more recordings of traditional Norwegian folk songs than any other artist. His discography included ''Eg gjette Tulla'', ''Eg veit ei lita jente'', ''Kjerringa med staven'' and ''Og reven lå under birkerot''. On the other hand, his recording of ''Sommersol til siste stund'' was a Norwegian version of ''Silver threads among the gold''.<ref name="Records 1990"/>

==See also== *Carl G. O. Hansen

==Gallery== <gallery heights="200" widths ="200"> File:Carsten_Woll.jpg|Carsten Woll in Victor catalog File:Bockman_Hall.jpg|Luther Seminary File:Old-Main-St-Olaf-College-Northfield-Minnesota.jpg|St. Olaf College File:SonsofNorwayMPLS.JPG|Sons of Norway headquarters </gallery>

==References== <references/>

==External links== *{{Find a Grave|125894581|Carsten Woll}} ;1926 Songbook *[https://archive.org/download/NorwegianSinger/01Preface.pdf Preface] *[https://archive.org/download/NorwegianSinger/02Index.pdf Index] ;Historic Newspapers *[http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?state=&date1=1836&date2=1922&proxtext=Carsten+Woll&dateFilterType=yearRange&rows=20&searchType=basic&x=0&y=0 Carsten Woll] ;Discographies *[http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/24928/Woll_Carsten_Thorvald_vocalist_tenor_vocal Carsten Woll] on Victor Records. *[https://archive.org/download/NorwegianSinger/04VictorNorwegianRecords1921.jpg Carsten Woll] in 1921 Victor Catalog. *[http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/24928/Woll_Carsten_Thorvald_vocalist_tenor_vocal Carsten Woll] on Columbia Records. ;Streaming audio at the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project *[http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1%3D1016+&query=Carsten+Woll Carsten Woll] *[http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr+1%3D1016+&query=Norwegian Norwegian songs] ;Streaming audio at the Library of Congress *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/973 Carsten Woll] *[https://www.loc.gov/jukebox/search/results?q=Norwegian Norwegian songs] ;Streaming audio at the Internet Archive *[https://archive.org/details/NorwegianSinger Carsten Woll] *[https://archive.org/details/ScandiaPublishingCompany Olle i Gråthult:] More songs recorded by Woll and others. *[https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Norwegian+songs%22 Norwegian songs] *[https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Norwegian+singers%22 Norwegian singers] ;Gustavus Adolphus College *[https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/index.php/ College and Lutheran Church Archives] *[http://archives.gac.edu/cdm/search/collection/ScanAm/searchterm/Woll Carsten Woll audio] *[http://archives.gac.edu/cdm/search/collection/ScanAm/searchterm/Norwegian/field/all/mode/any/conn/and/order/title/ad/asc Norwegian songs] ;Norwegian songs *[http://www.aasentunet.no/iaa/no/litteratur/songar/folkeviser_og_stev/%C3%85+kj%C3%B8re+vatten+og+kj%C3%B8re+ved.b7C_wBzM2d.ips ''Aa kjøre vatten aa kjøre ved''] *''Deilig er jorden'' *[https://web.archive.org/web/20130920120137/http://www.ugle.dk/den_store_hvide_flok_1.html ''Den store hvide flok vi se''] *[http://www.aasentunet.no/iaa/no/litteratur/songar/folkeviser_og_stev/Eg+gjette+Tulla.b7C_wBzO4d.ips ''Eg gjette Tulla''] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20161014061404/http://home.lyse.net/roaldhus/Rossabo/Eg%20veit%20ei%20lita%20jente.htm ''Eg veit ei lita jente''] *''Kan du glemme gamle Norge'' *[http://forn-sed.no/folkesagn/folkesagn/folkeviser_kvad/dikt35.shtml ''Kjerringa med staven''] *''Og reven lå under birkerot'' *[https://dikt.org/Syng_mig_hj%C3%A6m! ''Syng mig hjæm''] *[https://www.bokselskap.no/boker/moedikt/saetergjentenssondag ''Sætergjentens Søndag''] ;Songs from English *''My heart and lute'' *[https://dikt.org/Guldkorn_0011 ''My heart and lute:'' Norwegian] *''Silver threads among the gold'' *''Silver threads among the gold:'' Norwegian ;Swedish song *''Ingalill'' *[https://books.google.com/books?id=P34QAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Ingalill,+Ingalill,+sing+me+a+song%22&pg=PA91 ''Ingalill:'' English]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woll, Carsten}} Category:1885 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Brunswick Records artists Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Edison Records artists Category:Musicians from Eugene, Oregon Category:Norwegian emigrants to the United States Category:Okeh Records artists Category:American operatic tenors Category:Musicians from Oslo Category:St. Olaf College faculty Category:Victor Records artists Category:Vocalion Records artists Category:Singers from Oregon Category:20th-century American male singers Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century Norwegian male singers Category:20th-century Norwegian singers Category:Classical musicians from Oregon