With the advent of Christianity during the early medieval period, the musical trappings of Christian liturgy (ie Latin hymns and Gregorian chants) entered Norway. Cathedral music schools were set up as early as the 12th century in Nidaros (Trondheim), Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger and in subsequent centuries liturgical music continued to develop despite a temporary decline in church activities during the 14th century owing to the outbreak of plague.

By the 16th century the cities of Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim each had their own city musicians and during the 17th and 18th centuries a number of well-known European composers – including Georg von Bertouch, Johan Daniel Berlin and Johan Henrik Berlin – came to Norway to work. Public interest in art music grew steadily in affluent urban areas and during the second half of the 18th century private or semi-public music societies appeared in several cities, offering subscription concerts to the wealthy.

Following the union with Sweden (1814) the movement for national freedom gained momentum, finding musical expression initially through the writing of patriotic songs and later through research into traditional Norwegian folk songs with a view to their incorporation into art music. Leading figures in this movement included violin virtuoso Ole Bull (1810-1880), pianist-composer Thomas Tellefsen (1823-1874) and ethno-musicologist L M Lindeman (1812-1887).

By the mid-18th century several Norwegian classical-romantic composers had come to the fore, notably Halfdan Kjerulf (1815-1868), Martin Andreas Udbye (composer of the first Norwegian opera Fredkulla, 1820-1889) and Rikard Noordrak, composer of the Norwegian National Anthem Ja, vi elsker (1842-1866). The latter died before he could realise his dream of a Norwegian art music founded on authentic Norwegian folk art, but his ideas were put into practice during the latter half of the 18th century by Norway’s greatest composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) and his lesser-known contemporary Johan Svendsen (1840-1911). Other important contemporaries of Grieg and Svendsen included O Winther-Hjelm (1837-1931), who wrote the first Norwegian symphony, Johan Selmer (1844-1910) who specialised in programme music, Paul Fredrik Iver Holter (1850-1941) and Ole Olsen (1850-1929). The stylistic ideals of late Romanticism were to dominate Norwegian music until well into the 20th century, whether expressed through modifications to the national Romantic idiom of Grieg (Johan Halvorsen, Arne Eggen, M M Ulfrstad) or through a more classical/international line (Catharinus Elling, Per Winge, Sigurd Lie, Eyvind Alnaes, J Backer-Lunde, Halfdan Cleve).

Impressionism made a brief impact in Norwegian music during the 1920s with the work of Alf Hurum (1882-1972), Pauline Hall (1890-1969) and Arvid Kleven (1899-1929), but soon yielded to influences from contemporary dissonant styles during the 1930s, the atonal experiments of Fartein Valen (1887-1952) (see Fartein Valen Festival and Fartein Valen Museum) reaching a particularly wide international audience. Meanwhile composers such as Geir Tveitt (1908-1981), Eivind Groven (1901-1977), Bjarne Brustad (1895-1978), Harald Saeverud (1897-1992), Klaus Egge (1906-1979), Sparre Olsen (1903-1984) and Olav Kielland (1901-1985) sought to combine a genuine folk music style with a contemporary style of writing.

Since World War II Norwegian composers have experimented with various new techniques including Serialism, Neo-expressionism and aleatory and electronic music. Contemporary Norwegian composers seeking to bridge the gap between traditional and radical styles include Gunnar Sønstevold (1912-1991), Finn Arnestad (1915-1994), Hallvard Johnsen (1916-2003), Finn Ludt (1919-1992), Bjørn Fongaard (1919-1980), Johan Kvandal (1919-1999), Øistein Sommerfeldt (1919-1994), Per Hjort Albertsen (b1919), Arne Dørumsgaard (b1921), Edvard Hagerup Bull (b1922) and Italian-Norwegian Antonio Bibalo (b1922), Alfred Janson (b1937), Ragnar Søderlind (b1945), Halvor Haug (b 1952), and Wolfgang Plagge (b 1960).

Those leading the way in the field of radical modernism include Finn Mortensen (1922-1983), Arne Nordheim (b 1931), Alfred Janson (b 1937), Olav Anton Thommessen (b 1946), Lasse Thoresen (b 1949), Cecilie Ore (b1954), Rolf Wallin (b 1957) and Asbjørn Schaathun (b 1961).

Norway’s oldest symphony orchestra is the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester (Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, founded 1765), also known as the Harmonien (which Grieg conducted for a time), whilst the Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester (Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, 1919) was established. Other leading professional orchestras in Norway include the Trondheim Symfoniorkester (Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, 1909), the Stavanger Symfoniorkester (Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, 1938), the NRK 1 Kringkastingsorkestret (Norwegian Radio (NRK) Orchestra, 1946), the Kristiansand Symfoniorkester (Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, 1919) and the Tromsø Symfoniorkester (Tromsø Symphony Orchestra, 1998). Over the past 20 years working conditions for major orchestras in Norway’s larger cities have improved significantly with the construction of larger concert halls, and this fact, together with the emergence of a number of new conductors, has had a marked effect on the quality of the Norwegian classical music scene.

In 1967 a concert-promoting organisation known as Rikskonsertene was established by the then Ministry for Church and Cultural Affairs. Now administered by the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, this agency collaborates with county and local authorities to promote concert tours, providing between 80 per cent and 90per cent of the costs involved in staging concerts in regional venues around the country.

In 1979, 16 posts for District Musicians were established in North Norway as part of an ongoing drive towards decentralisation and nationwide distribution of arts activity. The scheme has since been expanded and by 1990 it included 28 musicians in North Norway and 13 Regional Musicians. The District Musicians are employed by the county municipalities, but 75 per cent of the costs are covered by central government. They give concerts in co-operation with local symphony orchestras, are charged with responsibility for co-ordinating school concerts and also work as instructors in local musical projects.

Founded in 1953, the annual Bergen International Festival has done much to propagate Norwegian music, especially that of Grieg. Other important music festivals include International Chamber Music Festival (ICMF), Oslo Chamber Music Festival, Risør Chamber Music Festival and Kristiansund Opera Festival.