Wilhelm Sollie: Arild Sandvold's organ works – in the light of Norwegian-German interpretation traditions.

Field of study: Performance Practice

Arild Sandvold (1895–1984) was a central figure in Norwegian church music as an organist, composer, and pedagogue. Through his studies with Thomaskantor Karl Straube in Leipzig, he became part of a German interpretative tradition that significantly shaped his artistic development.

This dissertation investigates how Sandvold’s organ works, interpretative practice, and aesthetic thinking can be understood in light of Karl Straube’s philosophy of interpretation and the German Romantic organ tradition, particularly in connection with Max Reger. At the same time, it examines how this tradition is transformed within a Norwegian context through Sandvold’s work as a performer, teacher, and organ consultant.

The study is situated within the field of performance practice and combines intellectual-historical analysis, hermeneutic theory, and practice-based methodology. It explores both the conceptual foundations of the tradition and its concrete manifestations in performance. Furthermore, it analyzes the relationship between notation and sonic realization through editorial philological studies and analyses of key organ compositions.

The dissertation also sheds light on how traditions of interpretation are formed and how they operate within a broader intellectual-historical and aesthetic field of tension between subjectivity and objectivity, and between tradition and innovation. A central aim is to develop concepts and perspectives that illuminate the relationship between historical awareness and aesthetic experience in musical interpretation. Rather than establishing normative interpretations, the study seeks to expand the space for reflection that underpins performance practice.

The dissertation makes a threefold contribution:

• Empirical, through analyses of sources, works, and practices
• Conceptual, through the development of a terminology for interpretative aesthetics
• Practice-oriented, by strengthening the foundation for informed performance

The research is presented in the form of a monograph.