Edvard Fliflet Bræin (23 August 1924 – 30 April 1976) was a Norwegian composer and conductor. He is best remembered for the composition Ut mot havet and the opera Anne Pedersdotter.
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Bræin was born in Kristiansund as the son of composer, conductor and organist Edvard Bræin (1887–1957)[1] and his wife Magnhild Fliflet. He married Karen Torjusen in 1946.[2]
Bræin studied at the institution Musikkonservatoriet i Oslo from 1942 to 1945, and musical composition with Bjarne Brustad and conducting with Odd Grüner-Hegge.[2][3] His debut as conductor was in Bergen in 1947, with Musikselskabet Harmoniens orkester.[2] His first compositions were De glade musikanter and Konsertouverture from 1948. He studied composition with Jean Rivier in Paris from 1950 to 1951.[2]
Bræin wrote symphonies, compositions for piano and orchestra, for flute and orchestra, chamber music and operas.[4] His first symphony was finished in 1950, his second in 1954, and his third in 1968. His best known composition is Ut mot havet from 1964, originally a song melody (with lyrics by Henrik Straumsheim), and later versions include an arrangement for orchestra, a piano version, and several choir versions. He has further composed melodies for songs with lyrics by Einar Skjæraasen, Jakob Sande, Hartvig Kiran and Johan Herman Wessel.[2]
He composed two operas. The opera Anne Pedersdotter was first performed at Den Norske Opera in 1971. It has a libretto by Hans Kristiansen based on a play by Hans Wiers-Jenssen, which was inspired by the witch trial in 1590 against Anne Pedersdotter, the widow after priest Absalon Pederssøn Beyer.[2] The comic opera Den Stundesløse, finished in 1975, is based on a comedy by Ludvig Holberg.[2]