had artistic as well as patriotic aims. Festivals, after the
pattern of those held at Cincinnati, and Worcester and Springfield,
Massachusetts, have also contributed toward the development of
national music. The most eminent choral leaders in Norway have been
Johan D. Behrens, F.A. Reissinger, and O.A. Gröndahl. The Norwegian
Musical Union has also been active in the development of tonal ideals.
Its aim has been to provide chamber concerts of a high order. Grieg
and Svendsen were its first conductors. They were succeded by Ole
Olsen, who combined the talents of orchestral leader with those of
composer, chorister, and band leader. For many years he directed the
Second Brigade Band at Christiania with the rank of captain. Johan
Selmer, also a composer, succeeded Olsen in the direction of the
Musical Union; and Iver Holier, a composer of symphonies, orchestral
suites, chamber music, and vocal scores, followed Selmer. Other
orchestral leaders are Johan Hennum, Per Winge, and Johan Halvorsen,




CHAPTER XIX

THE WOMEN OF NORWAY AND SWEDEN


No volume dealing with Scandinavian life would be complete without
some tribute to the women of Norway and Sweden. They are magnificent
specimens wherever you may find them--in the kitchen, the factory, the
harvest field, the hospital, the schoolhouse, the drawing-room, or the
palace. They are good mothers, good daughters, and good wives, and
while their devotion to their sons, husbands, and fathers is not