Ole Hjellemo (1873–1938) was a Norwegian composer and military musician. He was a promising musician as a child but his humble, unprivileged background, growing up at a crofter’s farm in the mountainous regions of eastern Norway, prevented him from receiving proper education. Eventually, he had to enlist in the army to receive some elementary musical training.
After having ended his apprenticeship in the army Hjellemo worked as a military musician to earn enough to take private lessons in classical composing from professional musicians in Christiania (present-day Oslo).
Supplemented with what he could teach himself by working hard, he soon became quite proficient as a composer. He would even teach composition at the Oslo conservatory from 1919 to 1932.
As a composer, Hjellemo was quite ambitious, writing five lengthy symphonies, several tone poems, some choral works as well as a violin concerto.
Although most of these works are late romantic in nature and show few national characteristics, he also wrote chamber music inspired by fiddle tunes he knew from this childhood days. He also collected and published some of these tunes.
A special talent he sought to develop, more than most classical composers, was the writing of major works for military band.
These works are often more influenced by folk tunes and have been performed more frequently than his classical works for symphony orchestra. In fact, most of his classical output has not been well received and is hardly ever heard today.
Implausible March was written as an ironic piece for wind band, showing that Hjellemo had some tongue-in-cheek humour when required. He called it a parodic march, probably as a statement that he never wrote any military marches, although he was a military musician by profession most of his life.
Set contains one score and one copy of each part, as download or on paper. Copying allowed by acquiring band for their performances only. Additional copies may be obtained from the J. W. Pepper webshop.
Ole Hjellemo (1873–1938) was a Norwegian composer and military musician. He was a promising musician as a child but his humble, unprivileged background, growing up at a crofter’s farm in the mountainous regions of eastern Norway, prevented him from receiving proper education. Eventually, he had to enlist in the army to receive some elementary musical training.
