Bjørn Fongaard (2 March 1919 in Oslo – 26 October 1980 in Oslo) was a Norwegian composer, guitarist, and teacher. In addition to being concerned with microtonal and electronic music, he was perhaps the first to use the prepared guitar. "Fongaard's output is considerable...Due to the partly experimental notation, these works have not become widely known."
Life Fongaard grew up in the Oslo borough of Nordstrand. He studied at the Oslo Conservatory of Music with teachers including Per Steenberg, Sigurd Islandsmoen, Bjarne Brustad, and Karl Andersen."Bjørn Fongaard - Biography ", mic.no. He started off by constructing a quarter tone guitar with adaption of the fretboard, but very early left this in favor of a diverse set of prepared guitar techniques. His first pieces in this genre came in the mid 60's. A sampler CD of his own recordings entitled Elektrofoni: Works For Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978 , Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter. was released in 2011. In 2015, a double disc of new recordings by Norwegian guitarist Anders Førisdal was released on Aurora Records.
List of works Galaxy op. 46 Homo Sapiens op. 80 Genesis Sinfonia Microtonalis op. 79 Orchestra Antiphonalis Symphony of Space Universum Mare Tranquilitatis 23 Concertos for Piano and Orchestra 0p. 118 12 Concertos for Solo Instrument and Orchestra op. 120 21 String Quartets op. 123 57 Sonatas for One Instrument op. 125 41 Concertos for Solo Instrument and Tape op. 131
References
External links "Bjørn Fongaard: Elektrofoni 3CD/1DVD Box-Set", PrismaRecords.BlogSpot.com. "Bjørn Fongaard, "Elektrofoni: Works for Micro Intervallic Guitar 1965-1978"", BrainWashed.com.