Fredrik Melius Christiansen (born April 1, 1871 in Oslo; died June 1, 1955 in Oslo) was a Norwegian violinist and choir director in the Lutheran choir tradition. He is best known for his many a cappella choir arrangements and for founding The St. Olaf Choir in 1912.
Fredrik Melius Christiansen, the son of a Norwegian factory worker, was born in Eidsvold, a municipality in the Norwegian county of Akershus. He took up music at an early age: at three he could play his first clarinet, and at six he marched in his father's band. [1] In addition to the clarinet, he continued to learn the violin, piano, and pipe organ. In his teenage years, he became so skilled at the pipe organ that he was able to take his teacher's place as organist in Sunday services, although his true passion was the violin. To pay for his lessons, he taught piano and violin to beginners himself, but soon realized that he would have limited success in his home country. So, at 17, F. Melius emigrated to the United States. [
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Melius_Christiansen
Note: Translated from a German version of Wikipedia
