Jens Aalholm Gjerløw

Jens Aalholm Gjerløw was an opera singer and composer, although he probably first studied law in Oslo. At the end of 1939 he gave several concerts in Maribor, which was still part of Yugoslavia at the time. After the occupation of Norway by Germany, he served in the SS and wrote a pamphlet “for his compatriots against Bolshevism and for Germanic thoughts” but it was never used for propaganda purposes. He eventually became a language director and translator at the Reichssender Königsberg (now Kaliningrad). After the war he returned to Norway.

Gjerløw’s composition The Resurrection for soprano, bass, mixed choir and orchestra was written in 1942, probably during his time in Königsberg. The poem of the same name was written by the German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724-1803). It was first published in 1758 and was later set to music as a church hymn several times, including in Gustav Mahler’s 2nd Symphony.