Edvard Sylou-Creutz
| Edvard Sylou-Creutz | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Edvard Kreutz 7 May 1881 Kristiania |
| Died | 11 May 1945 (aged 64) Oslo |
| Burial place | Vestre gravlund, Oslo |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Other names | Edvard Sylow-Kreutz Edvard Sylou Kreutz |
| Occupation | Pianist, composer, music critic, piano teacher, propagandist, program director |
| Years active | 1910–1945 |
| Known for | Pianist in early radio, Nazi collaborator |
| Political party | Nasjonal Samling |
| Spouse(s) | Signe Sylou-Creutz, née Jonson |
| Children | 2 |
Edvard Sylou-Creutz (7 May 1881 – 11 May 1945) was a Norwegian classical pianist, composer and radio personality, who was especially active in Nazi-controlled radio in Germany and occupied Norway between March 1940 and the autumn of 1942.
Born in Kristiania (present-day Oslo) and named Edvard Kreutz, he changed his surname in the early 1900s. Initially, he used "Sylow-Kreutz" and "Sylou Kreutz" interchangeably. He was however sued by Colonel Carl Christian Weinwich Sylow in 1911, who claimed that he did not have the right to use the Sylow family name. Kristiania City Court concluded the case on 2 October 1911, with the verdict being that, according to the Norwegian name law, he could not use the Sylow name. The court found that he would however be allowed to use the name Sylou, which he claimed had been the surname of an early 19th-century ancestor who had emigrated to Norway.
He studied in Norway under the supervision of Agathe Backer-Grøndahl, Catharinus Elling and Iver Holter, and also for several years abroad, in Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria-Hungary. He made his concert debut in 1910, went on nationwide tours in his early career, and was a music critic for the newspaper Morgenbladet from 1919. He also toured in France, giving concerts in Paris. Sylou-Creutz and his wife Signe Jonson had two sons, born in 1908 and 1910. Before World War II he worked as a pianist and composer, writing songs and piano pieces. He had been involved in the pioneer years of Norwegian radio in the 1920s. He accompanied the vocals of Dagny Schelderup in one of the earliest broadcasts of Kristiania Broadcasting on 12 April 1923, the first ever concert in Norwegian radio, featuring music by among others the Norwegian composers Edvard Grieg, Giacomo Puccini and Christian Sinding. Among the other artists Sylou-Creutz collaborated with as an accompanist was the renowned Norwegian opera singer Kirsten Flagstad. In 1936 Sylou-Creutz joined the Norwegian Society of Composers, and from 1934 to 1939, he taught the piano at the Oslo Conservatory of Music. Early on in his career, Sylou-Creutz offered private piano lessons in his Pilestredet, Oslo, home.
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