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Carsten Thorvald Woll

Carsten Woll (1885-1962) was a leading Norwegian-American singer and recording artist of the 1910s and 1920s. Born in Oslo, Norway, Woll took his student exams in 1903 and subsequently studied music and voice in Denmark and Germany. In 1913, Woll immigrated to America where he became a professor first at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota and then at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. In 1926 he also opened his own Woll Music Studio in Minot, North Dakota. In 1927, he published a very popular collection of around 150 Norwegian folk songs, "Sangbog for Sønner af Norge", including some he had composed himself. After retiring as a teacher of singing and music at St. Olaf College in 1951, he moved to Eugene, Oregon.