During World War II he was imprisoned as a hostage for his brothers, who had fled to Sweden, and sentenced to 30 years of slavery. He was in a camp in Troms, in the northern part of Norway. If the Germans had won the war, he would have been released in 1974.
When peace came, he decided to change instruments, and studied the bassoon. After a year he got a job in Bergen. Here he also made his debut as a conductor. But the job was only a deputyship and lasted for one season.
To survive, he played the piano in various restaurants in Oslo for eleven years. When The Norwegian Opera was opened in 1958, he got a job as a bassoonist. He stayed in the orchestra until he was 70, in 1990.
He wrote chamber music, mostly for strings, but also a brass quintet and a sonata and four preludes for trumpet. He wrote the tuba concert when he was about 70.