Roald Amundsen’s record collection

Few descriptions survive of Amundsen’s taste in music, but his friend and author, Odd Arnesen, writes that he “loved good old music that was understandable, and played the piano himself, both by ear and from notation.”📜
On the piano in the Uranienborg living room is sheet music for:

“Defiler-Marsj” by Alfr. Svendsen (according to his nephew, this was one of Roald Amundsen’s favourite melodies)
“Der fløi et navn” by Reidar Thommessen
“En bølgedans”
“Valencia” by Jose Padilla
“Seiler sang” by Per Reidarson

According to the crew of Fram, Amundsen could play only one melody on the piano, which was “In the shade of the old apple tree,” but according to his nephew Gustav “Goggen” Amundsen he could also play “Defiler-Marsj”.

The only radio set that Amundsen is known to have had at home at Uranienborg was a “Telefunken 5” model. The set is no longer there, but the power cable is still in the living room.

In 2020, part of Amundsen’s recorded music collection was rediscovered at Uranienborg and digitized. As yet, however, we have no indication of how these eight discs were acquired.

Also found at Uranienborg, in a chest in an outbuilding in 2015, was a small leather-bound book containing a list of song titles and index numbers📜.