Remembering Ole Bull

A hundred and twenty-six years ago this August, Ole Bull passed away. While unknown today, Bull was extremely well-known in his time. A Norwegian violin player of extraordinary talent, German composer Robert Schumann wrote that Bull was among "the greatest of all". From the Dictionary of Wisconsin History:

In 1843 he made his first concert tour in America, returned again in 1852, and made his first concert appearance in Wisconsin in 1853. For a number of years he gave concerts throughout the U.S., and for a time intended to become a citizen, but did not complete his naturalization. Bull gave his first concert in Madison in 1856, but his health stricken, he returned to Europe in 1857, remaining there for several years. In 1868 he returned to Wisconsin, and in Madison met Sara Thorp, daughter of Eau Claire lumber baron, Joseph G. Thorp (q.v.). Bull's first wife, a Parisian girl, had died in 1862, and in 1870 he married Sara Thorp. Thereafter for several years the Bulls resided in Madison in a mansion deeded by Thorp to his daughter, and during this period, Bull became a popular symbol of Norwegian culture.

Just as male rock stars today attract and bed young women, it looks like Mr. Bull was doing this 100 years before Gene Simmons. Ms. Thorp was a youthful 20 when she married Bull. The couple lived at 130 E. Gilman in what is now known as the Knapp House. The Knapp House was later sold and became the Executive Residence for our state governors from 1883-1950. Outside of Wisconsin, Bull helped found the Det Norske Theater in Bergen, Norway and also the colony of New Norway in Pennsylvania. He even tried to build a castle there but it was never completed.

I don't know of anything in Madison to commemorate his time here outside of photos at the Wisconsin Historical Society.