He was born in Frankfurt am Main into a Norwegian family of influential artists and politicians and was married to the pianist Eva Høst. After studying Norwegian literature in Oslo (writing his dissertation in 1931) he was hired by the University Library and appointed manager of the National Music Collection (1936), as successor of Fartein Valen. Together with Olav Gurvin he was co-editor of the journal Norsk Musikkliv, published the collected works of Rikard Nordraak (1942) and the Musikk Leksikon (1949). On 20 August 1943 he was arrested, sent to camp Schildberg (#709), transferred to Luckenwalde (#709) and released on liberation day.
