“State funeral” for Arne Nordheim

The government yesterday decided to grant the composer Arne Nordheim, who died last week, a funeral on the expense of the state - commonly, but not entirely correctly called a “state funeral”. The funeral will take place in Oslo Cathedral next Wednesday.
During his premiership Jens Stoltenberg has been very restrictive about granting such funerals, probably as a result of his predecessor Kjell Magne Bondevik granting such funerals to almost all and sundry, which made it a less exclusive honour.
During his lifetime Arne Nordheim was in 1982 also granted the use of the state’s official residence for deserving artists, “Grotten” in the Palace Park. He lived there until moving to a nursing home in 2008, but his widow Randi Getz will retain the right to live there for the remainder of her lifetime.