Sweden

The ‘German church’ from the 14^th century was an important musical centre. The German Andreas Düben (1597-1662), a pupil of Sweelinck, was the first of a dynasty of organists at this church and Hofkapellmästare.

The church was renovated in 1642 and 1878. The organ (2004) is a replica of the instrument from 1684.

The first Royal Opera building existed from 1782 to 1891. The murder on King Gustav III took place there in 1792; it is the real story behind Verdi’s Il ballo in maschera.

The present opera was opened in 1899. Great Swedish singers appeared there, incl. Jussi Björling and Birgit Nilsson. www.operan.se

This concert hall was finished in 1926 in neo-classical style; architect Ivar Tengbom. The main hall has 1782 seats and there are two smaller halls. www.konserthuset.se

Rikskonserter take place in the concert hall from 1878 in the former building of the conservatory.

 Richest music collection of Sweden, established in 1771 as a department of the new Royal Academy of Music, now belonging to the independent organization Musikverket.

In 1899, a Musikhistoriska museet was established with a large collection of instruments, in particular western and folkloristic, increasing to c 6000 items.

Since 2017 it operates under the name Scenkonstmuseet [museum of performing arts] and includes exhibits around theatre and ballet.

A collection of 550 European instruments and an rich archive with musical manuscripts, iconography and letters were collected since 1920 by the wine trader Rudolf Nydahl. It is housed at the present address since 1979. Limited accession to the public. www.nydahlcoll.se

The museum of dance was established in 1953 by Rolf de Maré, the founder of the Ballet Suédois in Paris, for which Darius Milhaud wrote La création du monde with decors by Fernand Léger (1923). The collection of costumes, masques, decors, photos and art works was moved from Paris to Stockholm in 1999. The museum and its library and archive cover the history of folk- and social dance and theatre ballet. www.dansmuseet.se

The academy was established in 1771 by Gustav III. Today it is involved in research and editorial activities: books and record/CD releases of Swedish music (Musica Sveciae). Since 1971 the original educational practice has been moved to the Kgl. Musikhögskolan at Valhallavägen.

There are no monuments or plaques for Sweden’s greatest romantic composer, Franz Berwald (1796-1868); his birthplace and dwellings in Stockholm were all demolished ─ the last one at the end of the 20^th century (photo). We are only left his grave in Solna (>1042), his family archive (>1007) and his works, including fine symphonies and chamber music. Oh, yes ─ and a plaque in Berlin, Taubenstraße 11, where he held an orthopedic institute from 1835 to 1841.

The birthplace of the composer Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960) had to make space for the Grand Hotel in 1974. Since 1999 there is an Alfvén Suite, with a bust and some paintings by the composer.

From his numerous compositions, the Midsommervaka (1^st Swedish Rhapsody, 1903) became world-wide known, but also many other works are worth listening; listen to the brilliant Vallflickens dans from the ballet Bergakungen (1916-13). Alfvén was also a gifted painter.

Block Tallkotten 4 was the later Stockholm house of Hugo Alfvén.

Block Älgen 17 was the Stockholm house of the composer and critic Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (1867-1942), whose 3^rd symphony Same-Ätnam (Lappland), piano pieces and songs are remarkable.

House of the singer, conductor, critic and composer Ture Rangström (1884-1947). He wrote operas and instrumental music, but the c 250 songs are his greatest contribution to the Swedish music.

The church has the disposal of three modern organs (Hammerberg 1966, Kjersgård 1984, Kalnius 2005), on which frequent recitals are given.

The urn with the ashes of the composer Alan Pettersson (1911-80) is in the columbarium of this church. He wrote 15 symphonies, full of contrast, of which the 7^th (1967) brought him international esteem.

The Dutch born singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk (1937-87) moved to Sweden in 1950. Here he became a popular troubadour who was much admired but also controversial because of his coarse texts. There are Cornelis Vreeswijk societies in Sweden as well as in the Netherlands.

Another troubadour, from another era but still popular, was Carl Michael Bellman (1740-95). He was a poet and a virtuoso on cittern and lute, leading an adventurous life. He appeared even at the court of Gustav III with his satirical drinking songs on existing or self composed melodies.

He lived from 1770 to 1774 in this house; since 1938 it is the seat of the Par Bricole Order Society, co-established by Bellman in 1779 and now devoted to Swedish artistic heritage. www.bellmanhuset.se

A permanent exhibition on life and work of Carl Bellman is in a 17^th century customs house (Stora Henriksvik) with café and garden.

A passage way leads to the churchyard of Saint Clara, where Carl Bellman was interred in 1795. The exact location is unknown; plaque at the church wall.

Monument of Carl Michael Bellman on the island of Djurgården.

This island is a touristic hot-spot with its park, Skansen, Wasa museum and ABBA museum >. 

The pop group ABBA was formed in 1973 and became world famous until it broke up in December 1982; the four members continued with solo careers and are still influential. Their costumes, gold records and other memorabilia were collected in this interactive museum. www.abbathemuseum.com

In the Art Nouveau Block Stallmästeren was the house of the pianist, conductor and composer Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927). He lived in this house either 1897-1906, or 1924-27. He was born in Stockholm, but his birthplace couldn’t be determined. In the Göteborg area more traces can be found.

The orchestral Serenade op. 31 (1913) and the 2^nd Symphony (1915) are often considered as his best works, but also his 2^nd piano concerto and some of his chamber works and songs are still widely performed.

Although Stenhammar is in no way inferior to his contemporaries Alfvén and Peterson-Berger, he is the only one who is honored nowhere by plaques and museums.

Grave of Karl-Birger Blomdahl (1916-68), a composer to whom Bartók, Stravinsky, Webern and particularly Hindemith were sources of inspiration. Remarkable are the 3^rd Symphony Facetter (1950) and the ‘space-opera’ Aniara (1963); he also experimented with electronic music.

House of the composer and conductor Hilding Rosenberg (1892-1985) during the 1920s. He composed in all genres and in different styles. His oeuvre includes 15 operas and incidental music for over 40 plays. A good example of his music is the 4^th (choral) symphony Johannes uppenbarelse [the revelation of John], 1940.

Grave of the Estonian composer and conductor Eduard Tubin (1905-82). The Soviets made him flee to Sweden in 1944, where he became archivist of Drottningholm theatre and a Swedish citizen in 1961.

His ten symphonies (1931-73) became world-wide known by the agency of the conductor Neeme Järvi.

For more Tubin traces, see under Estonia.

House of the composer Dag Wirén (1905-86), living here from 1937. Widely known is his Serenade for strings (1937), but also among the other orchestral music (listen to the 4^th symphony) and chamber music in neo-classicistic style much is worth listening. He wrote soundtracks for various films, incl. Bergman’s En lection I kärlek [A lesson in love] (1954) and the Swedish contribution of the Eurovision Song Festival 1965.

He has no individual grave or plaque; his ashes were spread in the ‘minneslund’ of the local churchyard.

Stockholm’s most famous cemetery. Graves of Franz Berwald, †1868 (>1014); the composer and conductor Ludwig Norman, †1885; the song composer Emil Sjögren, †1918; the late romantic symphonist Kurt Atterberg, †1974.

Also the graves of other famous Swedes: August Strindberg, Alfred Nobel, Ingrid Bergman.

South of Norra cemetery is the Solna churchyard with the grave of the clarinetist, composer and linguist Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838). He was born in Finland but lived in Sweden from 1793. His works for the clarinet are still frequently performed.

For more Crusell traces, see under Finland.

Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92) was born in Miltenberg, Germany, but moved to Sweden in 1778, where he worked at the court of Gustav III. Some of his operas and symphonies rank with works by Gluck, Haydn and Mozart.

As a Roman Catholic, Kraus couldn’t be interred at a Swedish churchyard, so he was interred on an idyllic private plot, then belonging to the befriended count Nils Bark.

The local market place was named after him and furnished with a commemorative stele.

House of Hilding Rosenberg from 1928 until his death in 1985.

He was interred at Bromma kyrkogård, but his grave has been expired ─ a serious disgrace indeed.

The royal summer castle, built at the end of the 17^th century, was provided with a detached theatre in 1754, that burnt down and was rebuilt in 1766. It became out of order after the death of king Gustav III, 1792, and since then it was left untouched until the 1920s. Practically undamaged decors and wooden stage machinery and even original costumes came to the surface! The ‘sleeping beauty’ was thoroughly restored and got ready for a revival of the historical theatre practice.

Performances and guided tours. A theatre museum is in the former dressing rooms.

Ralph Lundsten (°1936) is known as the creator of electronic and synthetic music in soundtracks and Nordic Symphonies. His extensive studio Andromeda was established here in 1971. In 2014 it was closed, due to lack of support by the government.

More information: www.andromeda.se and https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/2111

Grave of Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758), the leading Swedish baroque composer. The exact place of the grave is not known; bronze plaque at the church wall.

Johan Helmich Roman studied in London and worked from 1715 to 1745 at the court in Stockholm. He composed vocal and instrumental music; his best known work is Drottningholmsmusiquen, a suite of 24 short pieces for a royal wedding in 1744. Then he retired to the estate Lilla Haraldsmåla near Ryssby, where he died in 1758. The house was burnt down in 1827 but probably rebuilt; the placing of a plaque in 1944 was reported, but its address and present state could not be verified.

The composer Ture Rangström (>1021) frequented the Östergötland archipelago and obtained a summer house on the tiny island of Gräsmaro/Törmshalmen in 1935. He died in 1947 and was buried on the mainland, at the churchyard of Gryt.

The opera house was realized in 1994 on the base of ‘crowd funding’ with 6000 participants. The architect was Jan Izikowitz. There are 1300 seats.

The concert hall with 1400 seats was built in 1934 and extended in 1999.

Its predecessor from 1905 burnt down in 1928. Wilhelm Stenhammar worked there from 1907 to 1921 and built up the Orkesterförening to an excellent ensemble, today the Göteborg S.O.

In 1856, the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana had complied to an invitation from Göteborg to work there as a teacher and conductor; it turned out well and after one year he decided to prolong the agreement, spending the summer months in his homeland. In 1861 homesickness did him return for good.

The small Smetana museum covering those five years was a gift by the Czeçhoslovak government in 1961.

Smetana’s house from the season 1857-58; the bilingual plaque is also a donation from Prague.

Birthplace of the composer Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974), whose symphonies are still worth listening.

House of Wilhelm Stenhammar during 1908-17. His next house until 1921 was at Kungsportsavenyen 15, but has been totally changed.

Grave of Wilhelm Stenhammar, †1927 in Stockholm, but interred here in accordance with his will.

 Stenhammar stayed frequently, also after having left Göteborg, with his friends from the wealthy Gibson family. This was the villa of William Gibson.

Another villa, frequented by Stenhammar: that of James and Liza Gibson.

Grave of the composer Hugo Alfvén (>1016), †1960

Hugo Alfvén lived here from 1939 until his death. The present Alfvén museum has not only the disposal of the usual exhibits ─ documents, photos, souvenirs ─ but of the furnishing from the composer’s preceding house at Diverberget in Tällberg and of a number of paintings by the composer, who was a talented artist.

In Fjugesta there should be the summer house of the Wirén family. Address unknown; not verified.

Museum of the fine tenor singer Jussi Björling (1911-60), who excelled in Italian opera but became most famous outside Italy.

He died in Stockholm but his grave is at Stora Tuna kyrkogård, close to his birthplace.

Birthplace of the composer Wilhelm Peterson-Berger (>1019), °1867. No plaque; there is a monument nearby. His piano was moved to the Hembygdsgård, a local country museum.

Peterson-Berger spent his holidays in this district from 1889 and lived in this villa Sommarhagen on the island of Frösön from 1930 until his death in 1942. It is now an attractive Peterson-Berger museum.

The composer was interred on the premises of the Frösön church.

Yearly performances at the open-air theatre of the Viking drama Arnljot with incidental music by him.

Birthplace of the composer Hilding Rosenberg, °1892 (>1036, 1071). It was a nunnery from the 11^th until the 16^th century and then became a property of noble families. Finally the apartments were rented.

Uppsala has the oldest university (1477) and the largest library of Sweden, with autographs of Roman, J.M. Kraus and Alfvén; the latter worked here as director musices (1910-39).

Ralph Lundsten (°1936) grew up in this 18^th century farm. Today it is a restaurant; a small room, decorated in Lundsten’s favourite bright pink, is dedicated to him.