Claude Loyola Allgén
Claude Loyola Allgén (born August 16, 1920 in Calcutta , † September 18, 1990 in Täby ) was a Swedish composer and violist .
Life
Allgén's family lived briefly in Pixbo (1926–1929) and in Gothenburg before moving to Djursholm , where Allgén spent most of his childhood. He began to learn the violin between the ages of 12 and 13, but soon switched to the viola. At the age of sixteen he was accepted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music .
Here Allgén studied counterpoint under Melcher Melchers and viola under Charles Barke . In the 1940s he was a member of the Monday group , along with other radically modern composers such as Karl-Birger Blomdahl , Sven-Erik Bäck and Hans Leygraf . However, Allgén overestimated the importance of his role in the group. In 1941 he completed his studies at the Royal Swedish Music Academy and wanted to continue studying with Hilding Rosenberg , which was not supported by his guardian.
After his conversion to the Roman Catholic denomination, Allgén changed his first name in 1950 to Claude Johannes Maria, the name of some saints. After his confirmation he added the name Loyola, since confirmers can choose a patron saint; Allgén chose the founder of the Jesuit order, Ignatius of Loyola .
In the years that followed, Allgén trained as a priest in Innsbruck and the Netherlands , but never received ordination . Instead, he returned to Sweden, where he led a poor life and was dependent on social welfare for his entire life, as he had no source of income and refused to take early retirement. Allgén is certified as having an eccentric personality, which partly caused his social exclusion among composers. Until 1973 he was not accepted into the Swedish composers' association, for which the efforts of his colleague Karl-Erik Welin are partly responsible.
Allgén died in his own house after catching fire at night. Since the electricity had been turned off shortly before due to unpaid electricity bills, it is believed that an un-extinguished candle caused the house fire. He destroyed some manuscripts, including his last completed piece Horror Vacui for saxophone quartet, but spared a large cupboard full of early works on the upper floor.
plant
More than 150 compositions by Allgén have been preserved, most of them have a performance duration of more than an hour, a string trio lasts more than two hours. An unfinished violin concerto comprises 18 movements , each of which is based on one of Paganini's 24 Capricci op. 1 for solo violin . Allgén's entire musical legacy has long been viewed as unplayable due to the immense technical requirements, although recent assessments contradict this view. Despite their high technical demands, Allgén's works have increasingly been rehearsed by musicians since the 1980s.
Discography
- Fantasia - Mats Persson , Piano (November 1998, Alice Music) OCLC 57592359
- String Quartet No. 2 - Joar Skorpen and Teo William-Olsson, violin; Fredrik Meuller, viola; Staffan Cederblom, violoncello (April 14, 2005, Nosag Records CD114) OCLC 75389803
- Piano con Forza : Fyra liturgiska melodier; Et verbum caro factum est; Det gȧr ett tyst och taligt lamm - Mats Persson and Kristine Scholz, Pianos (1998, Phono Suecia PSCD 106) OCLC 873436651 - with further works by Lars Hallnäs , Mats Persson, Bo Nilsson u. a.
- Caelestis urbs Jerusalem - Rilke Ensemblen, conductor: Gunnar Eriksson (June 2005, Caprice Records) OCLC 76772069 - with other works by Bo Nilsson, Per Nørgård , Eskil Hemberg , Erland von Koch , Nina Åkerblom Nielsen u. a.
literature
- Rolf Haglund: Allgén, Claude (Johannes Maria) Loyola [Klas-Thure]. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
Web links
- Literature by and about Claude Loyola Allgén in the bibliographic database WorldCat
- allgen.se , weblog about the composer with essays and anecdotes in Swedish, English and German
- Inger Enquist: Allgén, Claude Loyola. (PDF; 122 kB) Musik- och teaterbiblioteket vid Statens musikverk, December 2012 (Swedish, short biography and list of works).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Begavda i Sverige. CD-ROM v 1.00. Sveriges Släktforskarförbund, 2008
- ↑ a b Hanson Sten, Jennefelt Thomas (Ed.): Tonsättare om tonsättare. Edition Reimers, Stockholm 1993
- ↑ http://allgen.se/en/node/227
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Allgén, Claude Loyola |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Allgén, Klas-Thure |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swedish composer and violist |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 16, 1920 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Calcutta |
DATE OF DEATH | September 18, 1990 |
Place of death | Taby |