Claude Loyola Allgén

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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

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Begavda i Sverige. CD-ROM v 1.00. Sveriges Släktforskarförbund, 2008
  2. ↑ a b Hanson Sten, Jennefelt Thomas (Ed.): Tonsättare om tonsättare. Edition Reimers, Stockholm 1993
  3. ↑ 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