Gosta Nystroem

Gösta Nystroem (born October 13, 1890 in Silvberg , municipality of Säter , † August 9, 1966 in Varberg , Hallands län ) was a Swedish composer and painter .

Life

Gösta Nystroem (original spelling "Nyström") was born in the historical Swedish province of Dalarna , but spent most of his childhood in Österhaninge near Stockholm , then a small village, now a suburb. He received his first music lessons from his father, an elementary school teacher and organist. Nystroem studied in Stockholm (among others with Andreas Hallén ) and from 1915 to 1919 in Copenhagen (where he met Carl Nielsen ).

During this time Nystroem worked both as a composer and as a painter. As the latter, he took up suggestions from Braque , Picasso and de Chirico , and became one of the first Swedish cubists . It wasn't until he was over thirty that he decided to concentrate entirely on music.

Nystroem moved to Paris for further studies . There were Vincent d'Indy and Leonid Sabaneyev his teachers. After spending twelve years in France, mainly in Paris, he moved to Gothenburg in 1931 , where he worked as a freelance composer and music critic. In the 1950s he moved to Särö , a wealthy town about 20 kilometers south of Gothenburg, and lived there in a house that originally belonged to his first wife's family. Gladys Heyman, whom he married in France in 1921, died in 1946. In 1950, Nystroem married Helen Lyon, who, like his first wife, came from the Gothenburg upper class. Nystroem himself was never rich, but cultivated a somewhat old-fashioned "gentlemanly style" to adapt to social life.

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After beginning under the influence of his Scandinavian contemporaries (such as Sibelius ), Nystroem took up the contemporary currents there during his time in France ( Impressionism , Groupe des Six , Expressionism ). His later personal style is influenced by Honegger also neoclassical characteristics and resembles in some respects Arnold Bax , but also to Hindemith . In Sweden in the 1930s, Nystroem was considered a modernist. Nystroem felt strongly drawn to the sea and was inspired by its moods in many of his works.

Nystroem's most valued works include his song cycles. The best known are the collections Sånger vid havet ( Songs by the Sea , 1942, with orchestra or piano), På reveln ( Am Riff , 1948, with piano) and Själ och landskap: nya sånger vid havet ( Soul and landscape: new songs by the sea , 1950, with piano). Five texts in these collections come from Nystroem's favorite poet, the Swedish writer Ebba Lindqvist (1908–1995), with whom he shared his affection for the sea.

Nystroem wrote six symphonies, of which the 2nd Sinfonia espressiva (1935–37) and the 3rd Sinfonia del mare (1947–48) are considered the most outstanding. The Sinfonia espressiva begins with a slow first movement, which is filled with strings and timpani. In the second and third movements, brass groups and percussion join, and the full orchestra is only used in the finale. The Sinfonia del mare consists of a continuous movement that reflects different sea moods. At the center of the work is the poem "Det enda" ( The One ) by Lindqvist, sung by the soprano . Nystroem's other symphonies, the Sinfonia breve (1929–31), 4th Symphony (1952, originally entitled Sinfonia shakespeariana ), Sinfonia seria (1963) and Sinfonia tramontana (1965) are rarely played.

Nystroem also wrote theatrical music, the tone poem La mer arctique (1924-25), two concertos for strings (No. 1 was written in 1930, No. 2 in 1955), a Sinfonia concertante for cello and orchestra (1944), a partita for flute and strings and harp (1953) and concerts for violin (1954/57), viola ( Hommage à France , 1940) and piano ( Concerto ricercante , 1959). He also composed chamber music, the opera Herr Arnes penningar (1958, based on a novella by Selma Lagerlöf ) and some film scores.

Sources and further information

literature

• Blume, Friedrich (Ed.): Music in the past and present , 1st edition, 1949–1986
• In: Alfred Baumgartner: Propylaea world of music - The composers - A lexicon in five volumes . Propylaen Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-549-07830-7 , pp. 186, volume 4 .

Web links

• Gösta nystroem in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Discussion of the 2nd and 5th symphonies