Sixten Eckerberg

Axel Sixten Lennart Eckerberg (born September 5, 1909 in Hjältevad , † April 9, 1991 in Gothenburg ) was a Swedish conductor, pianist and composer.

Life

Eckerberg, a native of Småland , studied piano, conducting and composition at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm from 1927 to 1932 , where Lennart Lundberg , Olof Wibergh , Ollalo Morales and Ernst Ellberg were among his teachers. Supported by a Jenny Lind scholarship, he then continued his studies abroad and took lessons with Felix Weingartner (conducting) in Basel , Emil von Sauer (piano) and Oswald Kabasta (conducting) in Vienna and Isidore Philipp (piano) in Paris .

From 1937 to 1969 Eckerberg was chief conductor of the Gothenburg Radio Orchestra, under which name the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra appeared in radio broadcasts and recordings at that time. In total, he directed 762 performances by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared abroad as a guest conductor, for example in Warsaw , Rome , Paris, Budapest , Mexico and Guatemala . From 1970 he lived as a freelance composer in Gothenburg.

style

Eckerberg's compositional career began in the early 1940s, after he had already made a name for himself as a conductor and pianist. His tonal language was initially based on the tendencies typical of the Swedish music scene of the time and combined the (national) romantic tradition with a neoclassical touch, with a Nordic tone being sought. Counterpoint processing and sometimes impressionistic coloring characterize his style. In later years he partly also integrated more modern influences like in the symphony No. 3, which shows expressionist traits but still moves within the framework of free tonality.

The focus of his oeuvre is orchestral music, in which large-format, ambitious works alternate with lighter compositions that are more of a serenade or occasional character.

Works

• Orchestral works
  • Symphony No. 1 (1941)
  • Symphony No. 2 (1944)
  • Symphony No. 3 Canzone d'autunno (1965)
  • Summer Music , Suite op. 1 (1941)
  • Sub luna op.4 (1942)
  • Vom Sommen , Four Pictures of Nature op.6 (1943)
  • Visione (1961)
  • Much Ado About Nothing , Suite (1963)
  • Le danze della vita (1970)
  • The legend of the sir (1971)
  • Serenade (1972)
  • Symphony pastoral based on Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 (1973)
  • Epilog , Suite (1979)
• Concerts
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 op.5 (1942, rev. 1943)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 (1949)
  • Piano Concerto No. 3 (1971)
  • Concertino for piano and orchestra (1962)
  • Violoncello Concerto (1973)
  • Sinfonia for bass flute and orchestra (1973)
• Operas
  • Zorn , musical novella (opera) based on Per Lager for speaker, soprano, tenor and orchestra (1972)
  • The Great Bank Robbery , Opera (1975)
  • The Resurrection , opera in three acts (1975/76)
• Vocal music
  • Lied an die Liebe , cantata based on Đoàn Thị Điểm for soprano, tenor, choir and orchestra (1974)
  • Havamal for male choir and orchestra (1979)
  • Nocturne , five songs for voice and orchestra (1946, 1970/71)
  • Three songs after Edith Södergran for voice and piano (1942)
  • Trilogy based on Lars Forssell for voice, flute and percussion (1969)
• Chamber and piano music
  • Promenade , Suite for wind sextet (1972)
  • Trio concertante for flute, violoncello and piano (1966)
  • Four Swedish arabesques for violin and piano (1967)
  • Chaconne and Allegro for violin and piano (1971)
  • Duo for flute and violoncello (1964)
  • Hommage à Frédéric Chopin , Ten Preludes for piano (1966)
  • From my youth , suite for piano (1974)
  • Summer Memories , Six Piano Pieces (1979)

Literature and web links

• Sixten Eckerberg. In: Peter Hollfelder : The piano music. Edition 1999, special edition Nikol, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-933203-12-0 , p. 693.
• Sixten Eckerberg: Music and live. Geber, Stockholm 1970. (autobiography)
• Sixten Eckerberg : Short portrait and list of works at the Swedish Music Information Center

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.gso.se/en/gothenburg-symphony-orchestra/dirigenter/