Wilhelm Stenhammar

Wilhelm Stenhammar

Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar (born February 7, 1871 in Stockholm ; † November 20, 1927 there ) was a Swedish composer , pianist and conductor .

Life

Stenhammar studied piano , organ and composition in Stockholm from 1887 to 1892 and made his debut as a pianist in the spring of 1892. From autumn of the same year he continued his piano studies in Berlin and graduated there the following year. From this time on, Stenhammar worked internationally as a concert pianist. He often appeared in chamber music formations as a duo partner of the violinist Tor Aulin or with his quartet. In October 1897 he went public for the first time as a conductor, and he also pursued this activity intensively throughout his life in addition to his composing profession. In 1900 and 1901 Stenhammar was Kapellmeister at the Royal Opera in Stockholm before he became chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra , which had been newly founded two years earlier, in 1907 . He held this office until 1922. In 1916 the University of Gothenburg awarded him an honorary doctorate . From 1923 to 1925 he was again Kapellmeister at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. During his lifetime, Stenhammar was a highly respected figure in Scandinavian musical life and was friends with many well-known musicians.

style

Stenhammar is stylistically rooted in late Romanticism . At first he was completely influenced by Anton Bruckner and Richard Wagner and wrote sweeping, powerful works full of tremendous pathos . Influenced by his friends Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen , however, he began to doubt this aesthetic and gradually turned away from German music. Around 1910, Stenhammar's new ideals emerged. From now on he was particularly keen to achieve a “Nordic” tone and wanted to write “clear and honest” music that should do without sensational effects. In fact, from this time on, his works are characterized by folk melodies, the use of church modes and a certain bitter simplicity, so that an unmistakably "Scandinavian" tone emerges. Nevertheless, his works testify to a high level of artistry, which is particularly evident in the pronounced polyphony . A typical work of this new style is the second symphony, which allows the Doric mode to dominate over long stretches and whose finale is composed as a double fugue . The most frequently played, however, is the Serenade op. 31 for large orchestra (unusual for a serenade ), which is still romantically sensual.

Stenhammar is one of Sweden's most important composers. Together with Hugo Alfvén , who is roughly the same age , he wrote the first important Swedish symphonies after Franz Berwald . Overall, his work is of an exceptionally high quality, which would justify greater attention to this composer.

Recordings

Five recordings by Stenhammar from September 21, 1905 on piano rolls for Welte-Mignon have survived, including his Fantasia op.11, 3.

Works

• Orchestral works
  • Symphony No. 1 in F major (1902/03, withdrawn)
  • Symphony No. 2 in G minor, Op. 34 (1911–15)
  • Symphony No. 3 in C major (1918/19, fragment)
  • Serenade in F major op. 31 (1908–13, rev. 1919)
  • Excelsior !, Concert Overture op.13 (1896)
  • Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 1 (1893)
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op. 23 (1904-07)
  • Two sentimental romances op.28 for violin and orchestra (1910)
• Vocal works
  • The festival on Solhaug , opera op.6 (1893)
  • Tirfing , opera op.15 (1898)
  • Ett Folk , cantata op.22 (1905)
  • Sången , cantata op.44 (1921)
  • Choirs
  • about 60 songs
• Chamber music
  • String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2 (1894)
  • String Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 14 (1896)
  • String Quartet No. 3 in F major op.18 (1900)
  • String Quartet No. 4 in A minor, Op. 25 (1909)
  • String Quartet No. 5 in C major, Op. 29 (1910)
  • String Quartet No. 6 in D minor op.35 (1916)
  • Violin Sonata in A minor op.19 (1899/1900)
• Piano music
  • Sonata No. 1 in C major (1880)
  • Sonata No. 2 in C minor (1881)
  • Sonata No. 3 in A flat major (1885)
  • Sonata No. 4 in G minor (1890)
  • Sonata in A flat major op.12 (1895)
  • 3 Fantasies op.11 (1895)
  • Late Summer Nights , 5 pieces, op.33 (1914)

Discography

• Piano works , CD C 5117, Naxos. Cassandra Wyss: Piano.
• Symphonies and piano concerts, 3 CDs, Brilliant Classics 94238 (Neeme and Paavo Järvi).

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Stenhammar in the catalog of the German National Library
• Sheet music and audio files by Stenhammar in the International Music Score Library Project