Gunnar Wennerberg

Gunnar Wennerberg ( born October 2, 1817 in Lidköping, Sweden, † August 24 1901 in Läcko Kungsgård, historical province of Västergötland ) was a Swedish poet, composer, civil servant and politician.

Wennerberg studied at Uppsala University and acquired in 1845 the title of magister filosofie. In 1849 he was teacher at the Gymnasium of Skara. In the 1860s, he was taken for the construction of the National Museum in Stockholm. The plan of King Oscar I, to make him the director of the museum, could not be realized; but Wennerberg remained as office manager in the Ministry of Culture and in 1870 appointed himself to the Minister of Education. In 1875 he moved to the post of Landshövding in the Swedish province of Blekinge County, where he served until 1888. Since 1875 he was a member of the Swedish parliament. From 1888 to 1891 he was again Minister of Culture.

Gunnar Wennerberg wrote a series of partially known poems and hymns. His most important work, the 1848-1851 incurred Gluntarne (about " The young men "). It's 30 Duets for Baritone and Bass ( Glunten, the student, and Magisters, the Magister) with piano accompaniment that portray student life in Uppsala. Gunner Wennerberg not only wrote the lyrics but also the music. Model was Carl Michael Bellman's Fredmans epistlar, but the gap is large between Bellman's bounce and live full descriptions of the Stockholm demimonde and Wenner Berg Biedermeier idyll.

Since 1866, Gunnar Wennerberg was a member of the Swedish Academy. He also belonged to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( since 1850), the Kungliga Konstakademien (since 1871) and Kungliga Vetenskaps -och Vitterhetssamhället i Göteborg (since 1893). In 1873 he was awarded the Order of the North Star ( Commendatore )