Wilhelm Stenhammar

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

Life

Stenhammar studied from 1887 to 1892 piano, organ and composition in Stockholm and debuted in the spring of 1892 as a pianist. From the autumn of the same year, he continued his piano studies in Berlin and graduated there from next year. From this time on Stenhammar worked internationally as a concert pianist. Especially frequently he joined in chamber music formations on a duo of violinist Tor Aulin or with his quartet. In October 1897, he first appeared as a conductor to the public, and also to that, he walked beside the composer profession his life after intensive. In the years 1900 and 1901 Stenhammar worked as a conductor at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, before 1907 chief conductor of the newly founded two years earlier Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was. He held until 1922 this office. 1916 he has been appointed an honorary doctorate from University of Gothenburg. In the years 1923-1925 he was again Kapellmeister at the Royal Opera in Stockholm. Stenhammar was during his lifetime a highly respected personality of the Scandinavian music scene and friendly with many well-known musicians colleagues.

Style

Stenhammar is stylistically rooted in the late Romantic period. At first he was all about influence of Anton Bruckner and Richard Wagner and wrote sweeping, sounded mighty works fully tremendous pathos. Influenced by his friends Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen, however, he began to doubt this aesthetic and turned gradually from the German music from. To 1910 Stenhammars new ideals were out. He was busy tone from now on, especially to a "Nordic" and wanted to write "clear and honest" music that should do without a lurid effects. In fact, his works from this time by a folk melody, the use of church modes and a certain austere simplicity are shaped so that a distinctive " Scandinavian " tone is produced. Nevertheless, his works bear witness of high craftsmanship, which is expressed particularly in the pronounced polyphony. A typical work of this new style is the second symphony, which can dominate over long distances the Dorian mode and the finale is composed as a double fugue. Most commonly, however, played the Serenade op.31 for orchestra (unusual for a serenade ), which is still romantic sensual sound.

Stenhammar is one of the most important composers of Sweden. Together with the about the same age Hugo Alfvén, he wrote the first major Swedish symphonies by Franz Berwald. Overall, his work to an exceptionally high quality that would justify greater attention to this composer.

Recordings

From Stenhammar 5 shots from the September 21, 1905 have been preserved on piano rolls for Welte-Mignon, including his Fantasy, Op 11, 3rd

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)

• The Feast at Solhoug, opera, Op 6 (1893 )
• Tirfing, opera, Op 15 (1898 )
• Ett Folk, cantata, Op 22 (1905 )
• Sang, cantata, Op 44 ( 1921)
• 60 songs

• 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)

• Sonata No. 1 in C major (1880 )
• Sonata No. 2 in C minor ( 1881)
• Sonata No. 3 A-flat major (1885 )
• Sonata No. 4 in G minor (1890)
• Sonata in A 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.