Hugo alfven biography

Hugo Emil Alfvén was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter.
Hugo Emil Alfvén was a Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter.
Hugo Alfvén is one of Sweden´s most performed composers.

•

Works by Hugo Alfven - Swedish Painter of Sound

Works by Hugo Alfven

Composers write music about love all the time. Hugo Alfven - urbane, well-trained, and rising in all the right circles - began one such piece as a young man in his twenties. It so overwhelmed him, however, that 20 years later it had mutated into a craggy three-quarter-hour symphony of four movements played without break, a luxuriant, ardent, and stunning wordless tale of such power that some critics thought it too suggestive for public performance.
PROGRAM:
Hugo Alfven (1872-1960): "Shepherd Girl's Dance" from Bergakungen (The Mountain King) (1923). Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, conductor

Hugo Alfven: Symphony No. 4 (1918). Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, conductor

He originally called the piece A Tale from the Archipelago. It became his Symphony No. 4, subtitled "From the Outskirts of the Archipelago." The orchestra is huge and includes two instruments rarely seen in orchestral concerts: wordless singers. The soprano and tenor take the "roles" of the lovers. T

•

Hugo Alfvén

The Swedish composer, conductor, violinist and painter Hugo Alfvén belonged with the Danish composer Hakon Børresen to the circle around the Skagen painters. From 1912 until 1936 Alfvén was married to Marie Krøyer, who had previously been married to the painter P.S. Krøyer. Hugo Alfvén is buried in the churchyard in Leksand – close to Marie Krøyer.

Hugo Alfvén, along with Wilhelm Stenhammer, was one of his time’s most significant Swedish composers. Alfven’s music is Late Romantic in character and is often typified by a technically superior use of the sonorities of the symphony orchestra.

Many of Alfvén’s works have the character of programme music. They are colourful renderings of Swedish landscapes and moods: Dalarna,the Archipelago or the Swedish midsummer.

As a musician and conductor Hugo Alfvén was particularly active. As a conductor he toured most of northern Europe at the end of the nineteenth century. For almost forty years he was an honorary doctor and leader of the student Orpheus Boys’ Choir at the University of Uppsala.

In 1954 Hugo A

•

Hugo Emil Alfvén, born in Stockholm on 1st May, 1872, deceased at Tibble, Leksand (Dalecarlia, Sweden) on 8 May, 1960. Composer and conductor. Violinist in the Kungl. Hovkapellet (i.e., the orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera) 1890-1901, Director musices in Uppsala 1910-39, Leader of choirs Allmänna sången in Uppsala 1919-31 (then a male choir) and Orphei Drängar 1910-47. Conductor of the Siljansbygdens körförbund 1904-57 and 1st conductor of the Svenska Sångarförbundet 1921-43. Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960) was for decades Sweden´s most highly esteemed composer. His music was heard at almost all national ceremonies. His big birthdays every ten years were celebrated as important events. He received many distinctions. And his works were always featured on concert programmes, on radio and recordings. His personality also contributed to the public attention – his clear-cut features often appeared in the press and his relationship with women was just as talked-about as his musical creativity.

Hugo Alfvén was born in Stockholm. His p