Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar (February 7, 1871 – November 20, 1927) was a Swedish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

, conductor and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Biography

Stenhammar was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

and was the brother of architect

Ernst Stenhammar Ernst Wilhelm Emanuel Stenhammar (26 March 1859 – 9 March 1927) was a Swedish architect. He was active both as an independent architect and as a teacher and eventually professor of architecture in Stockholm. The main bulk of his designs as an i ...

. He received his first musical education in Stockholm. He then went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

to further his studies in music. He became a glowing admirer of German music, especially

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Ger ...

. Stenhammar himself described the style of his First Symphony in F major as "idyllic Bruckner". He subsequently sought to emancipate himself and write in a more "Nordic" style, looking to

Carl Nielsen Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer. Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he ...

and

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

for guidance. The latter's Symphony No. 2, especially, had a great effect on him, leading him to change his style and withdraw his own First Symphony from performance. Having seen Sibelius's symphony performed in

, Stenhammar wrote to him:

You should know that you are in my thoughts daily ever since I heard the symphony. You magnificent person, it is of course a huge armful of wonder that you brought up out of the unconscious and ineffable depth. That which I felt has been verified: You are in this moment for me as the foremost, the only, the enigmatic one.... I have also just written a symphony. At least it is called a symphony, and only in accordance with the understanding that you perhaps have forgotten should it be dedicated to you. However, nothing came of it. It is quite good, but somewhat superficial. I yearn to reach my inner self. And you can wait until I have arrived there. The great day when this happens, I will print your name in large letters on the title page. It may become a symphony or something else.

The result of his search for a new style was the Second Symphony in G minor, composed nearly twelve years after the First Symphony, which shows the influence of Nielsen, Sibelius and Franz Berwald among others. In autumn of 1892, Stenhammar moved to Berlin for seven months to study with Heinrich Barth, where he devoted his time to rigorous piano practice and composition. Barth was satisfied with Stenhammar's performances and gave him increasingly technically challenging pieces to practice, such as the ''

Variations on a Theme of Paganini Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 35, is a work for piano composed in 1863 by Johannes Brahms, based on the Caprice No. 24 in A minor by Niccolò Paganini. Brahms intended the work to be more than simply a set of theme and variations; eac ...

'' by

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

, a composer he admired. From 1906 to 1922 Stenhammar was Artistic Director and chief conductor of the

Gothenburg Symphony The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (GSO; sv, Göteborgs Symfoniker) is a Swedish symphony orchestra based in Gothenburg. The GSO is resident at the Gothenburg Concert Hall at Götaplatsen. The orchestra received the title of the National Orches ...

, the first full-time professional orchestra in Sweden. In this capacity, he organised many performances of music by contemporary Scandinavian composers. In 1909, he briefly held the position of director of music at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, where he was succeeded the following year by Hugo Alfvén. After moving back to Stockholm in the early 1920s, he returned to touring despite his declining health. Wilhelm Stenhammar died of a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

at 56 years of age in

Jonsered Jonsered () is a locality situated in Partille Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 930 inhabitants in 2010. Jonsered is an old, traditional industrial community by the Säve river outside Gothenburg in Sweden. Jonsered's factorie ...

in the historic province of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

. He is buried in Gothenburg.

Work

His works were quite varied and included two completed symphonies, a substantial ''

Serenade In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Itali ...

for Orchestra'', two

piano concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpie ...

s, four

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with ...

s, a

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...

, six

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinist ...

s, many songs and other vocal works, including several large-scale works for chorus or voices and orchestra: the early

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

''Florez och Blanzeflor'', Op. 3, written around 1891, ''Ithaka'', Op. 21, from 1904, the

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning o ...

s ''Ett folk'' (''A people'') from 1905 and ''Sången'' (''The song''), Op. 44, from 1921. Writing in ''The Chamber Music Journal'', R.H.R. Silvertrust opines that Stenhammar's six string quartets are the most important written between those of

and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...

. Whether or not this is so, there is no denying that Stenhammar's quartets represent a very important development during the twenty-five years he was writing chamber music. Tonally, they range from the middle late Romantics to a style akin to mature Sibelius. Though not unknown by the Swedish

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

public, his string quartets have been neglected elsewhere. In 2008 Musikaliska konstföreningen published the world premiere edition of his ''Allegro Brillante'' for

piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

composed in 1891 and his ''Allegro non tanto'' for

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...

composed in 1895. Stenhammar was considered the finest Swedish

of his time. Pianists who venture into the realm of the string quartet often wind up writing compositions that sound as though they were composed at, and are perhaps better played on, the piano. That Stenhammar's works show no such trait is because, for nearly half of his life, he worked intimately with the Aulin Quartet, the top Swedish string quartet of his day and one of the best then performing in Europe. In fact, he toured throughout Europe with them for many years and a

piano quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a pian ...

was nearly always featured on their programmes. Thus it is no accident that his quartets show a fine grasp of instrumental

timbre In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musica ...

and technique. The part writing is sure, always idiomatic and evenly distributed. Stenhammar recorded five piano rolls for

Welte-Mignon M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832. Overview From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical musi ...

on 21 September 1905.

List of compositions

;Opera * '' The Feast at Solhaug'' (), opera in three acts for soloists,

mixed chorus A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

, and orchestra;

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major li ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential pla ...

(Op. 6; 1892–1896) * '' Tirfing'', " Norse mythological music drama" in two acts (plus a prelude and postlude) for soloists, mixed chorus, female chorus, and orchestra; libretto by Anna Boberg (1897–1898) ;Symphonies * Symphony No. 1 in F major, for orchestra (1902–1903, withdrawn) * Symphony No. 2 in G minor, for orchestra (Op. 34, 1911–1915) * Symphony No. 3 in C major (1918–1919, fragmentary) ;Concertante * Piano Concerto No. 1 in

B-flat minor B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has five flats. Its relative major is D-flat major and its parallel major is B-flat major. Its enharmonic equivalent, A-sh ...

, for piano and orchestra (Op. 1; 1893) * Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, for piano and orchestra (Op. 23; 1904–1907) * ''Two Sentimental Romances'', for violin and orchestra (Op. 28; 1910) ;Other orchestral works * ''Excelsior!'', concert overture for orchestra (Op. 13; 1896) * ''

'' in

F major F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor. The F major scale is: : F major is t ...

, for orchestra (Op. 31; 1908–1913, 1919) ;Vocal works * ''Florez and Blanzeflor'' (),

for

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

and orchestra; text by

Oscar Levertin Oscar Ivar Levertin (17 July 1862, Norrköping – 22 September 1906) was a Swedish poet, critic and literary historian. Levertin was a dominant voice of the Swedish cultural scene from 1897, when he started writing influential high-profile ...

(Op. 3; 1891) * , for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middl ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

, mixed chorus, and orchestra; text by

Viktor Rydberg Abraham Viktor Rydberg (; 18 December 182821 September 1895) was a Swedish writer and a member of the Swedish Academy, 1877–1895. "Primarily a classical idealist", Viktor Rydberg has been described as "Sweden's last Romantic" and by 1859 was ...

(Op. 5; 1891) * ''Ithaca'' (), ballad for baritone and orchestra; text by Oscar Levertin (Op. 21; 1904) * ''One People'' (),

for baritone, mixed chorus, and orchestra; text by Verner von Heidenstam (Op. 22; 1904–1905) * ''Midwinter'' (), rhapsody for mixed chorus and orchestra (Op. 24; 1907) * ''The Song'' (), symphonic cantata for soprano,

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

, tenor, baritone, mixed chorus, children's chorus, and orchestra (Op. 44; 1921) * Around 60 songs ;Chamber music * ''Allegro brillante'' in

E-flat major E-flat major (or the key of E-flat) is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has three flats. Its relative minor is C minor, and its parallel minor is E minor, (or enharmonically ...

, for

(1891) * String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 2 (1894) * ''Allegro ma non tanto'' in A major, for

(1895) * String Quartet No. 2 in

C minor C minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of three flats. Its relative major is E major and its parallel major is C major. The C natural minor scale is: : Chang ...

(Op. 14; 1896) * String Quartet in F minor (1897) * String Quartet No. 3 in

(Op. 18; 1897–1900) * Violin Sonata in

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...

, for violin and piano (Op. 19; 1899–1900) * String Quartet No. 4 in A minor (Op. 25; 1904–1909) * String Quartet No. 5 in C major (Op. 29; 1910) * String Quartet No. 6 in D minor (Op. 35; 1916) ;Piano music * Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major (1880) * Piano Sonata No. 2 in C minor (1881) * Piano Sonata No. 3 in

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat m ...

(1885) * Piano Sonata No. 4 in G minor (1890) * ''Three Fantasies'' (Op. 11; 1895) * Piano Sonata in A-flat major (Op. 12; 1895) * ''Late Summer'' (), five piano pieces (Op. 33; 1914) ;Stage * ''A Dream Play'' (), a

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

(1916) * ''Lodolezzi Sings'' (), a drama by

Hjalmar Bergman Hjalmar Fredrik Elgérus Bergman (19 September 1883 in Örebro, Sweden – 1 January 1931 in Berlin, Germany) was a Swedish writer and playwright. Biography The son of a banker in Örebro, Bergman briefly studied philosophy at Uppsala Univers ...

; directed by Per Lindberg, Op. 39 (1919) * ''As You Like It'' (), a

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

; directed by Lindberg (1920) * ''Hamlet'', a

by Shakespeare; directed by Lindberg (1920) * ''Turandot'', incidental music for chamber ensemble to a

Carlo Gozzi __NOTOC__ Carlo, Count Gozzi (; 13 December 1720 – 4 April 1806) was an Italian ( Venetian) playwright and champion of Commedia dell'arte. Early life Gozzi was born and died in Venice; he came from a family of minor Venetian aristocracy, the T ...

; directed by Lindberg (Op. 42; 1920) * ''Chitra'', a

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

; directed by Lindberg (1921) *''Romeo and Juliet'', a

by Shakespeare; directed by Lindberg (1922)

References

Citations

Sources

* * * *The Chamber Music Journal (1994), V (2): 1,4. Riverwoods, IL: Cobbett Association. . *Some information in the above article appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust. Permission to use, copy, alter and distribute has been given to Wikipedia under the GNU License and GFDL.

External links

*
Wilhelm Stenhammar Complete String Quartets (Nos.1-6), Violin Sonata Op.19 & Allegro Brillante for Piano Quartet Soundbites & InformationBiography
on the site of the Swedish Music Information Centre * Listen to ''Tre Körvisor'' - free MP3 recordings of
SeptemberI Seraillets Have
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Havde jeg en Dattersøn
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* Listen to a free MP3 recording o
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stenhammar, Wilhelm 1871 births 1927 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Swedish male musicians 20th-century Swedish musicians Male opera composers Musicians from Stockholm Romantic composers Swedish classical composers Swedish conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Swedish male classical composers Swedish opera composers Uppsala University alumni