Bengt Hambraeus ( Stockholm, Sweden, January 29, 1928 – Glen Roy, Ontario, (in Glengarry County), near

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

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, Canada, September 21, 2000) was a Swedish-Canadian organist, composer and musicologist.

Biography

Hambreaus studied organ with

Alf Linder Alf Linder (28 July 1907 – 21 December 1983) was a Swedish organist, renowned for his frequent radio broadcasts and his teaching at the Stockholm Conservatory. Life Linder was born in Hammerö, near Karlstad on 28 July 1907. He studied organ with ...

and musicology with Carl-Allan Moberg, earning his doctorate in 1956 on a thesis about medieval musical notation. From 1957 to 1972 he worked at the music department of the

Swedish Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is ...

, eventually holding executive and producer posts, and during this time became a very high-profile emissary of new music in Sweden, encouraging discussion of new musical forms, a renewal of organ music with new tonal/technical concepts and the integration of

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

, live electronics and stereo/spatial effects into traditional concert performing. He was also a prolific composer. In 1972 he became professor of composition at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, Montreal and he remained in Canada until his death in 2000. Among his notable pupils are composer Peter Allen and pianist Richard Hunt. He was elected into the

Royal Swedish Academy of Music The Royal Swedish Academy of Music ( sv, Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien), founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden. At the time of its foundation, only one of its co-founder was a professional musician, Fer ...

in 1967 and received the Swedish Royal Medal

Litteris et Artibus Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature. The ob ...

in 1986. Hambraeus wrote music for a large number of instruments, but he is perhaps best known for his organ works. Together with

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

he was among the first to use high modernist compositional methods to compose organ music.

Limelight Records Limelight Records was a jazz record label and subsidiary of Mercury Records started in 1962. The catalogue included music by Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Milt Jackson, Gerry Mulligan, and Oscar Peterson. Originally headed by Quincy ...

released his ''Constellations and Interferences'' on LP.

Selected works

* 1958 ''Constellations I'' * 1959 "constellations II for organ sounds" (Lp Cat No. Philips 838 750 AY) * 1961-62 ''Interferenzen'' (interferences for the organ) Lp Cat No. Philips 838 750 AY * 1966-67 ''Tre Pezzi per Organo'' * 1969 ''Nebulosa'' * 1974 ''Ricercare per organo'' * 1981 ''Livre d'orgue (4 volumes)'' * 1992 ''Missa pro organo: in memoriam Olivier Messiaen'' * 1998 ''Quintette pour clarinette et quatuor à cordes, le tombeau de Max Regerhttps://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/fra/accueil/notice?app=filvidandsou&IdNumber=390135&q=Jean%20Guy%20Boisvert * 1999 ''Riflessioni per organo grande''

References

External links

Bengt Hambraeus
at Canadian Music Centre
Bengt Hambraeus
at Swedish Music Information Center

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hambraeus, Bengt 1928 births 2000 deaths 20th-century classical composers Litteris et Artibus recipients McGill University faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Musicians from Stockholm Swedish classical composers Swedish male classical composers 20th-century Swedish male musicians 20th-century Swedish musicians