Laci Boldemann (24 April 1921 – 18 August 1969) 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 ...

of German and Finnish descent.Svenskt Musik/Swedish Music Information Centre http://www.mic.se/avd/mic/prod/micv5eng.nsf/docsbycodename/start

Life and career

Boldemann was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He studied at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

in London from 1937 to 1939, both conducting (with

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

) and piano, where he continued his studies in Stockholm at the outbreak of war in 1939 with Gunnar de Frumerie.Percy G. Leading Swedish Composers of the 20th Century. In: ''Swedish music – past and present'', special edition of Musikrevy. STIM & Swedish Institute for Cultural Relations Abroad, Stockholm, 1966. In 1941 his citizenship forced Boldemann to join the German army and fight in the Soviet Union, Poland and Italy; he was later imprisoned in the US and returned to Sweden via France and Germany. After returning to Sweden in 1947, he joined the Swedish Composers’ Society and served as Secretary and Treasurer (1963—1969). He was also on the board of the Swedish Performing Rights Society and the Joint Council of Artists and Writers. He died in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The stimulation of literature played an important part in Boldemann's work. Music drama, art songs and fun songs for children, as well as vocal works with an orchestral accompaniment, were genres in which he composed. His instrumental work is characterised by both lyrical freshness and percussive propulsion, in a traditional rather than avant garde style.

Compositions

Orchestral music

*Symphony (1959–61) *La Danza, Symphonic overture (1949) *Sinfonietta for strings (1954)

Concert works

*Piano Concerto (1956) *Violin Concerto (1959)

Chamber music

*String Quartet (1957)

Instrumental

*Little suite on nursery rhymes for piano (1961) *''Small ironic pieces'' for piano op. 19 (1942–45)

Vocal

*Lieder der Vergänglichkeit, cantata for baritone and strings (1951) *Four epitaphs for soprano and strings (1952) *Notturno for soprano and orchestra (1958)

Songs

*50 songs, including the nursery rhymes ''Mice in moonlight'' (1961)

Works for the stage

*Opera ''Svart är vitt''(Black is white-said the emperor), 1965

Recording

*Laci Boldemann, Swedish Society Discofil, 1988. ( Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Dag Achatz(fp.), Solveig Faringer(sop.), Naohiro Totsuka(cond.) )ArkivMusic
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References

1921 births 1969 deaths 20th-century Swedish classical composers Swedish opera composers Swedish male opera composers Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States Swedish people of German descent Swedish people of Finnish descent Musicians from Helsinki 20th-century Swedish people 20th-century Swedish male musicians 20th-century Swedish musicians Finnish emigrants to Sweden Finnish expatriates in the United Kingdom {{Sweden-composer-stub