Sven Eric Emanuel Johanson (10 December 1919 - 29 September 1997) was a Swedish composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

Biography

Sven-Eric Johanson was born to Hjalmar and Beda Johanson in Västervik in 1919. The parents were both officers in the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

, but in 1926 Hjalmar became a pastor in

Missionsförbundet The Mission Covenant Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska Missionskyrkan), founded in 1878, was a Swedish evangelical free church. It was the second-largest Protestant denomination in Sweden, after the national church, the Church of Sweden. In 2011, t ...

instead. He began his formal music studies in 1938 at the

Ingesund College of Music Ingesund College of Music (Swedish: ''Musikhögskolan Ingesund'') is located in Arvika in the Swedish province of Värmland. It is the music department of Karlstad University. The college was founded in 1923 as a folk high school, run by a foun ...

and was accepted to the

Royal College of Music, Stockholm The Royal College of Music, Stockholm ( sv, Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm) is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The institution was mad ...

in 1939. During his time as a student in Stockholm, Johanson studied composition with

Melcher Melchers Melcher may refer to: Geography In the United States: *Melcher-Dallas, Iowa *Melcher Covered Bridge, Indiana People with the surname * Al Melcher (1884–1944), American racecar driver *Arturo Melcher (Borquez) (1921–2008), Chilean hammer thro ...

and organ with

Otto Olsson Otto Emanuel Olsson (19 December 1879 – 1 September 1964) was a Swedish organist and classical music composer. Life and career Olsson, a native of Stockholm, was one of the most renowned organ virtuosos of his time. He studied organ with Aug ...

and

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 ...

. In 1944 Johansson became the director of music at Uppsala Missionskyrka. In the 1940s Johanson studied

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a stud ...

's book on the twelve-tone technique and employed it in his 1949 ''Sinfonia ostinata''. In 1952 he became the organist at Hagens kapell (today Älvsborgs kyrka) in Gothenborg, a position he held until 1977. He was a founding member of

The Monday Group The Monday Group (sv. Måndagsgruppen) was an influential group of Swedish composers, musicians and musicologists. The group was formed in 1944 and gathered a group of young composers in the apartment of the group's leader Karl-Birger Blomdahl. Dur ...

. In 1971 he became a member of 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 ...

. He is buried on the Stampen cemetery in Gothenburg.

Works

Johanson wrote twelve symphonies and several operas. He composed a number of concertos, som for unusual instruments like

balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...

and

nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to chan ...

. He was a prolific composer of choir music. He has written a hymn in the 1986 Swedish Hymnal, no. 214a, ''Lär mig att bedja av hjärtat''.

Selected works

Works for orchestra and chamber ensemble

*Sinfonia ostinata, symphony no. 1, 1949/54 *Sinfonia elegiaca, symphony no. 2B, 1654-1955 *Symfoni no. 3, 1956 *Konsert för balalajka och stråkorkester, 1961 *Variationer över en värmländsk orrlåt, 1963 *Elementsymfonin (Etemenanki), symphony no. 5, 1965–68 *Concerto Gotenburghese, piano concerto, 1970 *Konsert för nyckelharpa och stråkorkester, 1971 *Sinfonietta pastorella, symphony no. 6, 1972 *Spelmanssymfoni för stråkorkester, symphony no. 7, 1974 *En Frödingsymfoni för solister, kör och orkester, symphony no. 8, 1983–84 *Sinfonia d'estate, symphony no. 9, 1987 *Symphonie Chez nous, symphony no. 10, 1990 *Sinfonia d'autunno, symphony no. 11, 1991 *Sinfonia da camera, symphony no. 12, 1992

Operas

*Petronella, "opera bluffa", 1942 *Tjuvens pekfinger, opera buffa, 1966 *Rivalerna, chamber opera, 1967 *Sagan om ringen, opera, 1972, never performed *Reliken, opera, 1975 *Skandal, Ers majestät, opera, 1978 *Dinize, opera, 1993-94, never performed

Choral works

*Psaltare och lyra (Snabbt jagar stormen våra år), (text

Erik Axel Karlfeldt Erik Axel Karlfeldt (20 July 1864 – 8 April 1931) was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söder ...

), 1953 *Symfoni nr 2A (Duinoelegi nr 7, text

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...

), 1954 *Fyra visor om årstiderna; Sommar-ro (Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht), Hösten (Jacob Wallenberg), Vintervisa (Anna Maria Lenngren), Vårvisa (Olof von Dalin), 1957 *Sånger i förvandlingens natt, symfoni nr 4 (text Östen Sjöstrand), 1958 *Fancies (text

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 natio ...

) för blandad kör och piano, 1974

Selected recordings

References

1919 births 1997 deaths 20th-century classical composers Swedish classical composers Swedish opera composers {{Authority control