Wilhelm Stenhammar

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Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar (February 7, 1871 - November 20, 1927) was a Swedish composer, pianist and conductor. His initial education took place in Stockholm, but he later went to Berlin to further his studies. In his early days he was a glowing admirer of German music, particularly that of Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner, but he later sought to emancipate himself and write in a more "Nordic" style, looking to Carl Nielsen and Jean Sibelius for guidance. The latter's Symphony No. 2, especially, had a great effect on him.

From 1906 to 1922 he was Artistic Director and chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the first full-time professional orchestra in Sweden. In this capacity, he organized many a performance of music by contemporary Scandinavian composers. Briefly, in 1909, he held the position of director of music at Uppsala University, where he was succeeded in the following year by Hugo Alfvén.

His works include two symphonies (the first of which he later rejected), a substantial Serenade for Orchestra, two piano concertos, four piano sonatas, a violin sonata, six string quartets, many songs and other vocal works, including several large-scale works for chorus or voices and orchestra (the early ballad "Florez och Blanzeflor" op. 3 written around 1891, "Ithaka" op. 21 from 1904, the cantatas Ett Folk from 1905 and Sangen op. 44 from 1921).

Many critics maintain that Stenhammar's set of six string quartets is the most important written between those of Brahms and Bartok. 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 public, his string quartets have been sadly neglected elsewhere.

Stenhammar was considered the finest Swedish pianist of his time. Concert pianists who venture into the realm of the string quartet often wind up writing compositions which sound like they were composed at, and are perhaps better played at, the piano. That Stenhammar's works show no such trait is due entirely to the fact that for nearly half of his life, he worked intimately with the Aulin Quartet, the top Swedish string quartet of its 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 was nearly always featured on their programs. Thus it is no accident that his quartets show a fine grasp of instrumental timbre and technique. The part writing is sure, always idiomatic and evenly distributed.

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References

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