Alice Charlotta Tegnér (; 12 March 1864 – 26 May 1943; Sandström) was a Swedish music teacher, poet and composer. She is the foremost composer of Swedish children's songs during the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

Background

Born Alice Charlotta Sandström in

Karlshamn Karlshamn () is a locality and the seat of Karlshamn Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden. It had 13,576 inhabitants in 2015, out of 31,846 in the municipality. Karlshamn received a Royal Charter and city privileges in 1664, when King Charles X ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, she was the daughter of Eduard Sandström (1829–1879), a ship captain. She was very musical and began taking piano lessons early. She attended seminars in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

(''

Högre lärarinneseminariet The Royal Seminary, fully the Royal Advanced Female Teachers' Seminary ( sv, Kungliga Högre Lärarinneseminariet, abbreviated KHLS), was a normal school (teachers' college) in Stockholm, Sweden. It was active from 1861 until 1943. It was the fi ...

'') and trained as a teacher. After graduation, she served as governess. Alice Tegnér was a teacher at

Djursholms samskola Djursholms Samskola is the traditional name of a middle school in Djursholm, Sweden. The official name of the school today is '' Viktor Rydbergs Samskola''. History Djursholms Samskola was founded in 1891 as a private, co-educational institution, ...

and cantor in Djursholms chapel where

Natanael Beskow Fredrik Natanael Beskow (9March 18658October 1953) was a Swedish theologian and school headmaster. He was also active as a preacher, writer, artist, pacifist and social activist. Beskow published a number of collections of sermons. He also made s ...

was a preacher. In 1885, she married Jakob Tegnér (1851–1926), a lawyer, and later secretary of the Swedish Publishers' Association and editor of ''Svenska Bokhandelstidningen''.

Career

Alice Tegnér wrote many well-known children's songs in

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, most notably ''

Mors lilla Olle "Mors lilla Olle" ("Mother's little Olle") is a Swedish children's song by Alice Tegnér. The song is about the boy Olle, who meets a bear in the forest. He is not frightened, believing the bear to be a dog, and feeds the bear all of his precious ...

''. It was published during 1895 in volume 3 of ''Sjung med oss, mamma!'' Tegnér also in such classical genres as chamber and

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

together with

choral music 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 sp ...

cantatas 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 of t ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

sonatas Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...

. Her songs and compositions were inspired by both folk and art music. Her well-known hymnbook ''Nu ska vi sjunga'', with illustrations by

Elsa Beskow Elsa Beskow ( Maartman; 11February 187430June 1953) was a famous Swedish author and illustrator of children's books. Among her better known books are ''Tale of the Little Little Old Woman'' and ''Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavender''. Back ...

, was published in 1943.''Sampling of Music'' (The Music Library of Sweden)

Awards

* 1914

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 ...

*1926 member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music (''Kungliga Musikaliska akademien'') * 1929 First prize in the magazine ''Idun tonsättartävling''

Selected works

Children's songs

* ''Asarumsdalen'' * ''Baka kaka'' * ''Borgmästar Munthe'' * '' Bä, bä, vita lamm'' * ''Dansa min docka'' * ''Ekorrn satt i granen" * ''Hemåt i regnväder'' (text:

Zacharias Topelius Zachris Topelius (, ; 14 January 181812 March 1898) was a Finnish author, poet, journalist, historian, and rector of the University of Helsinki who wrote novels related to Finnish history. Given name Zacharias is his baptismal name, and this ...

) * ''I skogen'' * ''Julbocken'' * ''Kring julgranen'' * ''Lasse liten'' (text:

) * ''Marschlek'' * ''Skogsblommorna till barnen'' (text:

) * ''Sockerbagare''

Other songs

* ''Var är den Vän, som överallt jag söker'' (text:

Johan Olof Wallin Johan Olof Wallin, (15 October 1779 – 30 June 1839), was a Swedish minister, orator, poet and later Church of Sweden Archbishop of Uppsala, Sweden between 1837–1839. He is most remembered today for his hymns. Early life He was born in St ...

) * ''Betlehems stjärna (Gläns över sjö och strand)'' (text:

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 ...

) * ''Hell, vårt land!''

Other works

* Violin Sonata in A Minor

References

External links

* *
LIBRIS Search Services.

– 161 children’s songs as NWC, MIDI and PDF files. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tegner, Alice 1864 births 1943 deaths Litteris et Artibus recipients People from Karlshamn Swedish classical composers Swedish classical organists Women classical composers Children's songwriters Swedish songwriters Women organists Swedish women composers