Ruben Mattias Liljefors (30 September 1871,

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the c ...

– 4 March 1936, Uppsala) was a

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 ...

composer and conductor, brother of the artist

Bruno Liljefors Bruno Andreas Liljefors (; 14 May 1860 – 18 December 1939) was a Swedish artist. He is perhaps best known for his nature and animal motifs, especially with dramatic situations. He was the most important and probably most influential Swedish wil ...

.Niclas Högman
Ruben Liljefors – en biografi
CD-uppsats 2003,

University of Uppsala Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance during ...

, retrieved 20 March 2016

Life

Liljefors studied in Uppsala with Ivar Eggert Hedenblad until 1895, and subsequently in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

with

Salomon Jadassohn Salomon Jadassohn (13 August 1831 – 1 February 1902) was a German pianist, composer and a renowned teacher of piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. Life Jadassohn was born to a Jewish family living in Breslau, the capital of the ...

until 1899. Later he attended the Stockholm Conservatory. He completed his education with

Felix Draeseke Felix August Bernhard Draeseke (7 October 1835 – 26 February 1913) was a composer of the "New German School" admiring Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. He wrote compositions in most forms including eight operas and stage works, four symphonies, ...

, Max Reger, and Hermann Ludwig Kutzschbach. From 1902 to 1911, he conducted the

choir 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 ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

of the Gothenburg Philharmonic Society. Afterwards, he moved to Gävle to conduct the Gävleborg County Orchestra between 1912 and 1931; he also served as a music teacher at the Gävle higher general secondary school during this time. He composed a symphony, a concert overture, a festival overture, an orchestral suite, a piano concerto, a

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...

, many choral works and songs. One of his best-known pieces is the Swedish

Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a carol (a song or hymn) on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French ori ...

''När det lider mot jul''. His son, Ingemar Liljefors, was also a successful composer, and his grandson, Mats Liljefors, is a well known conductor and violinist.

Works (selection)

Orchestra

* Overture in C Minor, WoO (1897) * Symphony in E flat Major, Op. 14 (1906; recorded) * Suite ''Fritjof & Ingeborg'', Op. 17 (1916) * Suite ''Summer'' (1919) * Festive Overture (1922) * Three Bagatelles for String Orchestra (1925) * Four Small Folk Pieces (1931) * Festspiel in E flat major (1931) * Suite for String Orchestra (1933)

Concertante works

* Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 5 (1898; recorded) * Romance for Violin and Orchestra (1918)

Choral works with orchestra

* ''Song at the dedication of the repaired building of the Uppland Nation'' (T. Tullberg), for male choir (1902) * ''Flower Festival'' (C. Snoilsky), soprano and alto solo, mixed choir and orchestra (1907) * ''Cantata for the inauguration of Gothenburg University's new Academy Building'' (A. U. Bååth) soprano, baritone, and tenor solo, mixed choir, male choir, and orchestra (1907) * ''Bohuslän'', Anniversary at the 250-year anniversary of the Peace of Roskilde (E. Evers), solo, mixed choir and organ (1908) * ''Cantata for Heimdal's 40-year anniversary'' (S.H.T.-kantat, Bååth), male choir and piano (1908) * ''Hymn for the Lambert Fair'' (E. A. Karlfeldt), mixed choir and orchestra (1908) * ''Cantata for the inauguration of the Gävle Polytechnic's Refurbishment'' (M. Sterner), tenor solo, mixed choir, blandad kör, boy's choir and orchestra (1914) * ''For the Home District'' (H. Hamilton), baritone solo, mixed choir and orchestra (1914)

Chamber music

Violin Sonata in E major, Op. 2 (1895)

Piano music

* Menuett, WoO (1886) * Wedding March (for his brother Carl's wedding, 1893) * Four Preludes and Fugues ( 1898) * Three Melodies (Nos. 1–2, 1899) * Mazurka in F minor * From the Sketchbook (1914) * Sonata in F Minor (1925) * Moment Musical (1928)

Dramatic works

* ''Hans Höghet'', operetta after Fritz Reuter (1908) * Music for E. Hörman's ''Fritjof och Ingeborg'' for solos, choir and orchestra (1908) * Marionette Overture for the Dock Theater at Stockholm's National Exhibition (1909) * ''Mr. Alarik's Wedding'' (1910)

References

1871 births 1936 deaths 20th-century classical composers Musicians from Uppsala Pupils of Salomon Jadassohn Romantic composers Royal College of Music, Stockholm alumni Swedish classical composers Swedish male classical composers Swedish conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Burials at Uppsala old cemetery 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Swedish male musicians 20th-century Swedish musicians 19th-century male musicians {{Sweden-composer-stub