Elfrida Andrée (19 February 1841 – 11 January 1929), 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 ...
organist,
composer, and
conductor
Conductor or conduction may refer to:
Music
* Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra.
* ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas
* Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...
. A 1996 recording on the Caprice label features Andrée's piano quintet, along with a piano sonata, the string quartet in D minor, and vocal music. She was a sister of Swedish opera singer-soprano Fredrika Stenhammar.
Life and career
Andrée was born in
Visby to the doctor Andreas Andrée. She was the pupil of
Ludvig Norman
Ludvig Norman (28 August 183128 March 1885) was a Swedish composer, conductor, pianist, and music teacher. Together with Franz Berwald and Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, he ranks among the most important Swedish symphonists of the 19th century.
Norma ...
and
Niels Wilhelm Gade. Her sister was the singer
Fredrika Stenhammar
Fredrika Stenhammar (née Andrée; 19 September 1836 in Visby – 7 October 1880) was a Swedish opera singer (soprano).
She was born as Fredrika Andrée to doctor Andreas Andrée and was sister of Sweden's first female organist, Elfrida Andrée. ...
. An activist in the Swedish
women's movement, she was one of the first female organists to be officially appointed in
Scandinavia
Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
. She began work in
Stockholm in 1861 and became the organist at Gothenburg Cathedral in 1867. In 1897 she was named leader of the Gothenburg Workers Institute Concerts, establishing her reputation as the first Swedish woman to conduct a symphony orchestra. For her services, she was elected to the
Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She died in
Gothenburg.
Andrée's two organ
symphonies are still being played today. Her other compositions include the
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...
''Fritiofs saga'' (1899,
libretto by
Selma Lagerlöf), several works for
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 ...
including two symphonies, a
piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello.
Piano quartets for ...
in A minor (1870) and a
piano quintet in E minor (published in 1865), a
piano trio in G minor (1887) (and another published posthumously in C minor), a
string quartet in D minor from 1861 and another in A major, pieces for
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 ...
(including sonatas in E flat and B flat major) and for
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
, two Swedish
masses, an 1879 choral ballade "Snöfrid", and ''
lieder.''
References
External links
*
Elfrida Andree Piano Quintet in e minor, sound-bites*
Swedish Musical Heritage - Elfrida AndréeSongs by Elfrieda Andrée on The Art Song Project
Further reading
*Eva Öhrström, ''Elfrida Andrée : ett levnadsöde'' Stockholm: Prisma, 1999. .
*
*Elfrida Andree by Elsa Stuart-Bergstrom
1841 births
1929 deaths
19th-century classical composers
19th-century women composers
19th-century Swedish musicians
19th-century Swedish women musicians
19th-century Swedish people
20th-century classical composers
20th-century women composers
20th-century conductors (music)
Cathedral organists
Women classical composers
Feminist musicians
People from Gotland
Pupils of Niels Gade
Romantic composers
Swedish classical composers
Swedish classical organists
Swedish conductors (music)
Swedish women composers
Swedish women classical composers
Swedish feminists
Women conductors (music)
Women organists
20th-century Swedish women
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