Käbi Alma Laretei (14 July 1922 – 31 October 2014) was an Estonian-Swedish concert pianist. Her father Heinrich Laretei was a

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

in the service of the Republic of Estonia as ambassador to Sweden; when the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

occupied Estonia in 1940, the family did not return to Estonia. Her piano teacher was Maria-Luisa Strub-Moresco, who had an indirect influence on the artistic choices of Laretei's later husband,

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

. Laretei had a long and distinguished career as a pianist, and in the 1960s she played to packed halls in the United Kingdom, Sweden,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and the United States, including

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

. From 1950 to 1959, Laretei was married to Gunnar Staern, with whom she had a daughter, Linda (born 1955). Laretei is also known for her marriage to and professional collaborations with

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

director

; Laretei was his fourth wife. They met in the late 1950s, and were married in 1959. She introduced Bergman to a variety of music, some of which he would use in film scores.James Eugene Wierzbicki. Music, Sound and Filmmakers: Sonic Style in Cinema. Routledge, 2012. They divorced in 1969, though the marriage was effectively over by 1966. His 1961 film '' Through a Glass Darkly'' is dedicated to Laretei. They had a son, Daniel Bergman (born 1962), who is also a film director. Laretei worked with

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

and

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

. She continued to play in concert and give musical consultations on the set of some of her former husband's films and even appears playing the piano in a scene of ''

Fanny and Alexander ''Fanny and Alexander'' () is a 1982 Historical drama, period drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. The plot focuses on two siblings and their large family in Uppsala, Sweden during the first decade of the twentieth century. Follow ...

''. She recorded piano passages that appear diegetically in Bergman's films, such as '' Autumn Sonata'' and ''

The Magic Flute ''The Magic Flute'' (, ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It is a ''Singspiel'', a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on ...

''. She took an early interest in the TV medium, hosted many programmes on literature and music on Swedish TV and, starting with ''En bit jord'' (1976; "A lump of earth"), published a number of books on life and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

, the last being ''Såsom i en översättning'' (2004; "As in a translation", the title being a paraphrase on "Through a Glass Darkly" (Såsom i en spegel)). Moreover, she has been the subject of numerous television and film documentaries. She was awarded Estonia's Order of the National Coat of Arms, 3rd Class in 1998. She died on 31 October 2014 at the age of 92.

Filmography

References

Further reading