Classical Music / Composers
Franz Adolf Berwald (23 July 1796 – 3 April 1868), was born in Stockholm, a Swedish Romantic composer. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory.
Berwald came from a family with four generations of musicians; his father, a violinist in the Royal Opera Orchestra, taught Franz the violin from an early age. In 1809, Karl XIII came to power and reinstated the Royal Chapel. Berwald worked there and also played the violin in the court orchestra and the opera. He received lessons from Edouard du Puy, and also started composing. On summers' off-season for the orchestra, Berwald travelled around Scandinavia, Finland and Russia. Of his works that time, a septet and a serenade he considered worthwhile music in his later years.
In 1818 Berwald started publishing the Musikalisk journal (later renamed Journal de musique), a periodical with easy piano pieces and songs by various composers as well as some of his own original work. In 1821, his Violin Concerto was premiered by his brother August. It was not well received.
Franz Berwald - Symphony No. 3 in C-major, "Sinfonie singuliere"
His family got into financial difficulties after his father's death in 1825. Berwald tried to get several scholarships, but only got one from the King, which enabled him to study in Berlin. To make a living, Berwald started an orthopedic and physiotherapy clinic in Berlin in 1835, which turned out to be profitable.
He only resumed composing in 1841 with a move to Vienna and marriage to Mathilde Scherer. The following year, a concert of his tone poems at the Redoutensaal at the Hofburg Imperial Palace received extremely positive reviews, and over the course of the next three years Berwald wrote four symphonies. These were not the first symphonies he wrote. His numerous major works from the 1820s have gone missing, and a part of Symphony in A's first movement remains, has been finished, and recorded.
The Symphony No. 1 in G minor, "Sérieuse", was the only one of Berwald's four symphonies that was performed in his lifetime. In 1843, it was premiered in Stockholm with his cousin Johan Frederik conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra. At that same concert, his operetta Jag går i kloster (I enter a monastery) was also performed, but its success is credited to one of the roles having been sung by Jenny Lind. In 1846, Jenny Lind sang in one of Berwald's cantatas. Another operetta, The Modiste, had less success in 1845.
Sadly, Berwald's music was not recognised favourably in Sweden during his lifetime, even drawing hostile newspaper reviews, but fared a little better in Germany and Austria. The Mozarteum Salzburg made him an honorary member in 1847. When Berwald returned to Sweden in 1849, he managed a glass works at Sandö owned by Ludvig Petré, an amateur violinist. That time Berwald focused on producing chamber music.
His Piano Concerto, finished in 1855, intended for his piano pupil Hilda Aurora Thegerström, who continued her studies with Antoine François Marmontel and Franz Liszt, did not see the light of day until 1904, when Berwald's granddaughter Astrid performed it at a Stockholm student concert. Particularly in its brilliant last movement it may be compared favourably to Robert Schumann or Edvard Grieg. Its three movements are played without a break.
One of his few operas to be staged in his lifetime, Estrella de Soria, was in its premiere at the Royal Theater in April 1862, and was given four more performances in the same month. Following this success, he wrote Drottningen av Golconda (The Queen of Golconda), planned to premiere in 1864, but did not, due to a change of directors at the Royal Opera. In 1866, Berwald received the Swedish Order of the Polar Star for his musical achievements. The following year, the Board of the Royal Musical Academy appointed Berwald professor of musical composition at the Stockholm Conservatory, only to have the Conservatory Board reverse the decision a few days later, and appoint another. The royal family stepped in, and Berwald got the post. At around that time he was also given many important commissions.
Ten years after Berwald's death, his Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, "Naïve", was premiered in 1878. This gap between composition and first performance was relatively short compared to what befell the Symphony No. 2 in D major, "Capricieuse" and Symphony No. 3 in C-major, which were only premiered until the 1900s. Berwald died of pneumonia in Stockholm in 1868. The second movement of the Symphony No. 1 was played at his funeral. (Franz Berwald - Symphony No.1 in G-minor "Sinfonie sérieuse" (1842). YouTube, uploaded by KuhlauDilfeng2. Accessed August 14, 2020.)
Video Credit:
Franz Berwald - Symphony No. 3 in C-major, "Sinfonie singuliere" (1845). Uploaded by KuhlauDilfeng2. Accessed July 23, 2017.
Resource:
Franz Berwald. en.wikipedia.org.
Franz Berwald. Oxford Dictionary of Music, 6th Edition. Edited by Michael & Joyce Kennedy & Tim Rutherford-Johnson. 2012.
(c) July 2017. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Franz Adolf Berwald (23 July 1796 – 3 April 1868), was born in Stockholm, a Swedish Romantic composer. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory.
Berwald came from a family with four generations of musicians; his father, a violinist in the Royal Opera Orchestra, taught Franz the violin from an early age. In 1809, Karl XIII came to power and reinstated the Royal Chapel. Berwald worked there and also played the violin in the court orchestra and the opera. He received lessons from Edouard du Puy, and also started composing. On summers' off-season for the orchestra, Berwald travelled around Scandinavia, Finland and Russia. Of his works that time, a septet and a serenade he considered worthwhile music in his later years.In 1818 Berwald started publishing the Musikalisk journal (later renamed Journal de musique), a periodical with easy piano pieces and songs by various composers as well as some of his own original work. In 1821, his Violin Concerto was premiered by his brother August. It was not well received.
Franz Berwald - Symphony No. 3 in C-major, "Sinfonie singuliere"
His family got into financial difficulties after his father's death in 1825. Berwald tried to get several scholarships, but only got one from the King, which enabled him to study in Berlin. To make a living, Berwald started an orthopedic and physiotherapy clinic in Berlin in 1835, which turned out to be profitable.
He only resumed composing in 1841 with a move to Vienna and marriage to Mathilde Scherer. The following year, a concert of his tone poems at the Redoutensaal at the Hofburg Imperial Palace received extremely positive reviews, and over the course of the next three years Berwald wrote four symphonies. These were not the first symphonies he wrote. His numerous major works from the 1820s have gone missing, and a part of Symphony in A's first movement remains, has been finished, and recorded.
The Symphony No. 1 in G minor, "Sérieuse", was the only one of Berwald's four symphonies that was performed in his lifetime. In 1843, it was premiered in Stockholm with his cousin Johan Frederik conducting the Royal Opera House Orchestra. At that same concert, his operetta Jag går i kloster (I enter a monastery) was also performed, but its success is credited to one of the roles having been sung by Jenny Lind. In 1846, Jenny Lind sang in one of Berwald's cantatas. Another operetta, The Modiste, had less success in 1845.
Sadly, Berwald's music was not recognised favourably in Sweden during his lifetime, even drawing hostile newspaper reviews, but fared a little better in Germany and Austria. The Mozarteum Salzburg made him an honorary member in 1847. When Berwald returned to Sweden in 1849, he managed a glass works at Sandö owned by Ludvig Petré, an amateur violinist. That time Berwald focused on producing chamber music.
His Piano Concerto, finished in 1855, intended for his piano pupil Hilda Aurora Thegerström, who continued her studies with Antoine François Marmontel and Franz Liszt, did not see the light of day until 1904, when Berwald's granddaughter Astrid performed it at a Stockholm student concert. Particularly in its brilliant last movement it may be compared favourably to Robert Schumann or Edvard Grieg. Its three movements are played without a break.
One of his few operas to be staged in his lifetime, Estrella de Soria, was in its premiere at the Royal Theater in April 1862, and was given four more performances in the same month. Following this success, he wrote Drottningen av Golconda (The Queen of Golconda), planned to premiere in 1864, but did not, due to a change of directors at the Royal Opera. In 1866, Berwald received the Swedish Order of the Polar Star for his musical achievements. The following year, the Board of the Royal Musical Academy appointed Berwald professor of musical composition at the Stockholm Conservatory, only to have the Conservatory Board reverse the decision a few days later, and appoint another. The royal family stepped in, and Berwald got the post. At around that time he was also given many important commissions.
Ten years after Berwald's death, his Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major, "Naïve", was premiered in 1878. This gap between composition and first performance was relatively short compared to what befell the Symphony No. 2 in D major, "Capricieuse" and Symphony No. 3 in C-major, which were only premiered until the 1900s. Berwald died of pneumonia in Stockholm in 1868. The second movement of the Symphony No. 1 was played at his funeral. (Franz Berwald - Symphony No.1 in G-minor "Sinfonie sérieuse" (1842). YouTube, uploaded by KuhlauDilfeng2. Accessed August 14, 2020.)
Video Credit:
Franz Berwald - Symphony No. 3 in C-major, "Sinfonie singuliere" (1845). Uploaded by KuhlauDilfeng2. Accessed July 23, 2017.
Resource:
Franz Berwald. en.wikipedia.org.
Franz Berwald. Oxford Dictionary of Music, 6th Edition. Edited by Michael & Joyce Kennedy & Tim Rutherford-Johnson. 2012.
(c) July 2017. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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