Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
Born: February 27, 1867; Ullånger
Died: December 3, 1942; Östersund, Sweden
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Esteemed during his lifetime but relegated to the tertiary ranks of music figures thereafter, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger was a significant Swedish composer and critic in the early decades of the twentieth century. He studied organ and composition at the Stockholm Conservatory (1886-1889), then traveled to Dresden for further instruction in composition and orchestration. He returned to Sweden in 1890 to teach music and languages in Umeå (1890-1892),
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Works
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(3) Marit's Songs (Marits visor), Op. 12 (1)
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(A) Winter Song (1)
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(An) old dance rhythm (1)
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(The) Day I Have Lived (1)
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(The) maiden under the linden tree, Op. 10/1 (1)
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A walk in the mountains, Op. 6 (1)
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Album leaves (3) in Dance form, for piano: Menuett, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Album, Op. 11 (2)
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Album, Op. 11: no 1, Mood (1)
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Album, Op. 11: no 2, In the pinewood (1)
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Album, Op. 11: no 5, Little flower (1)
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Album, Op. 11: no 8, Dance, called the fiddle (1)
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Amidst the Myrtle aand Jasmine (1)
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An die Rosen (1)
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Anakreontika II, for piano: Till Eros, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Arnljot, opera: Arnljots Hälsingssång Till Jämtland (1)
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Arnljot, opera: Arnljots hälsning till Jämtland (Arnljot's Greeting to Jämtland) (1)
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Arnljot: Act 1. Scene 11. Tingsmarschen (1)
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Arnljot: Act 2. Scene 1. Wainos första sång (1)
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Arnljot: Act 2. Scene 11 & 12. Arnljots drömsyn (1)
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Arnljot: Act 2. Scene 7. Wainos andra sång (1)
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Arnljot: Act 2. Scene 9. Gunhild och Arnljot: Mötet i vildmarken (1)
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Arnljot: Act 3. Scene 17 & 18. Arnljots död (1)
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Arnljot: Act 3. Scene 4. Tormods kvad (1)
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Arnljot: Förspel Akt 1 - Act 1. Scene 8. Arnljots hälsningssång (1)
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As the young Zephyr (1)
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Aspaker's Polka, for voice & piano (1)
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Aspåkers Polka (1)
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At the forges (1)
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Autumn Song (1)
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Ballades (4) in Swedish Folk Style, Op. 5: No 1, När jag för mig själv i mörka skogen går (When I Wa (2)
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Ballades (4) in Swedish Folk Style, Op. 5: No 4, Bland skogens höga furustammar (Among the High Fir (2)
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Ballads (4) in Swedish folk style, Op. 5: no 1, When I walk alone in the dark forest (4)
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Ballads (4) in Swedish folk style, Op. 5: no 3, Like stars in the heavens (2)
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Ballads (4) in Swedish folk style, Op. 5: no 4, Among pines (3)
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Beneath the Milky Way (1)
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Berceuse for cello & piano (1)
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Bland Skogens Höga furustammar (Among the high fir-trees in the forest) (2)
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By Frösö Church (2)
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Böljebyvals, for voice & piano (1)
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Canzone (1)
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Concerto for Violin (1)
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Concerto for violin and orchestra in F sharp minor (1)
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Damernas Album, for piano: Dedikation (Andante cantabile), arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Danslek Ur "Ran" (1)
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Dichtungen von Friedrich Nietzsche, for voice & piano (2)
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Doomsday Prophets: Chorale and Fugue (1)
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Earina (1)
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En Fjällfärd, for male voice quartet: Pa fjället i regn, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Bk 2 (2)
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Flowers from Frösö, Bk 3 (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16 (2)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: At Froso Church (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: At Twilight (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: Congratulations (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: Greeting (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: Lawn Tennis (3)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 1, Summer Song (3)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 2, To the Roses (3)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 3, Congratulations (3)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 4, At the Frösö Church (2)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 5, Gratulation (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: no 8, Entry into Sommerhagen (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: Rentrée (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: Summer Song (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Book 1, Op. 16: To the Roses (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Suite No 1 (1)
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Flowers from Frösö, Suite No 1: Om många år (1)
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Fridolin's Pleasure Garden: no 4, Böljeby Waltz (2)
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Fridolin's Pleasure Garden: no 5, Aspåker's Polka (1)
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Fridolin's Songs: no 5, Nothing is like the time of waiting (3)
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Frösöblomster for piano, Book 3 ("I Sommarhagen"): Om manga ar, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Frösöblomster, Book 2 for piano: Jämtland, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Frösöblomster, Book 2 for piano: Till rosorna, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Frösöblomster, for piano, Op. 16: I skymningen, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Frösöblomster, for piano, Op. 16: Intåg i Sommerhagen (1)
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Frösöblomster, for piano, Op. 16: Lawn tennis (1)
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Frösöblomster, for piano, Op. 16: Lawn Tennis, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Frösöblomster, for piano, Op. 16: Sommarsång (1)
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Gedichte (4) von Ricarda Huch (1)
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Gratulation, for piano (Frösöblomster), Op. 16/5 (1)
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Gullebarns Vaggsånger, for mezzo-soprano & orchestra (1)
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Gullebarns Vaggsånger, for mezzo-soprano & orchestra: No.V) (1)
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Hymn to the Moon at Lammastide (1)
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I furuskogen, for chorus (1)
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In the wood under high trees (1)
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Irmelin Rose (1)
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Jordensoroviker, Op. 50 (1)
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Jungfrun under lind (The maid under the linden tree), for voice & orchestra (1)
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Jutta kommer till Folkungarba (1)
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Langtan Heter Min Arvedel, for voice & piano (1)
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Last Summer (1)
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Lord Acorndale (1)
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Lyckan, opera: Prinsessan Epinee, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Lyckan, opera: Vid kejsar Cadigans hov, arr by Lennart Hedwall (1)
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Marit's Songs (3), Op. 12 (1)
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Marit's Songs (3), Op. 12: no 1, Come little buck to the boy (3)
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Marit's Songs (3), Op. 12: no 2, The sun shines prettily in the evening (3)
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Marit's Songs (3), Op. 12: no 3, If you love me (3)
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Marits Visor (Songs of Marit), for voice & piano, Op. 12 (1)
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Melody (1)
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Music Moves Me (1)
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Månhymn vid Lambertsmassan, for voice & piano (1)
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Nachspiel (1)
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Nya Danspoem (3), for piano: Pa gräset under lindarna, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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När jag för mig själv i mörka skogen går (When I Walk by Myself in the Dark Forest), song for voice (2)
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On May day (1)
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On the fell in sunshine (1)
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Oriental Dance (2)
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På fjället i sol (1)
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Ran, opera: Danslek, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Rentrée (1)
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Return (1)
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Romance for violin & orchestra (or piano) in D minor (2)
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Romance for Violin and Orchestra in D minor (2)
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Selinda and Leander (1)
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Selinda och Leander (1)
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Serenata (2)
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Som stjärnorn på himmelen, for voice & orchestra (1)
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Sommarsång (2)
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Sonata for violin & piano No. 2: Andante, arr for chamber ensemble (1)
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Song after the harvest time (1)
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Song in the Spirit of Harvest (1)
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Songs (3), Op. 10: no 1, Jungfrun under lind (5)
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Spring Song II (from songs for mixed choir) (1)
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Stemning (2)
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Summer Song (1)
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Summernight dew (1)
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Sveagaldrar: Prelude (2)
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Swedish lyricism: Series 2, Book 1, Böljeby waltz (1)
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Symphony no 1 in B flat major "Baneret" (2)
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Symphony no 2 "Sunnanfärd" (2)
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Symphony no 3 in F minor "Same-Ätnam" (1)
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Symphony no 4 in A major "Holmia" (1)
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Symphony no 5 in B minor "Solitudo" (2)
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Symphony No. 2 ("Sunnanfard") (1)
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Symphony No. 3 in F major ("Same-Ätnam" or "Lapland") (1)
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Symphony No. 3 in F major ("Same-Ätnam" or "Lapland"): Movement 1: Same Atnam Första satsen (1)
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The Doomsday Prophets: Excerpt(s) (1)
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The Tale of Sleeping Beauty (1)
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Till rosorna, for piano (Frösöblomster), Op. 16/4 (3)
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Time of Waiting (1)
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Titania (1)
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Tradet (1)
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Två Romantiska Visor: Zigeunerlied (2)
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Varen kom en Valborgsnatt (1)
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Vier Gedichte von Ricarda Huch, for voice & piano (2)
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Walking by Myself (1)
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When I walk alone in a dark forest (1)
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Wreath Offering: no 2, Return (1)
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Yearning is my legacy (1)
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Your eyes are like fires (1)
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Biography |
by James Reel
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Esteemed during his lifetime but relegated to the tertiary ranks of music figures thereafter, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger was a significant Swedish composer and critic in the early decades of the twentieth century. He studied organ and composition at the Stockholm Conservatory (1886-1889), then traveled to Dresden for further instruction in composition and orchestration. He returned to Sweden in 1890 to teach music and languages in Umeå (1890-1892), but the years 1892-1894 found him back in Dresden teaching music. In 1895 he finally settled in Stockholm, supporting himself mainly as music critic of the Dagens Nyheter from 1896 to 1930, aside from brief periods when he served as stage manager at the Stockholm Opera (1908-1910) and traveled extensively in Italy (1920-1921).
As a critic, Peterson-Berger upheld the notions of Wagner. He did little to advance his composing career through his work as a music journalist, which was prone to highly negative remarks regarding new music that was not his own. As a composer, he was a Romantic nationalist. He wrote many large works -- his quasi-Wagnerian Arnljot is considered to be the Swedish national opera, and his third symphony and violin concerto are still highly regarded in his homeland -- but Peterson-Berger is best remembered for his miniatures, particularly the piano pieces Frösöblomster, and perhaps the song collection Swedish Lyrics. These are highly lyrical pieces whose apparent simplicity has put off critics who wrongly assume them to be fluff. When choosing texts, or programs for his large orchestral works, Peterson-Berger was particularly attracted to topics of nature, another aspect that rooted his aesthetic in the nineteenth century. |
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