Emil Sjögren (1853-1918): Legend Ess-moll (Häfte 2 Nr 12)

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The son of a linen draper in Stockholm, Emil Sjögren grew up in the boarding house that his mother opened after his father's death in 1863. He lived there until his mother died some 30 years later. His early musical training seems to have been limited to some piano lessons, until the organist, pianist and piano dealer Ludvig Ohlson took him under his wing at the age of 15. With few breaks Sjögren worked for Ohlson's business, not least as a piano tuner, until 1883, including while studying piano and organ at the Stockholm conservatoire from 1869 to 1874. With financial support from Ohlson in 1879-80 he additionally studied in Berlin at the Royal School for Musical Performance (which later became part of what is now Berlin's University of the Arts), with August Haupt (organ) and Friedrich Kiel (composition). The patronage of a Stockholm industrialist permitted Sjögren to go abroad once more in 1883-84, and to spend time in Copenhagen, Vienna, Munich and Paris. Almost immediately afterwards a state scholarship enabled him to return to Berlin for several months in 1885-84. Back in Stockholm he worked for some time as organist of the French Reformed Church, and at a music school. In 1890 he was commissioned to supervise the installation of the organ of Stockholm's newly-built Johanneskyrka (St John's Church)(Åkerman & Lund: 32 / iii+P; modified 1947, replaced 1975) and to write a cantata: performed at the inauguration of the church by the Archbishop of Uppsala and in the presence of the king, it was enthusiastically received. In 1891 he was appointed organist of the church, a post he held for the remainder of his life. Sjögren suffered badly from psoriasis, including psychologically. According to his friend Carl Larsson (the illustrator) spending hours at the piano and drinking alcohol were his twin ways of coping. The death of his mother in 1895 threatened his mental balance, but the marriage with Berta Dahlman, a former pupil, in 1897 stabilised him. In 1904 the couple left Stockholm for the environs, finally settling in 1910 in Knivsta (50km north of Stockholm on the railway line to Uppsala). Between 1901 and 1914 the couple spent several months in Paris almost every year. There Sjögren performed his own works, beginning in 1901 at the Salle Pleyel with Sjögren at the piano and the young violinist Jacques Thibaud. Not least no doubt because his organ improvisations during services were so famous his long absences from the Johanneskyrka were tolerated. Moreover, from 1897 to 1907 his deputy was Otto Olsson (1879-1964), who today is probably better known as a composer of organ music than Sjögren. Cardiac problems and pneumonia forced Sjögren to move back to Stockholm, where he died in 1918 aged 64. The funeral service was held at St John's Church by the Archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom, a friend of many years. Sjögren is buried in Stockholm's Norra Begravningsplats (Northern Cemetery), the last resting place of many prominent Swedes. Berta Dahlman died in Paris in 1967 at the age of one hundred. Sjögren wrote organ works, but is better known for his piano music and works for voice and piano and violin and piano. From the 1890s his compatriots increasingly regarded him as the foremost Swedish composer. In France, besides Thibault he numbered the violinist George Enescu and the organist Alexandre Guilmant among his friends. In 1908 Guilmant played the world premiere of Prelude and Fugue in a minor op. 49, which Sjögren dedicated to him, on the organ of the Salle Gaveau. The "Legender" (Legends), published in 1907, consist of 24 pieces in all the keys. Contrary to the indication on the title page volume (häfte) 1 contains all keys with sharps and vol. 2 contains all keys with flats. The pedals are needed only occasionally, which is why the video only shows the manuals. But it is not possible to play the music as written without pedals. Much of the preparation consists in finding a viable fingering for the thicket of notes with their innumerable accidentals, not infrequently double ones. On the title page the organ is given as the instrument for which the pieces are intended, whereas the score itself says "organ or harmonium." But on a harmonium you would be forced to omit some notes or to play them an octave higher. Sjögren dedicated the collection to Landgrave Alexander Friedrich (1863-1945), head of the House of Hesse-Kassel -- whose territory had, however, been annexed by Prussia in 1866, depriving the dynasty of its throne. So instead of becoming a reigning prince the landgrave gained a doctorate in philosophy from Leipzig University, following which he devoted himself to promoting music (in particular modern and avantgarde), and to composing. Since he was almost blind he wrote his own music in braille; it awaits rediscovery. a_osiander(at)gmx.net . andreas-osiander.net . facebook.com/andreas.osiander