Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927) is in every sense a living classic. His songs, orchestral works, piano pieces and string quartets are beloved works and appear more and more often in the repertoire. At the same time, there is something enigmatic about him, both as a person and as an artist. Stenhammar is reserved and probing, precise in expression, never boastful.
How did this approach to life come about and what does Stenhammar's music say about the rise of modern Sweden? Magnus Haglund's biography tells of the aesthetic and social shifts, from the Wagnerian influence of his youth to the classicism and strong interest in form of his mature creation. The book conveys the important connections to contemporary art, literature and architecture and traces the wider meanings that make the music so moving and multifaceted.
Magnus Haglund's book on Wilhelm Stenhammar is part of the series of portraits of Swedish composers published by King. The musical academy and Gidlund's publishing house.
Magnus Haglund, born in 1960, lives in Gothenburg. He is active as a culture writer, teacher and author, and since the mid-1990s has been a critic on the Gothenburg Post's culture page. He has previously published the books Den nakna staden, Åke Hodell, Lyssnare and was editor of the research anthology Music's freedom and limitation.
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