Ture Rangström

Ture Rangström (1884–1947) belonged to a new generation of Swedish composers who, in the first decade of the 20th century, introduced modernism to their compositions. In addition to composing, Rangström was also a musical critic and conductor. Rangström was born in Stockholm, where in his late teens he started to write songs. His music teacher suggested that he should "vary the harmonies a bit more, make it a bit wilder!" He followed this advice and soon gained the nickname among his colleagues of "Sturm-und-Drangström". He travelled to Berlin where he studied under Hans Pfitzner for a while in 1905–6, and also studied singing with the Wagnerian Julius Hey, with whom he later went to Munich for further studies. His compositions at this time were chiefly for voice and piano. Between 1907 and 1922, he taught singing and from 1922 to 1925 he was principal conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. He founded the Swedish Society of Composers in 1924, and he was employed to promote the works of the Royal Swedish Opera from 1931 to 1936. After this, he worked freelance and spent the summers on the island of Törnsholmen which he had been given by the people of Sweden who raised the money to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. Rangström died at his home in Stockholm after a long illness caused by a throat disease. Many of his early works took the form of symphonic poems, including Dityramb (1909), Ett midsommarstycke (A midsummer piece) and En höstsång (An autumn song). Following the success of these poems, Rangström began work on his symphonies, of which there are four. He composed three operas, and almost 300 songs and orchestrated about 60 of them.