Kurt Atterberg - Symphony No. 1, Op. 3 [1913]

Performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, under Stig Westerberg in 1986

00:00 I. Allegro con fuoco
10:23 II. Adagio
19:54 III. Presto
27:22 IV. Adagio - Allegro energetico
Born and raised in Gothenburg on the western coast of Sweden in 1887, Kurt Magnus Atterberg had a rather ordinary upbringing. His father, an engineer and pioneering electrician, made a steady living as electricity spread across the Swedish cities, and his mother is said to have had a beautiful singing voice inherited from her father who was a professional opera singer.

Despite his mother’s own musical background, young Kurt did not take up music seriously until 1902 when he heard the touring Brussels String Quartet give an inspiring performance in his home city. Within three years he had begun his first attempts at composition, and within six he had become a skilled enough cello player to join the Stockholm Concert Society, or Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra as it is known today. In 1910, after submitting his Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra (Op.1) and then incomplete Symphony No.1 in B minor (Op.3), Atterberg was granted admission to the Stockholm Conservatory where he briefly studied composition with Andreas Hallén. Not but a year later he completed his studies at the Royal Institute of Technology, obtaining a masters degree in engineering, and the following year in 1912 he began his lifelong career at the Swedish Patent and Registration Office. Impressively, Atterberg also made his conducting debut that year at the premier performance of his first symphony, beginning his rapid ascent in the musical world at age 25. Over the next five decades he composed nine symphonies, five operas, several concertos for various instruments, nine orchestral suites, and three string quartets, among other works. Even despite the diversity of his oeuvre and its large spread over time, a distinct style rooted in high romantic ideals and Swedish folk music is woven throughout.

Unfortunately though, as was the case with all of the late romantic composers, Atterberg’s musical popularity faded rapidly after World War II, leaving his works largely forgotten and he himself with no conducting engagements. In 1967 he published his final work, and the following year he was practically forced to retire from his job at the patent office at the age of 80. As a result, the final years of Atterberg’s life held little for him. He was forced to stand by and watch as modern musical developments continued to push his life's work towards obscurity, and it is said that in reflecting on those final years at the end of his life he felt he had become a “living corpse.” In that state of bitterness mingled with the fulfillment of a long and active life, Kurt Atterberg died aged 86 in 1974. Fortunately, in the decades since his death Atterberg’s music has seen a resurgence in popularity, with several professional recordings made of his complete symphonies and other works in the early 2000s

thanks to ‪@MiltonNJohnson‬ for writing this short biography!