Lindblad, Adolf Fredrik

Lindblad, Adolf Fredrik, important Swedish composer; b. Skännige, Feb. 1, 1801; d. Löfvingsborg, Aug. 23,1878. He learned to play the piano and flute in his youth, and at age 15 he had a flute concerto performed in Norrköping. After receiving instruction in harmony from Haeffner in Uppsala (1823–25), he went to Berlin to study composition with Zelter. In 1827 he settled in Stockholm, where he ran his own piano school until 1861. Among his pupils were Jenny Lind, with whom he had an affair, and members of the royal family. In 1831 he bearne a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. Lindblad was a gifted composer who gained fame in his lifetime as the “father of Swedish song.” His first collection of songs appeared in 1824, and he went on to compose some 215 songs with a third of them set to his own texts. A major edition of his songs was publ. in 9 vols, in Stockholm (1878–90). Lindblad aspired to make a name for himself as a symphonist in the Viennese Classical tradition. His First Sym. received its first complete performance in Stockholm on March 25, 1832, but was cooly received by the public and the critics. However, a subsequent performance of the work by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch. under Mendelssohn won the critical approbation of Schumann. His Second Sym. (Stockholm, May 6, 1855) also failed to please his auditors. However, today these finely honed scores are recognized as major additions to the Swedish orchestral repertoire. Lindblad also composed the opera Frondörerna (The Frondists; Stockholm, May 11,1835), at least 7 string quartets, 2 string quintets, a Piano Trio, and piano pieces.

Bibliography

K. Linder, Den unge A.F. L. (1801–27) (diss., Univ. of Uppsala, 1973).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire