Wiklund, Adolf
Wiklund, Adolf
Wiklund, Adolf, Swedish conductor, pianist, and composer; b. Lângserud, June 5, 1879; d. Stockholm, April 3, 1950. He was the son of an organist. He entered the Stockholm Cons, in 1896, and graduated in 1901 as an organist and music teacher. After studies with Richard Andersson (piano) and Johan Lindegren (composition and counterpoint), he held a state composer’s fellowship (1902-04) and the Jenny Lind fellowship (1905-06). During this period, he studied in Paris, where he was organist of the Swedish Church (1903-04), and in Berlin with Kwast (piano). In 1902 he made his formal debut as a piano soloist in his own Konsertstycke for Piano and Orch. From 1906 he was principally active as a conductor and composer. After working at the Karlsruhe Opera and then the Berlin Royal Opera (1908-11), he returned to Stockholm as a conductor at the Royal Theater (from 1911), serving as music director (1923-24). From 1924 to 1938 he held the post of 2nd conductor of the Concert Soc. He also appeared frequently as a guest conductor throughout Europe. In 1915 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. His music, marked by fine workmanship, remained faithful to Nordic Romanticism. He composed 2 fine piano concertos, and the popular Tre stycken for Harp and Strings.
Works
orch: Konsertstycke for Piano and Orch. (1902); Concerto Overture (1903); 2 piano concertos (1906, rev. 1935; 1917); Sommarnatt och soluppgàng, sumphonic poem (1918); Sym. (1922); Tre stycken (3 Pieces) for Harp and Strings (1924); Little Suite (1928); Sang till vâren, symphonic poem (1934); Symfonisk prolog (1934); suites. CHAMBER: Violin Sonata (1906); piano pieces. VOCAL: Songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire