Composer Elfrida Andree
A couple of days ago I was listening to our local classical music station, Houston Public Media-Classical and heard this nice symphony that I had never heard and was trying to figure out the composer. It sounded a little like a classical symphony, with hints of being a Romantic Era symphony, and I could have guessed until the cows came home and would have never guessed the composer because it turned out to be someone I didn’t know. It was a woman organist, composer, and conductor in the Romantic Era from Sweden, Elfrida Andree.
From Swedish musical heritage: “She was the first woman in Sweden to graduate as an organist (1857−60) and to become a cathedral organist.”
“As a composer of chamber music and symphonic works, she was a female pioneer in Sweden, and the same goes for her activity as an orchestral conductor. Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1879, Litteris et Artibus award in 1895, Idun ‘Women’s Academy’ fellowship in 1908.”
[Her works include]: “opera (Fritiofs Saga), orchestral works (2 symphonies, overtures, suites, concerto for organ and brass), chamber music (2 string quartets, piano quintet, piano quartet, 2 piano trios, 2 violin sonatas), piano compositions (sonata etc.), organ compositions, solo songs, 2 masses, choral compositions and folk song arrangements.“
Please turn up the volume and enjoy some very enjoyable compositions by the Swedish composer, Elfrida Andree.
Elfrida Andree: Piano Quintet in E minor:
Elfrida Andree: Symphony #2 in E-Flat Major, “Organ and Brass”:
Elfrida Andree: Symphony in A minor:
Classical Music With Big Mike 