Gunnar de Frumerie

Composer Gunnar de Frumerie joined 20th century neoclassicism to Swedish folk influences and other musical trends. He composed in genres ranging from opera to piano miniatures. Born in Nacka near Stockholm on July 20, 1908, Gunnar de Frumerie was the son of architect Gustave de Frumerie. His sister, Carin de Frumerie-Luthander, was a cellist, and he was also related to mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and soprano Nina Stemme. He studied the piano with his mother and then enrolled at the Stockholm Conservatory in 1923, studying piano with Lennart Lundberg and composition with Ernst Ellberg. After graduating in 1929, he headed to Vienna for lessons on piano with Emil von Sauer and in composition with Erwin Stein. Later, he worked in Paris with Alfred Cortot on piano and Leonid Sabaneev in composition. Touring Sweden while trying to establish himself as a composer and teacher, Frumerie joined the faculty of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm as a piano instructor in 1945. By that time, Frumerie had already written an opera, Singoalla (1940), based on a novel by Viktor Rydberg. He was also a prolific composer of songs and wrote several major works for voice or chorus and orchestra. His chamber works include the nonet Musica per nove, Op. 75, which has been recorded multiple times. A large collection of works in various genres played by Frumerie himself appeared in 1998 on the Caprice Records label under the title Frumerie Plays Frumerie. In 1962, Frumerie was elevated to the rank of full professor at the Royal Academy, where he remained until 1974. His Trombone Concerto, an adaptation of a cello sonata and concerto, was written for trombonist Christian Lindberg. Frumerie died in Mörby or nearby Täby, Sweden, on September 9, 1987. A 2023 recording of his Clarinet Concerto and Concertino for piano by the Münchner Rundfunkorchester perhaps signaled a new interest outside Sweden in his elegant, often intricately constructed neoclassic works.
© James Manheim /TiVo

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Gunnar de Frumerie

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