Early years and studying in Paris

While Randel was still a child, a peasant folk musician discovered his talent and gave him a violin. He soon learned to play the hymns and polskas which he heard his sister sing. At twelve years old he came to Karlskrona, where he was presently taken into the care of theatre manager Fredrik Wilhelm Ståhlberg, and later also by the city's music association, who paid for his schooling and music education.

During a royal visit in Karlskrona in 1819, Randel attracted the attention of Chamberlain Gerard De Geer, who took him to Finspång and allowed him to receive training along with the chamberlain’s sons. It was here that Randel attracted the interest of Crown Prince Oscar (Oscar I) and, in 1822, he was sent to Paris at the Crown Prince's expense, with his last name changed from Pettersson to Randel. After an audition, he was recruited as an ‘auditor’ in Pierre Baillot’s violin class at the music conservatory. He also studied composition with Luigi Cherubini, who wrote Randel a very commendable graduation certificate from the conservatory.

At the Hovkapellet

After having appeared several times in public as Baillot’s student in Paris, Randel returned to Sweden and was immediately employed as a violinist in the Hovkapellet (the Royal Court Orchestra) in 1828, where he eventually became head concertmaster in 1861. His main tasks were to play in the orchestra at the opera and comic opera performances. Moreover, Randel also appeared as a soloist at the Kungliga Teatern (the Royal Opera) concerts in his own and others' works, as well as in chamber music by Beethoven and Haydn.

Concertmasters also had a special responsibility for music at the Kungliga Teatern's dramatic performances and for choosing the incidental music; until 1863 dramatic and operatic performances were played in the same house. Thus, from 1844−62 Randel arranged and composed music for more than 20 plays. He also conducted theatre music and was sometimes even hired as conductor for opera performances.

Other duties in the service of music

In addition to his position as violin teacher at the educational institution of Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music) and as music director of the Second Life Grenadier Regiment, from 1853−62, Randel was also ‘choralintendent’ for the fraternal order Par Bricole in Stockholm. For this fellowship, he wrote both large and small-scale choral works. His highlight as a choral conductor came on 29 September 1860, when he led a 400-voice choir, composed of nine different choirs, beside the statue of Gustav Vasa outside Riddarhuset (the House of Nobility), as part of the memorial event for Gustav I.

Randel undertook many concert tours in the provinces, often with programmes of chamber music. A trip to Härnösand in summer 1856 acquired special significance, as the city's music association subsequently took the initiative for the publication of his String Quartet in G major. This, in turn, led to the formation of Musikaliska konstföreningen (the Swedish Art Music Society), headquartered in Stockholm who, from1860, published large and small-scale Swedish musical works. In his later years Randel took part as an expert in the selection of works.

In 1858 he travelled to musical institutions in Germany and France ‘to acquire knowledge of the teaching methods and other […] improvements in the educational sector’ which could then be applied at the Musikaliska akademien.

The musical works

Randel contributed as a composer in four different areas. In the works for virtuoso solo violin, he was influenced by the French tradition of Rode, Viotti and Baillot, mostly in his violin concertos. A completely different style emerges in the songs and romances, with their intimate tone, light-hearted melody, simple shape and masterful romantic mannerisms. Yet another side of his work is shown in his chamber music, mostly string quartets, which are most closely connected with late Haydn. This alone demonstrates Randel’s adaptability to the medium in which he was writing. A fact particularly evident in his incidental music, which fluently modifies itself to the demands of situations, whether concerning songs, couplet songs, marches or melodramas (music to recited text). Randel’s greatest success in this regard was with the music to Frederick August Dahlgren's comic opera Värmlänningarna (1846).

Martin Tegen © 2013
Trans. Robin McGinley

This text is a revised version of the author's article in Svenskt biografiskt lexikon [Swedish biographical encyclopaedia], vol. 29 (1995−97), p. 657.