Life

Birger Anrep-Nordin was the son of Fredrik Nordin, the school principal of what is now Vänerskolan in Vänersborg, and Elisabeth Anrep-Nordin. She was the first Swedish woman to obtain a degree as a teacher in deaf education, and she devoted her career to educating blind and deaf-mute students. Elisabeth Anrep-Nordin’s work was considered groundbreaking.

Birger Anrep-Nordin was educated at the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Academy of Music), studying counterpoint with Andreas Hallén and piano with Richard Andersson. He graduated as an organist in 1911 and then as precentor and music teacher in 1912. In 1913 he received the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in music followed by a master’s degree in 1918. In 1924 he completed his PhD at Lund University with a doctoral dissertation on the Swedish composer Joseph Martin Kraus. This was followed by studies abroad in Paris, England, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, in addition to studies in the psychology of music with Carl Seashore in the United States in 1937. In 1917 he married Signe Jeansson, who died in 1936; in 1937 he married MA. Martha Elisabeth Hellsten, née Lindhe.

In 1913 Birger Anrep-Nordin worked as a substitute music teacher at the secondary school in Visby. In 1914 he obtained a position as a music teacher at the Kalmar secondary school and became the Kalmar cathedral organist in 1915 at the then newly renovated cathedral, a post he held until 1924.

In 1922, he began working as a professor of liturgical music at Lund University. This was followed by employment as a music teacher at the teacher’s college in Gothenburg in 1923. He also began to work as a music critic for the local newspaper Göteborgs-Posten 1924−30, followed by Göteborgs Morgonpost 1933−36. He worked as a conductor with the Kalmar Music Society, Sydsvenska Philharmonic Society and the Gothenburg Orchestral Society.

The development of choral music together with the collaboration of educational music and liturgical music was dear to Birger Anrep-Nordin’s heart. His goal was to see to more children participating in the singing of hymns, Gregorian chant and liturgical compositions, which he expressed in his 1932 article in Unga röster i kyrkan. His book Musiken i skolan såsom skön konst (Music as high art in the school) and his choral collection for schools, Dikt och ton. Sångsamling för realskolor, kommunala mellanskolor och därmed jämförliga skolor also reflect these aspirations. Together with Gothenburg’s cathedral organist, Herman Asplöf, he published a book on organ instruction: Orgelspelets teknik: Orgelskola.

Works

Most of Birger Anrep-Nordin’s works consist of music for the church composed during his time as organist at Oscar Fredrik Church in Gothenburg. His musical style does not reveal any impact from his teacher, Andreas Hallén. Rather, Anrep-Nordin was influenced by older music, such as Palestrina and later composers, although he avoided romantic stylistic expressions.

Most of Anrep-Nordin’s compositions are dominated by hymnal arrangements, church cantatas and choral works. His style is simple, influenced by neo-classicism as well as folk music. His most performed works are his Lamento for cello and organ, wedding music entitled Bröllopsmusik i en landskyrka om sommaren and his Christmas cantata Gammal svensk julkantat. His Bröllopsmusik varies stylistically between movements, from neo-classical to warm, lyrical and melodic, ending with a show of good humour and musicianship in the final movement. Gammal svensk julkantat with lyrics by Oscar Levertin was for many years an annually reoccurring feature in schools at the secondary level.

Anrep-Nordin’s earliest works include Invokation till Sancta Caecilia, distinctly a work of praise, composed during his time as cathedral organist in Kalmar. It can be found today in his original handwritten manuscript in the Oscar Fredrik Church archives. Parts of several of Anrep-Nordin’s early works were later arranged or reconstructed by Torsten Sörenson, who succeeded him at Oscar Fredrik Church after his death in 1946.

An article on Birger Anrep-Nordin which can be found in the Swedish biographical resource guide from 1943, Svensk biografisk handbok, mentions additional works such as his symphonic cantatas Mot Ljuset and Sången om Graal, both from the 1920s. Where these works can be found today is unclear.

Significance

Birger Anrep-Nordin comes across as a musician who had an unusually wide spectrum of expertise, which was comprised of not only his doctorate, but also his activities as a church musician, critic, composer and conductor. His aspirations even included an educational perspective with his dedication to the development of school children’s song, which he hoped would benefit the church.

It can be surmised that, since several of his works would later be arranged by Torsten Sörenson, rough drafts of pieces existed which were not capable of being performed in their current state. So, one can also hope that his larger works which still only exist in unfinished handwritten form, could be edited so that they also could be performed as Anrep-Nordin once wished.

Iwa Sörenson von Gertten © 2015
Trans. Thalia Thunander