Childhood an student years

August Körling was the son of Sven Magnus Körling, organist of Misterhult, and his wife Anna Lotta (née Persdotter). The basic music education received from his father was so successful that August was admitted to Musikkonservatoriet (the Royal Conservatory of Music) in Stockholm when he was only 13. In 1858 he took his organist and church singer diploma, with top marks in all subjects. Three years later he qualified as a music teacher, studies for which included composition under the tuition of Ludvig Norman. After this he probably returned to his hometown. In Kristdala in July 1864 he married Sophia Lovisa Dahlberg, the daughter of Nils Dahlberg, a merchant, and his wife Greta Carolina (née Nilsdotter). A son, John Felix August, was born to them late that same year.

Church musician and music teacher in Ystad

In December 1865 August Körling was appointed organist and cantor of St Mary’s Church, Ystad, a post which he combined with that of music teacher at the town’s grammar school. Ystad remained his home for the rest of his life. He retired from his teaching post in 1907 and as organist of St Mary’s in 1911.

During his second year in Ystad (1867), August Körling, together with the apothecary Gustaf Smith, formed a music society whose thirty active members met twice weekly in order to ‘promote, to the best of their ability, both their own musical education and enjoyment and other people’s’. Under Körling’s direction they rehearsed for soirées arranged for invited ‘passive members’. These occasions featured vocal and instrumental works, mostly part songs for mixed voices with piano accompaniment, but also chamber music. The repertoire included, for example, music by Niels W. Gade, Felix Mendelssohn, A. F. Lindblad, August Söderman and Halfdan Kjerulf, not forgetting Körling himself.

The Music Society’s soirées had been going for about ten years when Körling, together with Gustaf Smith’s son Salomon, who had been a violin pupil of his, formed the Ystad Orchestral Society. This orchestra was made up of military musicians and amateurs, some 20 players in all. It gave 10 or 12 subscription concerts annually in the courthouse auditorium, but also 3 or 4 major concerts of classical and romantic works arranged by Körling to suit the forces available. Public interest declined in the early years of the 20th century, and the orchestra fell into desuetude, but audiences were still forthcoming for the chamber music soirées which Smith organised and Körling took part in. Together, between 1908 and 1910, they organised widely publicised summer festivals of chamber music by contemporary Swedish composers who also took part in the performances. At this time Körling was also still active as director of the Harmoni male voice choir, founded in 1906. He relinquished this post in 1913 and died in Ystad six years later, in 1919.

In 1888 Körling became a member of the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music), and in 1894 he was invested with the Litteris et Artibus order. His sons Felix and Sven followed in their father’s footsteps, making signal contributions to music activities in Halmstad and Gothenburg respectively.

Works

Körling began composing as a conservatory student and already at that time showed signs of promise. In Ystad he promptly seized opportunities of writing music for the music society he helped found in 1867. The society’s first five-yearly report mentions a performance of two works by Körling ‘Fjäriln’ and ‘Rosen’, but no works with these titles have been traceable. Autograph compositions are extant from the 1870s, e.g. Festival March (at the festival in honour of Judge Sylwan in 1873), for piano four hands, and Three Songs for solo voice and piano, to words by C. D. af Wirsén and A. M. Lidforss. Ten or so years later, his piano compositions began appearing in print more and more frequently. An article in the music journal Svensk Musiktidning for February 1899 refers to him as ‘occupying a prominent position among contemporary Swedish composers’. Both his solo songs and his songs for male voice quartet were commended. Of the latter, special mention is accorded the ballad Sten Sture (for male voice choir and baritone solo), which Körling had won a prize with. The same journal quotes Körling’s teacher Ludvig Norman describing Körling’s style as distinguished by ‘caressing, singable melody, beautiful harmonies, confidence of expression and clarity of presentation, together with the indescribable euphony which is the work’s crowning glory’.

Two latter-day critics of Körling’s vocal compositions, Axel Helmer and Lennart Hedwall, highlight the cultivated vocal music technique following on from Mendelssohn’s lied output. Helmer, however, who has made a relatively exhaustive study of Körling’s solo songs, finds them ‘somewhat conformative’. Hedwall dwells instead on the mellifluous piano writing of the songs and the Nordic freshness of the choral works, with their ‘echoes of popular tradition’. He also finds a ‘palpable, personal atmosphere’ in Körling’s compositions, indicative of ‘a gentle, at times dreamy and unfailingly positive temperament’.

Singer Jussi Björling paid a number of visits to Ystad as a young man in the 1920s. One person who helped further his career was Körling’s musical sparring partner Salomon Smith, and it was probably in this connection that Björling adopted a couple of songs by August Körling, namely ‘Hvita rosor’ and ‘Aftonstämning’, which are included in several anthology recordings of his. Other Swedish tenors − Nicolai Gedda, for example − also made these songs part of their repertoires. Several other solo songs by Körling, such as ‘Aprilvisa’, ‘En speleman’ and ‘Sagorna’, are also included in the current repertoire of 19th century Swedish romantic songs. Some of Körling’s choral works, such as Håtunaleken (for solo voices, mixed choir and orchestra) and Sten Sture (solo voices and male voice choir) also have their place in the repertoire.

Boel Lindberg © 2015
Trans. Roger Tanner