Life

Childhood and education

Adolf Fredrik Lindblad was born on 1 February 1801 in Skänninge and died on 23 August 1878 on the farm, Lövingsborg, just outside of Linköping. Lindblad’s mother, Märtha Helena Friberg, was unmarried and the identity of his father was long unknown. At the age of one he received the name Lindblad from his relative and foster father, the master gardener and judge Carl Lindblad. Carl Lindblad and his second wife, Sophie Zetterling, were of crucial importance for Lindblad during his childhood.

Lindblad received a thorough education with the goal that he would assume his foster father's business as a merchant. Knowledge of the German language was stressed early, and during the year 1818−19 he lived in Hamburg to help with business contacts. In Hamburg Lindblad became friends with an instrument maker who, every evening, gathered well read and musical men, and it was here that Lindblad met people who led him into a literary and musical world. They read the New German literature – writers such as Schiller, Goethe, Tieck, Novalis and Jean Paul – and he heard Beethoven's music for the first time, which made an indelible impression on him. Back in Norrköping, Sweden, he worked in his foster father's shop while at the same time composing and playing as much as he could.

In the summer of 1822 he travelled with his foster mother to her relatives, the Kernell family who lived on a farm named Bleckenstad in Östergötland. At Bleckenstad he met the three children of the parson Pehr Kernell and his wife Charlotta Burén: Per Ulrik, Ann-Charlotte and Sophie Kernell, and their cousin, Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom. Atterbom was an associate professor in Uppsala and held a strong position as a writer. He realized Lindblad's talent and helped him to come to Uppsala to study. His teacher in Uppsala was director musices Johann Christian Friedrich Hæffner, but the teaching was very sporadic. Of great importance for Lindblad was Atterbom’s introduction of him to the widow of a colonel, Malla Silfverstolpe. It was at her home that he met author and composer, Erik Gustaf Geijer and the families that were included in this circle of friends. His friendships with members of the Uppsala circle lasted throughout his life.

Adolf Fredrik Lindblad. Painting by C. P. Mazer.

In 1824 Lindblad, together with Geijer, published a collection of songs using Atterbom’s texts from his play Lycksalighetens ö. The song collection became popular, largely due to the fact that Swedish music was published very sparingly, and Lindblad became known thereafter as a composer. Through her contacts with the royal court, Malla Silfverstolpe managed to obtain some financial help for Lindblad to take a study trip through Germany and down to Berlin.

Between 1825 and the spring of 1827 Lindblad stayed in Berlin, studying composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter, piano under Ludwig Berger and methods in piano playing with the then very popular Johann Bernhard Logier. His method was comprised of parallel studies in harmony with group lessons in piano playing. Through friends he met at Malla Silfverstolpe’s salons Lindblad came into contact with the Mendelssohn family and he became close friends with Felix Mendelssohn, a friendship that lasted until Mendelssohn’s death. Thanks to his stay in Berlin and his acquaintance with Felix Mendelssohn, Lindblad made many valuable contacts within Germany’s music circles. Together with the salon hostess Amalia von Hedvig as translator, Lindblad completed his own first publication in 1826, Der Nordensaal. It was dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn and consisted of Swedish popular folk songs in which Lindblad skilfully captured the texts in the piano accompaniments.

Returning to Sweden he married Sophie Kernell in the spring of 1828 and through her family he gained a contact network that was of great importance. The minister for the wedding ceremony was Sophie’s brother-in-law, Christian Stenhammar – married to her sister Ann-Charlotte. Of note is that Christian and Ann-Charlotte Stenhammar were grandparents to the composer Wilhelm Stenhammar. Their contact with relatives and friends in the eastern Swedish region of Östergötland remained active over the years. Lindblad and Sophie Kernell had three children, Lotten, who married the farmer and author, Urban von Feilitzen, Per Lindblad who held the ranks of major and captain in the Svea artillery regiment, and Malla whose married name was Grandinson.

Lindblad in Stockholm 1827−1864

In the autumn of 1827 Lindblad was back in Stockholm where he founded a music institute, which he ran until 1861 when he sold it to one of his students, Ivar Hallström. During Lindblad’s years in Stockholm the music scene slowly shifted from one based on private initiatives within the world of salons, to a more public music life that gradually began to grow starting in the middle of the 1850s. Through contacts in Berlin and Stockholm, Lindblad had students that came from social circles centred around the royal family from the beginning of his teaching career. He was both a teacher for Crown Prince Oscar and later the Prince’s children – including Prince Gustaf and Princess Eugénie. He retained the teaching job for the royal household until 1851, but continued afterward to receive an honorarium. His teaching methods for keyboards combined both group and individual lessons. Composers such as Gunnar Wennerberg, Ivar Hallström and Ludvig Norman received their first composition lessons from Lindblad.

Although music life in public circles was undeveloped, the private music scene was very lively. Lindblad was involved in the Harmoniska sällskapet (the Harmonic Society) that had its heyday during the 1830s, but whose activities decreased during the 1840s. The Harmoniska sällskapet drew in a choir of around 120 members and an orchestra of circa 40 members, who were reinforced by musicians from the Hovkapellet (the Royal Court Orchestra). They gave several concerts every year with both choral and orchestral works on the program. Lindblad also took part in Joseph Mazer’s string quartet evenings, held at his home on the street Västerlånggatan in Stockholm and on the nearby island of Djurgården during the summers. Lindblad took part in a great number of private salons, and after 1840 he participated primarily in salons he hosted himself.

The 1830s were marked by intense activity at the music school, teaching at the court, spending time with friends and composing. During this decade he composed his first song collections as well as his first symphony (in C major), which premiered in its entirety in 1832 and was reviewed by Geijer, who maintained that Lindblad had composed with ‘genius of the heart’. The historical sångspel (songs interspersed with spoken dialogue, like the German Singspiel), Frondörerna (1835) was composed at the request of Crown Prince Oscar. The work had performances at the Kungliga Teatern (the Royal Opera) in the spring of 1835, however, with its spoken dialogue, it met with a cool reception. After revisions the work was performed again in the spring of 1836, now with Jenny Lind in a leading role, and her participation meant that the work had a better reception. Lindblad made some new attempts to write opera. Almqvist wrote the libretto for ‘Den blåa fanan’ and a few years later, Fredrika Bremer wrote the libretto to ‘Blenda’ for him, but neither of these projects were completed.

During the 1830s Lindblad composed chamber music, including one of his two string quintets and one of his two violin sonatas. None of his ten extant string quartets (two unfinished) were dated, so it is uncertain which of them were composed during these years, but the first two string quartets can, for stylistic reasons, safely be placed within his first years in Stockholm.

In the spring of 1828 Lindblad was employed as a teacher at the newly established Nya Elementarskolan (the New Secondary School) in Stockholm. Even though he remained there only for a short time between 1828 and 1833, he became acquainted with Carl Jonas Love Almqvist and during the 1830s they socialized intensively. Lindblad read Almqvist’s texts that were later published in Törnrosens bok and unlike friends from Uppsala, he discovered that Almqvist was a ‘genius’.

Lindblad’s greatest successes during the 1830s came with his song collections. He wrote his own texts for most of the songs and several are still known today: ‘En ung flickas morgonbetraktelse’, ‘Nära’, ‘Sotargossen’, ‘Skjutsgossen’, ‘En sommarmorgon’. The song for men’s quartet ‘En sommarafton’ (1836) became better known as the choir song, ‘Över skogen, över sjön’ from the choral work, Om vinterqväll (1845).

Lindblad was elected to Kungl.Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music) in 1831, as member no. 265.

The years around end of the 1830s were filled with lively events. Geijer made his ‘defection’ during 1837−38 changing his political leanings from conservative to liberal. Simultaneously Atterbom published a collection of poems, Samlade dikter (1837−38) that were written during the 1810s and thus stood on the conservative side. Lindblad stood right in between his friends. There was never any open conflict but Lindblad showed his sympathy and friendship to Atterbom by setting some of his poems to music under the title Svenska Visor af Atterbom Componerade för Sång och Piano och Skalden tillägnade (Swedish song by Atterbom composed for voice and piano and dedicated to the poet). Meanwhile Almqvist became more liberal, and his publication of the short story Det går an – in which he advocated for woman's legal rights, and his involvement in the liberal newspaper Aftonbladet, caused the friendship between Lindblad and Almqvist to cool.

From the end of the 1830s, Lindblad reached a highpoint in his composing and teaching in Stockholm. In 1839 he moved into the Bondeska palatset (the Bonde Palace, near what is now Rosenbad – the Swedish Prime Minister’s official residence), with a view over the waterway, Strömmen, looking out toward the royal palace. His apartment was large, and he had several musical instruments with which he taught group lessons. He often hosted salons in the evenings, with invited guests, music and socializing. His close friends now included the author Fredrika Bremer and those people she surrounded herself with.

In the spring of 1836, the singer Jenny Lind performed as Georgette in Lindblad’s historical sångspel, Frondörerna. This was the beginning of a life long and complicated friendship between the Lindblad family and Jenny Lind. She was a student at the Kungliga Teatern and enthusiasm for her singing grew during the last years of the 1830s. After a conflict with her family in December 1839, she moved into the Lindblads’ home. She was received as a child of the household and stayed until the autumn of 1843, with the exception of a stay in Paris during 1841−42. Her stay in the Lindblad’s home slowly developed into a disaster when Lindblad felt he had have fallen in love with her. In the summer of 1843, the drama culminated and she moved out in the autumn.

Jenny Lind (1820-1887) stayed for a few years in her youth with the Lindblad family. The years at the Lindblad's meant a great deal to her musical and cultural development.

In two more song collections, of which the fifth came out in December 1840 and the sixth was published in December 1844, Lindblad touches on his relationship with Jenny Lind. Popular songs from these collections include ‘Måntro? Jo, jo!’ and ‘En sommardag’ from the fifth collection, while in the sixth collection Lindblad gave his feelings a more artistic expression in, for example, ‘Hjertats vaggsång’ (Lulluby of the heart), ‘Den Skeppsbrutne’ (The Castaway) and ‘Till Sophie’ (For Sophie). The sixth collection garnered a critical, if not to say devastatingly mean, reception by Swedish reviewers. Thanks to Lindblad’s friend, Carl August Dohrn in Stettin, the songs were sent to the composer Ludwig Spohr in Germany who accentuated the originality of the forms and melodies and suggested that they be translated and published in Germany. During the 1830s, Dohrn had already begun publishing Lindblad’s songs in Germany and they were well known – not least of all during the 1840s when Jenny Lind often sang them.

After the battle with the press in 1845, Lindblad’s life changed. His composing virtually ceased, his lease at the Bondeska palatset was not renewed, and he then moved to an apartment on the street Drottninggatan. His wife was ill for long periods from the middle of the 1840s to the beginning of the 1860s, and he became less enthusiastic about teaching in the music school. His social circle also changed between the years 1847 and 1866. In 1847 his close friend Geijer died, Atterbom died in 1855, Malla Silfverstolpe – who died in 1861 – had aged, and trips to Uppsala became few and far between. Fredrika Bremer died in 1865. Almqvist was in America during the 1850s, and with the news of his death in 1866, Lindblad wrote in a letter: ‘Almqvist dead!!! […] What feelings, what memories do not transverse through my being at this moment!!! No I alone am the only one of them left, those who I lived together with and those from whom I have taken lasting impressions.’

After the 1850s his friends in Stockholm became more important; Lindblad sometimes took part in salons in the royal household and in the palace of the Norwegian ministers, where the Due family hosted salons. His friends still belonged to the world of private salons, including one or the other from the Hovkapellet, participating musicians from the Mazer quartet society – in whose circles his friend and customs official, Jonas Falkenholm was central, and those from Fredrika Bremer’s circle were of great significance as were the friends from the fragmented Uppsala group.

The public musical life in Stockholm grew gradually and one of Lindblad's former pupils, Ludvig Norman, came to have a prominent position. Around 1845 Lindblad put together and composed a new choral work, Om Vinterqväll or Gammalt och nytt − the latter was the work’s first title. The choral work was performed by the Harmoniska sällskapet in Stockholm in 1845. In April 1851 the choral work Drömmarne was premiered privately with a text written by Thekla Knös, an acquaintance from salons in Uppsala. A choir made up of friends associated with the royal court sang Drömmarne and the conductor was the court's singing teacher and Lindblad's friend, Isaac Berg. The first public performance was given in April 1853 at the De la Croix salon with Lindblad's daughter Lotten as the pianist.

Drömmarne, sheet music with Lindblad's autograph.

Jacopo Foroni, chief conductor at the Kungliga Teatern became an important friend during the 1850s. It is not unlikely that Foroni urged Lindblad to orchestrate Drömmarne, which was performed in 1858 in Copenhagen, in its orchestral version. After much persuasion from Foroni, Lindblad composed his second symphony in D major, which premiered in May 1855. The program had three sections; the concert began with Lindblad's symphony; songs were performed in the second section; and the third segment consisted of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. His own symphony was performed a few more times during Lindblad's lifetime, the last time at a memorial concert on 1 February 1879. Notably, symphonic music composed by Swedish composers was unusual; it was also rare that symphonic concerts were organized, which meant that audiences were not accustomed to listening to symphonic works. Today, both of his symphonies have been recorded and are performed regularly.

During the 1850s, Lindblad's commitment to the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music) increased. In advance of the reorganization of the academy’s education institution, he put forth a proposal which was more or less followed after the establishment of the new order in 1855. Lindblad’s model was likely the Musikkonservatoriet (the Music Conservatory) in Leipzig, where he had contacts through friends as well as via his regular travels on the continent.

During the 1850s and 1860s the musicians Ludvig Norman in Stockholm and Jacob Axel Josephson in Uppsala advocated for the performance of Lindblad’s music. During 1860−61 Lindblad received a lot of attention in Stockholm. Frondörerna was performed and a piano vocal score of it was published, and several other works including Drömmarne and his chamber music were performed. An anonymous writer even suggested that he be appointed as the Musikaliska akademien’s permanent secretary! But he claimed to have reached an advanced age and was not interested in participating in public musical life.

Lövingsborg 1864−78

In 1861 Lindblad leaves the Board of the musical institute he had founded in 1827 and a few years later moves with his wife to Löningsborg in Östergötland where they spend their last remaining year. (Musikverket).

In 1857 Lindblad became financially independent when he inherited a fortune from Sophie Kernell’s uncle. In 1858 Urban von Feilitzen bought, with economic help from Lindblad, the farm called Lövingsborg in Skeda parish, south of Linköping. In July 1859 his daughter Lotten and Urban von Feilitzen were married. From the end of the 1840s, Lotten had been one of the teachers helping at Lindblad’s music institute, and during the 1850s she was considered one of Stockholm's most skilled pianists. In 1864 she was elected to the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien. In 1861 Lindblad sold his music school to Ivar Hallström, and in 1864 he moved to Lövingsborg and settled in a house that was built especially for the elderly Lindblad parents, with a large music room housing two grand pianos. In this way Lindblad ended his public life within the music milieu that had evolved in Stockholm. Every autumn, spring and even a few summers he travelled to Stockholm, met his friends and listened to music. He had a great reputation as a musician and he spent time with Ludvig Norman, the Neruda siblings, and with singers and musicians at the Kungliga Teatern. His music was performed – such as the string quintet in F major which was given at a chamber music evening in De la Croix’ salon in November 1865 – and his songs were often a part of the repertoire.

At Lövingsborg Lindblad composed new songs; the song texts of Carl Wilhelm Böttiger, Edvard Bäckström and Zacharias Topelius were set to music resulting in several fine songs. One example is the ‘Nattviolen’ to a text by his son-in-law, Urban von Feilitzen. Other examples include his compositions to Heinrich Heine's texts, where he returned to his romantic style. He worked on earlier pieces and played music intensively, often together with Lotten and Urban von Feilitzen. Several friends came to visit, among them Jenny Lind, Johan Henrik af Geijerstam, Henrik Munthe, Uno Troili, and several of the friends Urban von Feilitzen and Lindblad had in common, such as the authors Thekla Knös and Böttiger.

Works

Adolf Fredrik Lindblad is a typical example of the so-called poet musician – in which the artistic ideals that characterized early Romanticism meant that both the literary and the musical genius were brought together in one person. But even if Lindblad’s creative output consists mainly of vocal music, there are also two symphonies, chamber music and one sångspel.

Vocal music and sångspel

His vocal music reflects Lindblad's life: his thoughts, social circles, his longing for beauty, and the environments in which he lived.  He composed solo songs from beginning of the 1820s until his death. The song ‘Svanhvits sång’ in the first song collection from 1824 characterises Lindblad's tonal language, where the atmosphere of the text is captured in the sounds of the melody and the accompaniment.

Lindblad composed more than 215 songs and published his first own song collection in 1836.

Among the songs that were created during the 1830s and up until 1845, and even later, he often wrote the texts himself. For the most part, the songs are directly related to his life and surroundings, for example in the songs ‘Sotargossen’, ‘Skjutsgossen’, ‘Bröllopsfärden’ and ‘En ung flickas morgonbetraktelse’. Lindblad's songs often combined depictions of nature with love poetry, as in, ‘O, ljuva sommarfläkt’ (written at the end of the 1830s), where the interpretation of the text is reminiscent of Franz Schubert’s songs. Lindblad lies close to Robert Schumann in later songs such as ‘Nattviolen’ from the 1860s and the same is true of his later song settings of texts by Heinrich Heine during the 1870s.

Lindblad's personal tonal language also characterizes the song cycles, Om Vinterqväll, which includes the famous choral piece ‘Över skogen, över sjön’, and the work, Drömmarne. In the historical sångspel, Frondörerna (1835) the tonal language is reminiscent of Mozart.

Chamber music and piano music

Lindblad's instrumental music is extensive but rarely performed. Two string quintets were composed soon after his return from Berlin to Stockholm in 1829. They have four movements, and the Viennese classical style and the followers of Beethoven linger in the background.

Five of Lindblad’s completed string quartets and one incomplete were published as late as 1911, but the numbering differs from Lindblad’s own. In addition there are namely three complete quartets and a quartet movement from 1853, all of which are included in Lindblad's numbering, which thus extends the total to ten quartets. The completed quartets have four movements and are composed according to the ideals of Viennese classicism. Beethoven and Mozart were his sources of inspiration but also early Romantic composers. His String Quartet no. 2 (B-flat major) clearly exhibits features of Felix Mendelssohn's chamber music, while the fourth string quartet (B minor) is reminiscent of Haydn’s ‘Fifths’ Quartet. The fifth and sixth string quartets (E-flat major and A-flat major, the latter missing the finale) appear to return to the Viennese classical style and Mendelssohn as role models, but one also one hears some aspects from the quartets of Rossini and Schubert. The completed string quartet in F major, which was omitted in the 1911 publication, and which was given the number five in the signed manuscript, is also complicated and contains bold modulations and technically challenging passages.

Two duets for violin and piano and a piano trio were written between 1829 and 1840 and published in Germany in 1842 and 1843. The first duet, op. 9, is dedicated to his friend Jonas Falkenholm, and has a fine interplay between the piano and the violin. Interludes of folk music are also included in the piece. The trio op. 10 dedicated to Dohrn contains the tonal language from both Viennese classicism and Rossini. The duet op. 11 was dedicated to Geijer. Both of the two duets are composed according to the four-movement practice for sonatas typical at that time.

Lindblad's keyboard music has never really been included in the repertoire of musicians, but there are gems to be found. The first two movements to a piano sonata composed in 1828, with a new dating of 1872, are preserved in manuscripts. The first movement is long and reminiscent of Schubert's piano music. During 1861−62 nine short pieces were published, and 1884 saw 25 short character pieces published that were probably composed between 1861 and 1878. Lindblad learned of Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte early on and his piano pieces are composed in the same spirit.

Symphonies

Lindblad's two symphonies were composed with 25 years in-between. The first symphony in C major premiered in its entirety in the spring of 1832 and was an impressive debut work. It has four movements and the timbre is reminiscent of German Romanticism, recalling Mendelssohn's overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, which Lindblad was well acquainted with, but it also reminds one of Carl Maria von Weber's orchestral world. Lindblad's symphony, which was printed in Leipzig in 1839, can be said to belong to the first Swedish Romantic symphonies. The second symphony (in D major) was composed under pressure from the Hovkapellet’s conductor, Jacopo Foroni, and was first performed in 1855. It has four movements and the form rests on a firm foundation of Mozart and Beethoven, while the timbre and tonal language is more reminiscent of music from Carl Maria von Weber and Mendelssohn. Only a few musicians appreciated Lindblad's symphonies during his lifetime, which could possibly be due to the relatively late entry of Romantic symphonic music onto the Swedish scene.

When summarizing Lindblad’s work, one can count him as among the foremost Swedish composers active up to the 1860s. Afterward, younger composers took over the scene. A large part of Lindblad’s vocal music rang often through the music salons of Sweden and his chamber music was played in both the salons and a few times in public concerts. His two symphonies were barely given a place in the symphonic world. Even though, for example, Ludvig Norman and Abraham Mankell realized their value, there were still more doubters. This meant that the works were only performed occasionally and then with only a single movement at a few concerts.

Eva Öhrström © 2016
Trans. Jill Ann Johnson