Gustaf Nordqvist (1886−1949)
Gustaf Lazarus Nordqvist was born in Stockholm on 12 February 1886 and died in the same city on 28 January 1949. He was organist in Adolf Fredrik church from 1914 and a teacher of harmony at the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1924. As a composer he is best known for his many solo songs, including ‘Till havs’ and ‘Jul, jul, strålande jul’. In later years, his works drifted increasingly towards the sacred. Gustaf Nordqvist was voted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1932.
Life
Early years and education
Gustaf Lazarus Nordqvist was born into a working class Stockholm family of Baptists. His home environment does not seem to have been a musical one, but during his childhood his parents bought a harmonium and then later a piano. Although nothing is known of his early music lessons, when he was only fifteen he was enrolled at the Kungliga Musikkonservatoriet (the Royal Conservatory of Music), where he had August Lagergren as his organ teacher. After taking his organist degree in 1903, he was admitted into Lennart Lundberg’s piano class. He also studied composition for Ernst Ellberg until 1908, the same year he qualified as a precentor, but continued with Lundberg until 1910.
During his student years, Gustaf Nordqvist stood in as a church musician both for Baptist churches and for the Church of Sweden. Around 1910, he also started to earn a living as a pianist at the Röda Kvarn cinema, while enjoying early success as a composer; his first printed opus was published in 1911. The academic year of 1913/14 he spent in Berlin, where he studied composition at Stern’sches Konservatorium (now part of Hochschule der Künste) for the then widely renowned but now forgotten Czech-German composer Arthur Willner.
Organist and teacher in Stockholm
On his return to Stockholm, Nordqvist was appointed organist at Adolf Fredrik church, a position that he held from 1 May 1914 until his death. He also had a variety of teaching assignments. He was taken on as a teacher of harmony at the Sigrid Carlheim-Gyllensköld School of Music in 1922, a year later at the Richard Andersson School of Music, and the year after that at the Kungliga Musikkonservatoriet; and in 1926 was made head organ teacher at the Karl Wohlfart Institute of Music. In an interview from 1946 he speaks warmly of his interest in teaching at the conservatory and of his students’ ‘great interest and unflagging diligence’.
As a practising musician, Nordqvist was originally primarily a pianist. In his younger years, he frequently performed concerts in and beyond the capital both as a soloist and as an accompanist, in this later capacity often in the employ of public radio. He was also recognised as a talented organist, not least as an improviser during church services.
Honours and tributes
Outwardly, Gustaf Nordqvist was something of a recluse. He took no part in the animated debates in which fellow church musicians were embroiled on the subjects of musical aesthetics and organ building, and aside from co-founding the Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare (the Society of Swedish Composers) in 1919, seems to have stayed away from matters of an organisational nature. Instead, he turned his energies to the liturgy, teaching and his work as an accompanist.
Despite his hardly fashionable compositional style, he was generally respected and liked by colleagues and critics alike. Of this he needed little reminding: in 1932 he was elected into the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music); in 1935 he was awarded the Litteris et artibus medal; and in 1944 he was conferred the title of professor. A radio concert dedicated to his works was held to mark his 60th birthday, with the composer himself as solo organist and accompanist. A birthday announcement in the newspapers states that he was not one of ‘the most controversial of Swedish composers. The hallmark of his nature is modesty, which also shapes his art’.
Works
Gustaf Nordqvist consistently cultivated small format compositions, both as regards setting and playing time (with the exception of a few cantatas). His fame largely rests on his solo songs and some sacred choral songs, while his instrumental output was relatively modest and is today rarely performed.
Instrumental music
Nordqvist composed only two works in the classical multi-movement format: an early piano sonata and a violin sonata from 1916. There is also the partly pastiche-esque Suite from 1916, some of the movements of which recall the dance forms of the baroque era.
Otherwise, his instrumental works are dominated by short character pieces for piano, most of which were published as collections. Three Piano Pieces from 1912 is somewhat experimental in form, while Poetiska tonbilder from 1915 belongs more to the salon. In Strödda blad and Om sommaren sköna, Nordqvist explores the miniature format, while some of the latter works manifest a ‘modernised’ harmonic style with impressionistic tendencies and hints of bitonality. In Two Preludes (‘funèbre’ and ‘pathétique’) from 1934, the last piano works published during his lifetime, Nordqvist returns to his ‘normal’ late-romantic idiom. A humorous vein reveals itself in the late Scherzando, in which an introduction echoing ‘Bryllupet på Troldhaugen’ leads into a kind of fantasy on the principal motif in ‘Borgmästar Munthe’.
Nordqvist’s organ output includes, apart from three early ‘pieces for liturgical use’, only two works, both organ chorales, composed in 1945 and performed for the first time at the above-mentioned radio concert on 11 February 1946; they might be seen as examples of the preludatory art that the composer practised every Sunday.
Songs
While Nordqvist composed his first romance back in 1904, his public debut as a composer came in 1911 with his Six Songs to lyrics by different authors. Here there are features that characterise his output as a whole: a lyrical melodic line with prosodic rhythms and phrasing, an expressive yet largely traditional harmonic structure, and a keyboard-friendly piano part, which would, however, eventually develop a much greater wealth of nuance in later works, in which the youthful pathos that marked some of his earlier works yields to a more fastidious touch, sometimes with a melody inspired by folk song. Unlike many of his peers, he did not let himself drift with either the modernist or the new-objectivist archaising currents, ignoring for a moment the impressionistic aesthetic inherent to some of his songs. An unusual inclusion in his otherwise rather solemn oeuvre is the collection of nursery songs Nisse Blad and other songs.
All of Nordqvist’s songs are notated for solo voice and piano. And while he did arrange a handful of his songs for orchestra − most famously ‘Till havs’ one might venture − he composed no genuine orchestral songs. He also transcribed some of his songs for mixed choir, notable amongst them being perhaps the most frequently sung of his compositions, ‘Jul, jul, strålande jul’.
Gustaf Nordqvist was a voracious consumer of contemporary poetry and he selected his texts with care; it is not for nothing that he titled one of his song collections simply Lyrik. A host of mutually idiosyncratic poets are represented in his output, and while he seems to have favoured none of them in particular, Bo Bergman is a name that often crops up, with one of the early song collections being dedicated solely to his poetry. Nordqvist’s first album of sacred songs, Two Spiritual Songs, was published already in 1917, but it was not until the 1930s that the ‘sacred romances’ (Hedwall) came to dominate his work. The lyrics of these songs were mainly borrowed from contemporary religious poems, although he did sometimes have recourse to the hymnal, such as for ‘Kommen till en Fader åter’, or the Bible itself, particularly the Book of Psalms.
Gustaf Nordqvist’s drift towards the spiritual song coincided with the preparations for the Church of Sweden’s new hymnbook (1937), to which he ended up contributing only one work, the frequently sung ‘Jesus från Nasaret’, which, written to lyrics by the young Anders Frostenson, is one of Nordqvist’s most sanguine and optimistic spiritual compositions. Stylistically, the sacred works differ little from the ‘profane’, although the accompaniment tends to be somewhat simpler in texture, and some of the songs, such as ‘David’s 23rd psalm’ he explicitly states as playable on organ or piano. Otherwise he seems to take for granted that the sacred songs will be sung to piano, something that caused some doubt as to whether they were suitable for performing in a church. The composer himself appears to have been untroubled by this, and often accompanied his songs on his church organ without trying to make them more ‘organ-like’.
Choral works
Gustaf Nordqvist composed four cantatas (all of them unprinted), one for the Gothenburg World Fair in 1923, another for the 150th anniversary of Adolf Fredrik church in 1924, and the remaining two for more unexpected purposes: the 25th anniversary of the Medelpad’s public choral society and a local culture society in Stöde (also in Medelpad). It might come as no surprise that his wife came from this very same province.
The rest of his choral output is dominated by sacred compositions for mixed choir, many with organ accompaniment; ‘Skåden liljorna’ to words taken from the Sermon on the Mount is the most commonly performed of these songs today. ‘Lovsång’, with lyrics by Nils Bolander, is a genuine song of praise, a tone that is by and large lacking in his solo songs. Many of his other songs for mixed choir are slightly pompous in character, with titles such as ‘Sångarvakt’ and ‘Till Sverige’, while others are more pastoral: ‘Vårlåt’, to lyrics by Erik Axel Karlfeldt, for example, singularly combines the dactyl metres of the jaunty walking song with Nordqvist-esque harmonic refinement.
Sverker Jullander © 2015
Trans. Neil Betteridge
Bibliography
Connor, Herbert: Svensk musik, bd 2, Från Midsommarvaka till Aniara, Stockholm: Bonniers, 1977.
Edholm, Dag: S:ta Cecilias tjänare − om kyrkomusikens utövare i Stockholm under fem århundraden, Stockholm: Edvard Vincents orgelstiftelse, 2002.
'Gustaf Nordqvist', i: Musikvärlden, vol. 2, no. 2, 1946.
Hedwall, Lennart: 'Gustaf Nordqvist 1886−1986', in: Musikrevy, vol. 41, no. 3, 1986.
Hedwall, Lennart: 'Gustaf L Nordqvist', in: Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, vol. 27, 1990.
Hedwall, Lennart: 'Nordqvist, Gustaf', in: Sohlmans musiklexikon, vol. 4, 1977.
Malmberg, H: '60-års-intervju med Gustaf Nordqvist", in: Röster i radio, no. 7, 1946.
Seymer, William: 'Nordqvist, Gustaf', in: Svenska män och kvinnor, vol. 5, Stockholm: Bonniers, 1949.
Svedlund, Karl-Erik: De sågo himmelen öppen, Stockholm: Normans, 1966.
Tollin, D.: 'Gustaf Nordqvist in memoriam', in: Svenska Dagbladet 6/2 1949.
Waldenby, Michael: Människor, myter och musik: Senromantikens inflytande på kyrkomusikens utveckling i Stockholm under 1900-talet, Stockholm: Verbum, 2002.
Wallner, Bo: 'Nordqvist, Gustaf', in: Sohlmans musiklexikon, vol. 3, 1951.
Summary list of works
Chamber music (violin sonata), piano works (sonata, suites, etc.), organ works, songs, choral works (4 cantatas etc.).
Collected works
Cantatas
Kantat till jubileumsutställningen i Göteborg 1923 (Anders Österling), 1923. From this Löftets sång, for male choir.
Kantat till Adolf Fredriks kyrkas 150-årsjubileum den 30 november 1924 (Oscar Mannström) for soli, mixed choir, children's choir and organ, 1924. From this När klockorna ringa till ottesång, for children's choir in De ungas hymnarium, 1935.
Kantat till Medelpads allmänna körförbunds 25-årsjubileum, 1928.
Kantat till Stöde hembygdsförening.
Chamber music
Sonata for violin and piano in D minor, 1916.
Piano
Sonata for piano in D major, op. 1, 1905.
Three piano pieces. Publ. 1912. 1. Legend, 2. Barcarolle, 3. Scherzo.
Poetiska tonbilder. Publ. 1915. 1. En saga, 2. En sommardag, 3. I folkton, 4. Sorgesång, 5. Humoresk. [Sorgesång also publ. with the title Sorg i Organistens favorit-album, book 1, 1916.]
Valse grotesque, 1915. Publ. 1915.
Suite for piano, 1916. Publ. 1916. 1. Preludium, 2. Menuett, 3. Intermezzo tragico, 4. Gavotte. [Instrumented for orchestra by Albert Henneberg, STIM, n.d.]
Strödda blad, 1917−18. Publ. 1918. 1. Morgonstämning, 2. Klockorna, 3. Solregn, 4. Skogstroll, 5. Visa, 6. Skymningston, 7. Dansmelodi.
Valse d’amour, 1923. Publ. 1923.
Om sommaren sköna, book 1. Publ. 1924. 1. Gånglåt, 2. Solregn, 3. Stilla afton, 4. Det var en gång, 5. Bröllopståg, 6. Klockorna ringa, 7. Visa i moll, 8. Allmogedans, 9. Serenad, 10. På sjön.
Om sommaren sköna, book 2. Publ. 1932. 1. Sommarkväll, 2. Herdesång, 3. Lustig lek, 4. Melodi i folkton, 5. Gycklaren, 6. Vid fäbodvallen, 7. Det lider mot höst.
Two preludes. Publ. 1934. 1. Prélude funébre, 2. Prélude pathétique.
Elegie (to Kurt Atterberg's 50th birthday), 1937.
Svenskt festspel fo piano, 1938?. [Also arranged for orchestra by Tor Mann, 1941.]
Lyriskt poem. Publ. 1949.
Scherzando (Humoresk). In Pianolyrik, 1949.
Two fantasies for piano. 1. Fantasia elegiaca, 2. Fantasia festivo.
Organ
Feststycke, in: Favoritalbum för orgelharmonium, 1912.
Two preludes, in: Organistens favorit-album, häfte 2, 1916.
Feststycke, C major, in: Favorit-marscher för orgel, u.å.
Two organ chorales, 1945. Publ. 1946. 1. O du min ädla skatt, 2. I himmelen
Solo songs
Barnesang (unknown author), 1904. Publ. 1946.
Lindagulls krona (Bertel Gripenberg), 1908. Publ. 1913. [Also arranged for song and orchestra by Albert Henneberg, STIM, n.d.]
Sex sånger, 1908−11. Publ. 1911. 1. Dalbolåt (Viktor Myrén), 2. Drivsnö (Bertel Gripenberg), 3. Hon och döden (Oscar Levertin), 4. Vildfågel lilla (Olof Bruno), 5. En skymningens visa (Bengt E. Nyström), 6. Tag vingar (‘r’). [Drivsnö och Hon och döden also arranged for song and orchestra, the latter by Ivar Hellman, STIM, n.d.]
Himfys kärlekssånger (Johan Ludvig Runeberg), 1908−13. Publ. 1913. 1. Dagar komma, dagar ser jag lykta, 2. Såsom hjorten, nådd av pilen, 3. Svalan flyktar, löven falla, 4. Hennes ljuva röst mig rörde.
Four songs, 1908−13. Publ. 1915. 1. Så kom du (Bertel Gripenberg), 2. Lillebarn (Bo Bergman), 3. Jag hör en stämma så känd och kär (Hans Larsson), 4. Vid dammen (Bertel Gripenberg). [Lillebarn arranged for song and orchestra song by Åke Uddén, STIM, n.d.]
Four poems from ‘Till Afrodite’ (Jane Gernandt-Claire), 1910−13. Publ. 1913. 1. Junidagen lekte, 2. Vida, vilande majnatt, 3. Det stiger en bölja, 4. En glädje jag gick att möta.
Ingrid sjunger i klostret (Jane Gernandt-Claire), 1913. Publ. 1913.
Serenad (F. Vetterlund), 1913. Publ. 1913.
Fosterlandshymn (Johan Ludvig Runeberg), 1915. Publ. 1915. Also for mixed chor and male choir male choir.
Sången om Dalsland (Viktor Myrén), 1916. Publ. 1916.
Songs and ballads, books 1−2, 1916. Publ. 1916. 1. Hav tack (Jakob Tegengren), 2. Visa: Solblind jag andas (Tegengren), 3. Kunde jag dikta en visa (Arvid Mörne), 4. Nya stjärnor (Bertel Gripenberg), 5. Av rosor röda (Astrid Gullstrand), 6. Slåttervisa (Viktor Myrén). [Ballad also arranged for song and orchestra by A. Malm.]
Sol över Sverige (Osvald Sirén), 1917. Publ. 1917.
Two spiritual songs, 1917. Publ. 1917. 1. Bön (Arne Garborg), 2. Åkallan (Amalia Björk).
Lyrik, seven songs. 1. Melodi (Bo Bergman), 2. Visa i folkton (Arne Garborg), 3. Bön (Anders Österling), 4. Stolts Gullevi (Gottfrid Kallstenius), 5. Gammal sorg (Anders Österling), 6. Ödesvisan (Bo Bergman), 7. Sjömanssång (Gustaf Ullman), 1917. Publ. 1917. [Bön, Gammal sorg, and Sjömanssång also arranged for song and orchestra. STIM, n.d. Bön also arranged for violin and piano by Sven Karpe. Publ. 1938.]
En sommarmelodi (Nils-Magnus Folcke), 1917. Publ. 1917.
Three poems (L. Holstein), 1917−18. Publ. 1918. 1. Kys mig paa 0jnene, 2. Sol, 3. I aften, 4. Morgensang.
Moder Sverige (Gustaf Ullman), 1918. Publ. 1918.
Four poems (Gustaf Ullman), 1918. Publ. 1918. 1. Rödaste guld, 2. Gammal bonde, 3. En runa, 4. Den gyllene stunden.
From Flora och Bellona (E.A. Karlfeldt), 1918. Publ. 1918. 1. Om våren, 2. Spinnerskan, 3. Mikael.
Julsång: Gläns över sjö och strand (Viktor Rydberg), 1918. Publ. 1919.
Norrland (Daniel Fallström), 1919. Publ. 1919.
Four poems (Verner von Heidenstam), 1919. Publ. 1919. 1. Jutta kommer till Folkungarna, 2. Tankens duva, 3. Sommarljuset, 4. Gycklare. [Jutta kommer till Folkungarna also arranged for song and organ by Ivar Hellman, STIM, n.d.]
Kvällsvisa (T. Rangström), 1920. Publ. 1921.
Vid källan (Bertel Gripenberg), 1920. Publ. 1921.
Pulsarna sjunga (Jarl Hemmer), 1920. Publ. 1921.
Five ballads, 1918−21. Publ. 1921. Över granarnas kronor (O. Levertin), Varfor (S. Selander), Vårvisa (K.-E. Forsslund), Vinden blåser (Ullman), Det var en gång (S. Selander).
Four lyrical songs, 1921. Publ. 1921. 1. Det är vackrast när det skymmer (Pär Lagerkvist), 2. Mot alla stjärnor spanar (Vilhelm Ekelund), 3. Fiolens sång (ur Bäckahästen av Anders Österling), 4. Var stilla, hjärta (Erik Blomberg), 5. Aftonsång (Zacharias Topelius). [Also in Fru Musica, vol. 2.]
Jul, jul, strålande jul (E. Evers), 1921. Publ. 1921. [Also for mixed choir. Publ. 1940. Also for male choir. Publ. 1943.]
Five songs, 1920−22. Publ. 1922. 1. Bygg dig en värld (Anders Österling), 2. En vit viol (Bengt E. Nyström), 3. En vårrefräng (Anders Österling), 4. Sista strålen (Tor Hedberg), 5. Drömmarna (Jonatan Reuter).
Two autumn poems (Alf Ahlberg), 1922. Publ. 1922. 1. Stor är sorgens sal, 2. Fick jag väl ofta i mörker gå.
Three songs, 1922. Publ. 1922. 1. Sipporna (K.G. Ossiannilsson), 2. Jag ville vara tårar (E. Blomberg), 3. Till havs (Reuter). [Till havs also arranged for song and orchestra.]
Prinsessan (Wilhelm Hagqvist).
Sång till Stockholm (Gabriel Jönsson), 1923. Publ. 1923. [Also for male choir.]
Sång till Sverige (A.T. Gellerstedt), 1923. Publ. 1923. [Also for male choir. Publ. 1938.]
Three spiritual songs, 1922−24. Publ. 1924. 1. Herre, jeg takker dig (Andreas Munck), 2. Vart än det bär (O. Mannström), 3. Lovsång (J.O. Wallin).
Kommen till en Fader åter (J.O. Wallin), 1925. Publ. 1925. [Also arranged for mixed choir by Karl-Erik Svedlund. Publ. 1945.]
Vindros (Sigfrid Siwertz). Utg 1926?. 1. Vid fjällsjön, 2. Gläntan, 3. Vindros.
I juletid (Paul Nilsson). Publ. 1927. [Also for mixed choir.]
Two ballads in folk tone (K.A. Melin). Publ. 1928?. 1. Om sommaren, 2. Innan det skymmer.
Lycka ske landet (F. Nycander), 1929. Publ. 1929. [Also for mixed choir. Publ. 1930. Also for male choir. Publ. 1945.]
Dryaden (Anders Österling), 1930. Publ. 1931. 1. Nu skall hos mig, 2. Den forsta gråt, 3. Du som bland jasminer. [Also arranged for song and orchestra.]
Ny dag (Verner von Heidenstam), 1931. Publ. 1931.
Sångararvet (Edwin Andrén). Publ. 1931.
Jorden, four songs (Erik Blomberg), 1924−32. Publ. 1932. 1. Människans hem, 2. Dyningen, 3. Äppelträd och päronträd, 4. Stjärnorna äro så stilla.
Psalm and song. Publ. 1934. 1. Davids 23:e psalm, 2. Paradisets blomma (Sigurd Dahllöf), 3. Ro, ro (Augustin Kock), 4. Vi vänta väl alla (Augustin Kock). [Davids 23:e psalm also arranged for mixed choir by Karl-Erik Svedlund.]
Three Fröding poems (Gustaf Fröding), 1932−35. Publ. 1935. 1. Ingalill, 2. Det borde varit stjärnor, 3. En vintervisa.
Hjärtat sjunger, four songs, 1918, 1935. Publ. 1938. 1. Hjärtats sommar (Jakob Tegengren), 2. Kväll i skogen (Oscar Levertin), 3. Sjung, mitt hjärta (Thor Cnattingius), 4. Hjärtat (Bo Bergman). [Also arranged for song and orchestra by Ivar Hellman, STIM, n.d.]
Two religious songs (Jakob Tegengren), 1935. Publ. 1936. 1. Kanske finge du ro, 2. Som hjorten på den torra hed.
Undret (Verner von Heidenstam), 1935. Publ. 1948.
Vi äro landet (Nycander), 1935. Publ. 1935. [Also for mixed choir and male choir.]
Psaltare och lyra, four songs, 1920, 1936. Publ. 1937. 1. Psaltare och lyra (E.A. Karlfeldt), 2. Det spirar i Guds örtagård (Sam Gabrielsson), 3. Renhetens ande (Joel Rundt), 4. Bygg ditt hus på evighetens strand (Jarl Hemmer). [Psaltare och lyra and Det spirar i Guds örtagård also arranged for mixed choir and organ by Anders Öhrwall. Publ. 1986.]
Facklor i stormen (Anders Österling), 1936. Utg 1937. 1. Facklor i stormen, 2. Över dina händer lutad, 3. Ungdomens ögon, 4. Sången. [Also arranged for song and orchestra by Albert Henneberg, STIM, n.d.]
Där tvenne hjärtan älska (Hjalmar Lundgren) 1936. Publ. 1949.
Det lyser en stjärna i natten (N. Hildestrand). In: Svensk romanssång, 1937.
Three Bo Bergman poems, 1937. Publ. 1941. 1. Kärleken är en rosenlund, 2. Jag hörde din röst, 3. Jordens önskan.
Jesus från Nasaret (Anders Frostenson). Publ. 1937. [No. 48 in Den svenska koralboken 1939.]
Min moder (Zacharias Topelius), 1937. Publ. 1945.
Mot ljuset, four spiritual songs, 1938. Publ. 1939. 1. Träd ut i ljuset (Bengt E. Nyström), 2. Ack, saliga, saliga (Harriet Löwenhjelm), 3. Var är den vän (J.O. Wallin), 4. Hymn (Jakob Tegengren). [Ack, saliga, saliga also arranged for mixed choir by Karl-Erik Svedlund. Also for male choir.]
Bisp Thomas Frihetssång, 1939. Publ. 1944. [Also arranged for male choir, for song and orchestra and for song and wind orchestra by Ivar Widner.]
Det eviga, five spiritual songs, 1939−40. Publ. 1940. 1. Det eviga (Esaias Tegnér), 2. Herre, hur dig världen hädat (Ragnar Jändel), 3. Låt mig leva en liten tid (Zacharias Topelius), 4. Mästare, alla söka dig (Emil Liedgren), 5. Herre, djupen ropa dig (Sven Lidman).
Bön i ofredstid (Nils Personne), 1941. Publ. 1942. [Also arranged for song and orchestra by Ivar Hellman, STIM, n.d.]
Nu är advent (E.N. Söderberg), 1941. Publ. 1941.
Jordevandrarens pilgrimsdröm (Verner von Heidenstam), 1941. Publ. 1941.
Slut samman mina händer (Ester Forssén), 1942. Publ. 1942.
From ‘Lilja’ (Eystein Asgrimson), 1942. Publ. 1942. 1. Du gode milde fader, 2. Hel! vare korset.
Bröllopshymn (J.A. Eklund), 1943. Publ. 1943.
Men jag hörde en sång (Dan Andersson) 1943. Publ. 1943. [Also arranged for male choir by Karl-Erik Svedlund.]
Sov (Olof Thunman). Publ. 1943. [Also arranged for song and orchestra by Sven Sköld, STIM, n.d.]
Tre Davids psalmer, 1943. Publ. 1946. 1. Gud var mig nådig, 2. Allenast i Gud finner min själ sin ro, 3. Barmhärtig och nådig är Herren. [Allenast i Gud also arranged for mixed choir and organ by Anders Öhrwall. Publ. 1986.]
Nisse Blad and other songs, ten children’s songs (Astrid Forssell-Gullstrand), 1944. Publ. 1945.
Violer (B. Lie). Publ. 1945.
Two songs (E. Blomberg), 1945. Publ. 1946. 1. Nattens ögon, 2. Lärkan.
Varde ljus, four spiritual songs, 1942, 1945. Publ. 1946. 1. Varde ljus (Bruno Nylander), 2. Somnar jag in med blicken fäst (Jakob Tegengren), 3. Vida, vida (Astrid Forssell-Gullstrand), Aftonbön (Karin Boye).
Herre, Du skall tala (Nils Bolander), 1946. Publ. 1947.
Det är något bortom bergen, tre sånger, 1946. Publ. 1947. 1. Det är något bortom bergen (Dan Andersson), 2. Vi människor (Verner von Heidenstam), 3. Bortom berg och mörka vatten (Hjalmar Gullberg).
Livets forklaringar (Fredrik Nycander), 1947. Publ. 1948.
Stig, o stig på eldens vingar (Bengt E. Nyström), 1947. Publ. 1948.
Smålandssången (L. Andrén). N.d.
Choral works
Bed att det dagas (Zacharias Topelius) for mixed choir, solo and organ, 1944. Publ. 1945.
Bön om frid (Johan Ludvig Runeberg) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d. [Also in Laudamus.]
De som älska (A. Ekberg) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d. [Also in Hembygdskören.]
Ditt ord, o Jesu, bliva må (J.O. Wallin) for mixed choir. Publ. 1947.
Herre Jesu, du är vägen (Edvard Evers) for mixed choir with organ. In: De ungas hymnarium, 1935.
Hur är ditt namn, o Gud, så stort (Johan Ludvig Runeberg) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d. [Also in Laudamus.]
Jungfrun i det gröna (Bernhard Elis Malmström) for mixed choir, 1948. Publ. n.d.
Liljekonvaljer (Paul Nilsson) for mixed choir, 1939. Publ. n.d.
Lovsång (Nils Bolander) for mixed choir and organ. Publ. n.d.
Mig törstar (Pontus Wikner) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d.
Mitt folk (Viktor Rydberg) for mixed choir. Publ. 1952. [Also for male choir. Publ. n.d.]
Sjung dina visor, skymning (A. Nordgren) for male choir, 1939. Publ. n.d.
Skåden liljorna (bibeltext) for mixed choir and organ, 1945. Publ. n.d.
Sommarvisa (E.N. Söderberg) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d.
Stora har ju skor och tycker man ska skratta (Sten Hagliden) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d.
Stort är ett liv (Harry Blomberg) for mixed choir and organ. Publ. 1942.
Sveriges folk (Ludvig Nordström) for male choir. Publ. n.d.
Sång, vår sång (Ture Rangström) for mixed choir, 1932. Publ. n.d.
Sångarvakt (Fredrik Nycander) for mixed choir. Publ. 1926.
Sångens andar (Bo Bergman) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d.
Till Sverige (Paul Nilsson) for mixed choir. Publ. 1952. [Also for male choir.]
Till sången (E.V. Knape) for mixed choir. Publ. n.d.
Vinterlandet, drömmarlandet (Gunnar Mascoll Silfverstolpe) for male choir.
Vårlåt (Erik Axel Karlfeldt), for mixed choir. In: Läroverkskören, 1936.
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