Copperplate by C. Forssell

Early musical activities

Olof Rudbeck was the son of bishop Johannes Rudbeck (1581−1646), who during his time as bishop in Västerås was animatedly engaged in the city’s music life. No details are known about Olof Rudbeck’s musical education during this time, but he was already known at a young age for his strong and resonant bass voice. He could also play a number of instruments. The first known occasion that bears witness to Rudbeck’s involvement in musical activities after his arrival in Uppsala in 1648 is a performance for Queen Kristina at Uppsala Castle in 1651, in which he played the shawm (a double-reeded instrument related to the modern oboe), among other things.

Cultivating music in Uppsala

During his entire time in Uppsala, Rudbeck put significant effort into improving and preserving musical activities at the university. The university’s Collegium musicum performed generally speaking for the larger feast days of the church year, for the changing of the chancellor and in conjunction with royal visits. During his first period as the university’s chancellor in 1662, Rudbeck drew up renewed by-laws for musical activities. The standards were raised through support to musically gifted students, free lessons and the purchase of both music and instruments.

Olof Rudbeck also took an active interest in the Uppsala Cathedral’s organs, seeing to repairs and new acquisitions. The organ that was purchased from Germany with the financial support of King Charles XI was not merely installed as it was, but rather, Rudbeck commissioned the construction of special technical solutions to accommodate it. Among other things, pipes were placed in the bottom of the organ’s console and the manuals stood independently relative to the rest of the organ. The instrument was destroyed in Uppsala’s great fire of 1702, but its constitution is known due to a thesis from 1717, Instrumenta musica.

Music for the Swedish hymnal and original compositions

Together with Harald Vallerius (1646−1716), likely Rudbeck’s most successful student and a music colleague at the university, Rudbeck was given the task of compiling and editing melodies with basso continuo for the first national hymnal to be published in 1695. However, the majority of this work was completed by Vallerius.

Rudbeck is known to have participated at several significant occasions as leader, soloist, musician and composer, including Axel Oxenstierna’s funeral (1654), King Charles X Gustav’s funeral (1660), Jakob August De la Gardie’s funeral (1662), the coronation of King Charles XI (1675) and the centennial celebration of 1693 (to commemorate the Uppsala Synod of 1593). Compositions by Rudbeck from two of these occasions have been preserved. They reveal a good feel for affect and the interplay between text and music, but it is also clear that Rudbeck was not an skilled composer.

Maria Schildt © 2016
Trans. Nicole Vickers