Childhood and education

Patrik Vretblad originally came from the industrial town of Svartnäs, in the region of Dalarna, where he was born on 5 April 1876. His parents were the public school teacher Per Vretblad and his wife Elisabeth Rahm. He graduated from the Falun secondary school where he had studied between 1889 and 1895.

After his education in Falun he went to Stockholm where he studied at the Kungliga Musikkonservatoriet (the Royal Conservatory of Music) between 1895 and 1900. In 1896 he completed degrees in organ performance, cantorship and music teaching, but he continued to study at the conservatory. He took lessons in piano performance from Hilda Thegerström together with composition and counterpoint from Joseph Dente between 1897 and 1900. During the summers of 1898 and 1899 Vretblad substituted for Mauritz Boheman as librarian at the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (the Royal Swedish Academy of Music).

Career

Organist

In 1900 Vretblad began working as the organist in the French Reformed church in Stockholm, however, after just one year he had the opportunity to take a study trip to Germany to train in composition. This was made possible through a government composer’s grant of 1000 Swedish crowns annually for two years, which he was awarded in 1901.

In 1909 he began to organize motet evenings together with the cantor Oscar Sandberg in Oscar's Church. Together they came to hold a total of about one hundred gatherings. The repertoire included a mix of both older and newer vocal and instrumental church music and was performed by Vretblad on organ with a choir under Sandberg’s direction. Other instrumentalists and choirs also took part in certain concerts. One of the violinists who performed in these concerts and who often concertized with Vretblad was his wife, Karin (née Bodman). Karin Vretblad was also quite a well-educated musician and had studied at the conservatory in Stockholm at the same time as Vretblad, afterwards continuing her education in Geneva. Patrik Vretblad was also a highly regarded concert organist and held a number of organ concerts in Stockholm as well as in Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki.

Civil Servant

At the same time that he began his career in music, he also began a parallel career as a civil servant, when in 1900 he took a job as a clerk at the Postverket (the Swedish Postal Service). Over the years he advanced in the organization, and in 1917 became First Postal Clerk, then in 1925 First Postal Assistant and finally Controller for the General Postal Service board of directors from 1933 to 1941. Within this administrative pathway he also worked as an accountant and secretary for the Dramatiska och musikaliska artisternas pensionskassa (Theatrical and musical artist’s pension fund) from 1915, as secretary for the Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare (the Society of Swedish Composers) from 1918 and as secretary in the Musikaliska konstföreningen (the Swedish Art Music Society) from 1933. He had become a member in the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien in 1921 and worked occasionally within the administration and the board of directors there. Beyond this Vretblad was involved in the founding of the music copyright organization, Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå or STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society).

Music author

In the spring of 1902 Karl Valentin proposed Vretblad as a substitute music reviewer for the daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, which would lead to Vretblad’s more than forty year-long career writing about music. In the autumn of 1902 he received his first job as a music critic for the newspaper Nya dagligt allehanda where he stayed until 1906. He then continued his career as music critic for the Social-demokraten 1906−08 (also 1915−16, and from 1920 onward), Svenska Dagbladet 1909−11, Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfarts-Tidnings Stockholmsavdelning 1911−13, Aftontidningen 1916−20, and more sporadically in Idun and Post- och inrikes tidningar. He became a member in the Publicistklubben (Publicist club) in 1929.

Vretblad’s contributions to musicological research were also significant, despite the fact that he lacked an academic education. His research was particularly centred on Swedish music history from the 18^th century, but also included the music of other countries. Among among his foremost publications are his biography of the composer Johan Helmich Roman (1914) and Konsertlivet i Stockholm under 1700-talet (Concert life in Stockholm during the 18^th century), published in 1918.

The composer

In addition to his work as an organist, civil servant and music writer, Vretblad was also engaged extensively as a composer. He wrote solo pieces for piano and organ, pieces for solo song and piano or organ, choral works, works for string quartet and also quite a bit for orchestra.

Several of his works follow the style of National Romanticism and draw on Swedish folk music, particularly from Vretblad's home region of Dalarna. One sees this in his Liten Dalasvit for violin, cello and piano, and also in, among others, his music for solo piano and solo song and piano. He often created different arrangements and reworked his own compositions. His interest in music history is seen as well in certain works that have clearly taken their inspiration from older music – for example the suite Från Bellmans tid as well as his arrangements and editions of music by Roman and others.

As an organist he was renowned for his organ compositions, many of which are infused with a meditative character. He arranged a significant number of his own works for organ as well as for string quartet.

Anne Reese Willén © 2016
trans. Jill Ann Johnson