Sven-Eric Johanson


Sven Eric Emanuel Johanson was a Swedish composer and organist.

Biography

Sven-Eric Johanson was born to Hjalmar and Beda Johanson in Västervik in 1919. The parents were both officers in the Salvation Army, but in 1926 Hjalmar became a pastor in Missionsförbundet instead. He began his formal music studies in 1938 at the Ingesund College of Music and was accepted to the Royal College of Music, Stockholm in 1939.
During his time as a student in Stockholm, Johanson studied composition with Melcher Melchers and organ with Otto Olsson and Alf Linder. In 1944 Johansson became the director of music at Uppsala Missionskyrka. In the 1940s Johanson studied Ernst Krenek's book on the twelve-tone technique and employed it in his 1949 Sinfonia ostinata.
In 1952 he became the organist at Hagens kapell in Gothenborg, a position he held until 1977.
He was a founding member of The Monday Group. In 1971 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
He is buried on the Stampen cemetery in Gothenburg.

Works

Johanson wrote twelve symphonies and several operas. He composed a number of concertos, some for unusual instruments like balalaika and nyckelharpa. He was a prolific composer of choir music.
He has written a hymn in the 1986 Swedish Hymnal, no. 214a, Lär mig att bedja av hjärtat.

Selected works

Works for orchestra and chamber ensemble

  • Sinfonia ostinata, symphony no. 1, 1949/54
  • Sinfonia elegiaca, symphony no. 2B, 1654-1955
  • Symfoni no. 3, 1956
  • Konsert för balalajka och stråkorkester, 1961
  • Variationer över en värmländsk orrlåt, 1963
  • Elementsymfonin, symphony no. 5, 1965–68
  • Concerto Gotenburghese, piano concerto, 1970
  • Konsert för nyckelharpa och stråkorkester, 1971
  • Sinfonietta pastorella, symphony no. 6, 1972
  • Spelmanssymfoni för stråkorkester, symphony no. 7, 1974
  • En Frödingsymfoni för solister, kör och orkester, symphony no. 8, 1983–84
  • Sinfonia d'estate, symphony no. 9, 1987
  • Symphonie Chez nous, symphony no. 10, 1990
  • Sinfonia d'autunno, symphony no. 11, 1991
  • Sinfonia da camera, symphony no. 12, 1992

Operas

  • Petronella, "opera bluffa", 1942
  • Tjuvens pekfinger, opera buffa, 1966
  • Rivalerna, chamber opera, 1967
  • Sagan om ringen, opera, 1972, never performed
  • Reliken, opera, 1975
  • Skandal, Ers majestät, opera, 1978
  • Dinize, opera, 1993-94, never performed

Choral works

  • Psaltare och lyra,, 1953
  • Symfoni nr 2A, 1954
  • Fyra visor om årstiderna; Sommar-ro, Hösten, Vintervisa, Vårvisa, 1957
  • Sånger i förvandlingens natt, symfoni nr 4, 1958
  • Fancies för blandad kör och piano, 1974