The Influence of Composers Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Wilhelm Stenhammar on Swedish National Romanticism

by Shaomian, Armen

The objective of my lecture recital is to introduce the music of the National Romantic period in Swedish cultural history to a wider audience. The period of National Romanticism was in many ways the promotion of folk-influenced music, art, and architecture throughout the late 1800s until the early 1900s, the beginning of realism. Composers and painters honored the beautiful landscape and rural environments as well as portraying their patriotism through their art, mainly as a reaction against industrialism. Many museums and public parks were built as a result of the National Romantic movement in Sweden. My lecture recital will highlight the two main composers of the period, Wilhelm Peterson-Berger and Wilhelm Stenhammar, who were the driving forces in absorbing and encouraging folklore, helping advance the patriotic arts of Swedish history.