Hallén, Andreas (EN)

Hallén Andreas, *22 December 1846 Gothenburg, †11 March 1925 Stockholm, Swedish composer, conductor, and music critic. Between 1866 and 1871, he studied music in Leipzig under C. Reinecke, in Munich with J. Rheinberger, and in Dresden with J. Rietz. From 1872 to 1878 and 1883 to 1884, he was conductor of Musikföreningen (Music Society) in Gothenburg, and from 1878 to 1882 he lived in Berlin, where he was a singing teacher. In 1884, he moved to Stockholm, became a member of the Kungliga Musikaliska Akademien (Royal Swedish Academy of Music), and founded the Filharmoniska Sällskapet (Philharmonic Society), where he served as conductor from 1885 to 1895. He also conducted at Ceciliaföreningen (1887–89), performing early music, including works by J.S. Bach, and from 1892 to 1897 he was also the deputy conductor at the Kungliga Teatern (Royal Theater) in Stockholm. In 1902, he founded Sydsvenska Filharmoniska Sällskapet, a second philharmonic society in Malmö, which he led until 1907. He then returned to Stockholm, focusing on composing and teaching; from 1909 to 1919 he taught composition at the Musikkonservatorium. He also worked as a music critic for the newspaper “Nya Dagligt Allehanda”; his articles and reviews were published in 1894 in the collection Musikaliska Kåserier.

Hallén’s work is dominated by large orchestral, choral, and stage forms. His compositions are distinguished by their rich sound and are clearly influenced by the late Romantics, especially Wagner. The operas Harald Viking and Hexfällan represent, for the first time in Swedish music, the Wagnerian-style musical drama. In his later works, the Scandinavian tradition has a stronger influence, with Swedish folklore becoming a source of inspiration for Hallén; a synthesis of the Wagnerian style and Scandinavian musical tradition took place at that time (e.g., Waldemarsskatten, Valborgsmässa, Ett juloratorium). Hallén’s symphonic poems are modeled on Liszt’s symphonic poems, and his choral ballads, which enjoyed great popularity for a long time, were modeled on Carl Löwe’s ballads.

Hallén played an important role in Swedish musical life not only as a composer, but also as a conductor and organizer. By founding two philharmonic societies, he contributed to a significant revival of concert life in Sweden. As a conductor, he was an ardent promoter of stage music, including Wagner’s operas, and he also introduced many works of early music to Swedish stages that had not been performed in Sweden before, including J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1890) and H. Schütz’s Sieben Worte des Erlösers am Kreuz (1891).

Literature: P. Vredblad Andreas Hallén, Stockholm 1918; T. Norlind Andreas Hallén, “Ur Nutidens Musikliv” III, 1922 (includes a list of works reviewed by Hallén), D. Herlitz Fett kaos af skrik och signaler”: något om Wagnerstriden i Stockholm, Andreas Hallén och operan “Häxfällan”, a dissertation at Stockholm University, pub. Stockholm 1997; B. Nilsson Skatten vid fågelön (on Waldemarsskatten opera), Karlsöbladet: Stora Karlsö 2005.