APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090021-3
Outside of Stockholm, which is amply endowed with private theaters, the legitimate stage is heavily supported with public funds. Many of the larger cities have municipal playhouses; the Malmo City Theater is one of the largest in Europe. A number of touring companies, which operate under the educational system, give over 2,000 performances each winter. In the summertime various companies appear in municipal recreation parks. The theater department of the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation also produces plays for radio and television.
3. Music
The latter part of the 18th century was an age of vigorous cultural activity in Sweden, and music in particular flourished at the court of King Gustavus III. He founded the Academy of Music in 1771 and the Royal Opera, including the Royal Ballet, in 1773. However, it was not until the creation of organized concert activities with professional orchestras at the end of the 19th century that Swedish musical life can be said to have reached any breadth or independence. This is one of the reasons why Sweden's greatest symphonist, Franz Berwald (1796-1868) was not acknowledged in his own country until many years after his death. Sweden's foremost symphony composers include, in addition to Berwald, Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871-1927), Hugo Alfven (1872-1960), whose Midsummer Vigil is often heard in the United States under the title, Swedish Rhapsody. Hilding Rosenberg (1892- ), and Karl-Bieger Blomdahl (1916-68).
Since the beginning of the 20th century, symphony orchestras subsidized by national and local governments have been formed in the larger cities. In addition to the three outstanding Stockholm ensembles—the Royal Opera Orchestra, the Stockholm Philharmonic, and the Radio Orchestra—and the permanent symphony orchestras in the five largest cities, some 60 orchestras throughout the country are composed of professional and amateur musicians. During the 1960's musical life has expanded greatly because of the formation of a government-supported national concert bureau, which arranges concert tours by outstanding artists to various parts of the country. These performances, which number over 1,000 annually, include both evening concerts and daytime appearances in schools. Many of Sweden's finest singers and instrumentalists are periodically engaged in such activities.
Contemporary orchestral and chamber music, both international and Swedish, are fairly well represented in the Swedish musical repertory. The most important modern Swedish composers include Sven-Erik Back, Ingvor Lidholm, Allan Pettersson, and Lars Johan Werle. Vocal music is popular in Sweden, as in the other Germanic countries, and draws heavily from the reservoir of folk songs, as well as a series of inspired ballad writers, among them Carl Mikael Bellman, Birger Sjoberg (1885-1929), and Evert Taube (1890- ). Sweden's international reputation in vocal music, however, stems principally from a number of famous opera singers, such as Jenny Lind (1820-87) "Swedish Nightingale"; Kristina Nilsson (1843-1921); Jassi Bjorling (1911-60), the great tenor; Birgit Nilsson (1918- ), and Nicolai Gedda (1925- ), probably the greatest living tenor. All of them began their careers at the Swedish Royal Opera in Stockholm, whose extensive repertoire includes, besides classical and modern European works, such Swedish operas as Peterson-Berger's Arnljot, Angstrom's Kronbraden, and Blomlahl's two contemporary works, Antam and Herr von Haneken. American recognition of Swedish operatic accomplishments was marked by the calling of the Royal Opera's director Geran Gentele to take over the New York Metropolitan Opera. Unfortunately Gentele was killed in 1972 in an automobile accident shortly after he had assumed the position.
4. Art and architecture
None of the Swedish painters can rank with the truly great international figures, but several have attained eminence in their own country. Ernst Josephson (1851-1906) and Carl Fredrik Hill (1849-1911) are widely regarded as the most gifted Swedish painters of the 19th century. Both anticipated to some extent the expressionism and surrealism of the 20th century. Anders Zorn (1860-1920) achieved international recognition during his own lifetime through his portrayals of Swedish peasant life. The same holds true of the sculptor Carl Milles (1875-1955), whose allegorical creations may be formed in cities throughout Europe and North America. His old home and studio near Stockholm have become one of the historic attractions of the Swedish capital.
The wooden huts and lofts of the Middle Ages are the earliest examples of a peculiarly Swedish form of architecture. Numerous examples may still be seen in the province of Dalarna. Wooden structures characterize the architecture of the smaller Swedish towns to this day.
The art of building with stone and masonry came with Christianity. Sweden possesses a large number of stone country churches constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries. The Gothic cathedrals of Lund, Uppsala, Linkoping, and Skara represent more self-
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090021-3
