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First name: Gunnar de
Last name: Frumerie
Dates: 1908-1987
Category: Quartet
Nationality: Swedish
Opus name: Opus 57 (1963)
Publisher: SMIC
Peculiarities:
Information: Per Gunnar Fredrik de Frumerie (20 July 1908 in Nacka, Stockholm County - 9 September 1987 in Taby, Stockholm County) was a Swedish composer and pianist. He was the son of architect Gustaf de Frumerie and Maria Helleday. After studying piano in Stockholm and Vienna, he studied under Alfred Cortot in Paris. He then studied at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm 1923-1928. His works for piano are technically difficult. His reputation in Sweden has never been strongly established. His compositions covered a wide area, from grand opera to piano miniatures, but he is best remembered for his piano works. His works possess a Brahmsian complexity mixed with an impressionistic elegance. One can relate his music to Scandinavian greats like Lars-Erik Larsson or Wilhelm Peterson-Berger. His Pastoral Suite of Flute, Harp and string Orchestra is a composition that can stand well with that of any other Scandinavian composers of the 19th Century. Like Rachmaninoff, he can be said to have been born 50 years too late for much of the type of music he composed. Although not noted for his theatre work, he did write an opera, Singoalla (1940). He wrote many songs (often to words by Per Lagerkvist. From 1945 he worked at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. His pupils included Laci Boldemann. The Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter is related to Frumerie, as she is descended from the Frumerie family. They were both members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.