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Sunday, March 05, 2023
The Aulins
From the 2017 Daphne CD Revived Piano Treatures: Valborg Aulin, Laura Netzel (Lucia Negro: piano). Artwork showing the title page of Valborg Aulin's Grande sonate sérieuse.
A sketchy chronology of the sibling composers Valborg Aulin and Tor Aulin, dedicated musicians, and contributors to Swedish musical and cultural life. (Nearly all of it is uncritically drawn from the links that follow the composers' birth dates.)
Composition formed only a part of their lives. But the catalyst for this post is my obsession with Valborg Aulin's Grande sonate sérieuse (the original title on the first page of the score, dedicated to Hilda Thegerström: the words "Grande" and "sérieuse" were subsequently deleted). Perhaps, above all, its peculiar and wonderful Trio. I couldn't help but feel curious to know more about the composer of such striking music. But I still don't know much more. I felt there had to be a story, for instance to explain how the bold and ambitious music of the 1880s (basically, her years of study) dwindled into the slighter music of the 1890s and then to nothing at all. What did it feel like, to lose the critical respect that seemed to be her destiny when Ludvig Norman was her mentor and her string quartets were so admired? And this at a time when her younger brother stood at the very pinnacle of Scandinavian culture, its star violinist, the friend of Grieg, Stenhammar and Strindberg, the founder or leader or conductor of half a dozen orchestras? But this is romancing. She may not have seen it that way at all. Everyone has a story, but Valborg Aulin was one of the many people who choose not to tell their story, not to futurity anyway. All we have are stray facts.
*
Lars Axel Alfred Aulin, born 10 June 1826, died 16 September 1869. He was a teacher of classical Greek and published several educational books. He was also an enthusiastic amateur violinist involved in Stockholm musical life. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lars_Axel_Alfred_Aulin (in Swedish)
In 1858 he was appointed a teacher in Gävle. Here he met Edla Walborg Holmberg, daughter of the city broker (stadsmäklare) Konrad Holmberg and his arty wife Vilhelmina. Konrad was a Finn who had moved to Gävle in 1809.
Lars Axel and Edla married the following year.
Edla Walborg Aulin née Holmberg, born 12 August 1832, died 14 February 1914. Another enthusiastic musician, she had once had hopes of a singing career, but these were prevented by ill health, and instead she became an excellent pianist, like her mother Vilhelmina. Edla's maternal uncle Rudolf was a violinist in the Hovkapellet (orchestra of the Royal Swedish Opera). Edla's sister Klara was also a pianist and her brother Konrad a gifted amateur violinist.
Olallo Morales (1874 - 1957) in the below-linked Riksarkivet article about Tor Aulin (Sweden's dictionary of national biography -- this article is probably from the 1920s) says of Edla: "Her upbringing went exclusively in an aesthetic direction to the neglect of practical activity; she loved studies and music but lacked a sense of reality." (I'm quoting Olallo, here and elsewhere, via Google Translate.)
The articles report that Edla was a very strict parent, but I don't know the primary source for this. One of the speculations about Valborg's unexpected removal to Örebro in 1903 was that she wanted to get away from her mother.
Axel Konrad Aulin, born 23 September 1862 in Gävle, died 25 February 1934 in Orsa (near Mora in Dalarna). He became a civil engineer. His wife's name was Elvira; they had three daughters.
Olallo Morales, in the Riksarkivet article, says of Tor: "In addition to the early emerging musical tendencies originating from both sides, Aulin inherited from his father thoroughness, ability to work, initiative, devotion to his task, unpretentiousness, self-criticism, right-mindedness, disgust for humbug and external brilliance, skill and humour. From the mother came the Finnish stubbornness but also Finnish toughness, a warm heart, passionate love for art, a never-resting restlessness in the mind, which constantly dreamed of new proposals, art creations, work goals."
1866. From the age of six, Valborg receives piano lessons from her aunt Klara. Subsequently she is taught by the pianist and composer Jacob Adolf Hägg.
1869, death of Lars Axel. Uncle Konrad to some extent acted as father to the children after Lars Axel's death, and was influential in Tor's early instruction in the violin.
1873, the seven-year-old Tor begins his violin studies. Jean-Luc Caron (link above) reports a story that the family forbade Tor from touching the piano, thinking they had produced enough pianists, but he became a fine pianist nevertheless.
This is confirmed by a remarkable episode. Tor performed Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor in private in front of the Norwegian master, who highly appreciated the demonstration, swearing softly before this gifted child ("this devil"), who seemed to make light of the difficulties that he himself had struggled with for so long! The two men would correspond at length for many years.
(Jean-Luc Caron, loosely translated)
1873-1876, Valborg instructed in harmony by Albert Rubenson at the Musikaliska akademin.
1877-1882, Valborg is a student at the Kungliga Musikkonservatoriet. Taught piano by Hilda Thegerström, and composition by Ludvig Norman among others (the only woman enrolled in the composition class).
1877-1883 At the age of eleven Tor enters the Stockholm conservatoire and studies violin under C.J. Lindberg, and theory under Conrad Nordqvist.
1880, Valborg and Tor Aulin's first public performances, at Söderköping, followed by a Norrland tour together.
1881-1884, Tor plays in the theatre orchestra of Bernhard Fexer. At some point in this period his playing is witnessed by Emile Sauret on a visit to Stockholm (Sauret's wife was Swedish).
1882-1885, Valborg Aulin gives private lessons in piano and harmony in Stockholm.
1882, Valborg Aulin's [Five] Tone Poems for Piano / [Fem] Tondikter för Pianoforte (op. 7) published. (NB Only principal compositions are mentioned here)
1884, Valborg Aulin's [Seven] Pieces for Piano / [Sju] stycken för piano (op. 8) published. She composes her String Quartet in F (op. 17 no. 1).
Here's the Romanza, the first of the Op 8 pieces. If I was told this was a Brahms intermezzo I might believe it. Performance by Steven Luksan (Music Center of the NorthWest):
1884-1886, Tor Aulin is in Berlin, where he studies with Emile Sauret. He is invited to play viola in Sauret's own Quartet, stands in for Sauret himself at a concert at the Berlin Opera, and is involved in performing music by Saint-Saëns.
1885 (probably), Valborg Aulin composes Pie Jesu Domine, Missa sollemnis for choir and orchestra (op. 13), dedicated to the memory of her mentor Ludvig Norman (1831 - 1885).
Olallo Morales, in the Riksarkivet article linked above (written during Valborg Aulin's lifetime), wrote: "During her studies, Valborg Aulin received particular encouragement from the composer Ludvig Norman, who followed her compositional development with interest. Her Nordic romantic tone poetry also shows a certain kinship with Norman's gentle muse, without however denying its origin in an era that also produced Sjögren's more colourful creations. A thorough schooling had given her creation certainty and clarity of form, refined feminine taste in combination with French influence has given it its amiable comfort and elegiacally soft touch, in which, however, a healthy rudeness is not missing".
1885-1887, Valborg Aulin has a Jenny Lind grant to study abroad, in Copenhagen under Niels Gade, briefly in Berlin, and for perhaps a couple of years in Paris.
1885, in Copenhagen Valborg Aulin composes her piano sonata in F minor (Grande sonate sérieuse, op. 14).
It was Valborg Aulin's only multi-movement piano work, but it is a remarkable one. Here it is, in a performance by Lucia Negro:
1886, in Paris, Valborg Aulin composes Tableaux Parisiens, her only purely orchestral work (op. 15) and her lyric suite Procul este! (op. 28) for soprano, mixed choir and orchestra. Music studies with Benjamin Godard (who had also taught Helena Munktell), woman pianist E. Bourgain (I can't find out anything else about her, as yet), and to a lesser extent Jules Massenet and Ernest Guiraud.
Here's one of the Tableaux Parisiens, "In the Quiet of the Night", performed by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Johannes Gustavsson. (You can listen to the other three tableaux on YouTube too.)
1886, Tor Aulin returns from his studies in Berlin and swiftly gains a reputation as a virtuoso violinist, though this is endangered for some weeks by over-exertion leading to a paralysis of the left arm and little finger.
1887, Tor Aulin forms the Aulin Quartet.(Aulinska kvartetten) with Edvin Sjöberg, Berndt Carlsson and Axel Bergström. The quartet, which lasts until 1912, is important in Swedish musical history for its promotion of chamber music. Valborg often performs with the Aulin Quartet: e.g. Saint-Saëns piano quartet, Mozart's G Minor piano quartet.
1887, Valborg Aulin returns to Stockholm in August and resumes giving private piano lessons.
1887, Valborg gives a performance of her Grande sonate. The reviews are mixed: "Valborg Aulin 'shone as a composer', wrote respected critic Adolf Lindgren in Aftonbladet after the concert. Unfortunately however, her piano technique was not adequate to do justice to the expansive sonata, but as a composition it was well received, even though some critics complained about the free form. They got more of an impression of a number of different character pieces rather than a coherent sonata. Otherwise, the reviewers praised the modern harmonies and rhythms." (from Christina Tobeck's liner notes for Lucia Negro's 2017 CD Revived Piano Treasures: Valborg Aulin, Laura Netzel).
1888, The Aulin Quartet give the first performance of Valborg's F major String Quartet; the reviews are positive, and it is published the same year. It was a significant achievement for a woman composer; according to Eva Öhrström, string quartets had only male members at the time, and woman composers were expected to keep away from the form; Elfrida Andrée's D minor quartet (1887) was never performed.
Valborg Aulin's are considered the most significant Swedish string quartets of the 1880s, i.e. prior to Stenhammar's. The F major quartet is performed here by the Tale Quartet (Talekvartetten):
1889, Valborg Aulin composes her string quartet in E minor (op. 17 no. 2). The pianist Ida Åquist is documented as performing with the Aulin Quartet.
1889 (probably), Tor Aulin composes his Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra (G minor, later known as violin concerto No. 1, op. 7)
1890, Tor Aulin composes his violin concerto "No. 2" in A minor (op. 11). First performance of Valborg's E minor quartet: positive reviews.
1892, Tor Aulin composes his violin sonata in D minor (op. 12).
1892 (?), Valborg Aulin composes her Valse élégiaque.
Performed here by Gamma1734 on digital piano:
1895, Tor Aulin composes his violin concerto in C minor ("No. 3", op. 14). 21 May, marries Ida Åquist, who was born Ida Hjort on 11 September 1848; he is 28 and Ida is 46.
This remains one of the most celebrated Swedish violin concertos. Performed here by Christian Bergquist and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Okko Kamu:
1896, approximately. Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871 - 1927) begins his formative collaboration with the Aulin Quartet.
1896, Valborg gives a public performance dedicated to her own compositions. Some good reviews, some bad.
1898 Tor Aulin's first marriage (to Ida Åquist) dissolved on 30 December. He has begun a relationship with the married singer Anna Hedvig Bendixson (b. 30 June 1865); suffers social condemnation and falls into depression. Eventually marries Anna on 2 January 1900.
(Anna later wrote, of Valborg's Paris years, "Despite her total lack of outward charm, which Frenchmen are so highly appreciative of, she became popular due to her immense talent". Of Tor she said that his compositional accomplishments were restricted by his humility and commitment to promoting music by other Swedish composers.)
1899, Tor composes his Four Aquarelles (Fyra akvareller) for violin and piano.
Performed here, in Memphis TN, by Basil Alter (violin) and Brian Ray (piano):
1900, Tor Aulin forms the Svenska Musikerföreningens (the Swedish Musicians’ Society) orchestra, whose concert takings went to pensions and medical care for impoverished musicians.
1901, Valborg gives another concert of her own works. It is sold out but the reviews are negative.
1902-1909, Tor Aulin is a co-founder and conductor of Stockholms Konsertförening (the Stockholm Concert Society).
1903, Valborg Aulin moves from Stockholm to Örebro as music teacher. She lives here for the rest of her life and plays a significant part in the musical life of the town, but does not compose any more music. In Örebro, unlike in Stockholm, Valborg is a big fish and her work is appreciated. She performs with the Philomeles society and at Nikolaikyrkan (St Nicholas' church).
1905, Tor conducts the premier of Franz Berwald's rediscovered Symphonie singulière. Co-founds the Göteborgs orkesterförenings orkester (Gothenburg Orchestra Society orchestra).
Tor Aulin, a photograph published in Hvar 8 dag in 1906.
1907 onwards, Tor Aulin conducts the orchestra of the Dramatiska Teatern and leads the Sydsvenska filharmoniska sällskapet (Southern Sweden Philharmonic Society).
1908, Tor Aulin composes incidental music for August Strindberg's Mäster Olof (op. 22). (Strindberg also tried to persuade him to write operatic versions of A Dream Play and The Ghost Sonata, but Tor Aulin didn't feel up to that.)
1909, Tor Aulin moves to Göteborg and becomes Stenhammar's conducting partner at the Göteborgs Symfoniker (Sweden's first full-time professional orchestra) but depression and increasing ill-health take their toll.
1912, Tor Aulin composes the Svenska danser (op. 32), initially for violin and piano, arranged for orchestra the following year.
1913, Tor Aulin has a stroke that leaves him partially paralysed. Is carried into rehearsals of his Svenska danser, but is overcome by emotion and waves farewell to the musicians (according to a memorial by his friend Emil Hansen). His decline is excruciating and his formerly amiable personality becomes irritable.
1914, death of Edla Aulin and, just two weeks later, Tor Aulin.
1914-1924, Valborg gives concerts every February (at St Nicholas' church?) to an appreciative audience.
1928, death of Valborg Aulin. She was buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas' church in Örebro, with no gravestone, but recently her gravesite was discovered and a stone placed there.
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