Karl-Birger Blomdahl was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and conductor born in Växjö

Växjö

Växjö is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden with 64 200 inhabitants in 2010. It is the administrative, cultural and industrial centre of Kronoberg County. Furthermore it is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Växjö. It has a population of about 64 200, out of a...

. He was educated in biochemistry

Biochemistry

Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...

, but was primarily active in music and by his experimental compositions he became one of the big names in Swedish modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

. His teachers included Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg , was the first Swedish modernist composer, and one of the most influential figures in Swedish 20th century classical music....

 (http://www.from-sweden.com/people/index.php?categoryID=30&id=216). He died in Kungsängen

Kungsängen

Kungsängen is a locality and the seat of Upplands-Bro Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 7,367 inhabitants in 2005.- References :...

, Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

His third symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, Facettes - a work in one subdivided movement (described here as a twelve-tone variation-form piece) - from 1950 is a major contribution to the repertoire. In 1959 he composed the opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 Aniara

Aniara (opera)

Aniara is an opera in two acts by Karl-Birger Blomdahl, with a libretto by Erik Lindegren based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, that was premiered in 1959. The opera was described by the composer as a "review about Man in Time and Space"....

based on the poem by Harry Martinson

Harry Martinson

Harry Martinson was a Swedish sailor, author and poet. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson. The choice for Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson was very controversial as both were on the...

. His output of compositions also includes concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s for violin and viola, a chamber concerto for piano, winds and percussion, at least one other opera (Herr von Hancken), and much chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, including a trio for clarinet, cello and piano.

Stage

• (1958) Aniara
  Aniara (opera)
  Aniara is an opera in two acts by Karl-Birger Blomdahl, with a libretto by Erik Lindegren based on the poem Aniara by Harry Martinson, that was premiered in 1959. The opera was described by the composer as a "review about Man in Time and Space"....
  
  , (libretto by Erik Lindegren based on a poem by Harry Martinson
  Harry Martinson
  Harry Martinson was a Swedish sailor, author and poet. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow Swede Eyvind Johnson. The choice for Eyvind Johnson and Harry Martinson was very controversial as both were on the...
  
  )
• (1962) Herr von Hancken, (libretto by Erik Lindegren based on a book by Hjalmar Bergmans)
• (1949) Agamemnon

Orchestra

• (1943) Symphony No. 1
• (1947) Symphony No. 2
• (1948) Pastoralsvit
• (1950) Symphony No. 3, Facetter
• (1961) Forma Ferritonans

Concerto

• (1941) Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
• (1946) Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra

Chamber Music

• (1938) Trio for Brass
• (1939) String Quartet No. 1
• (1945) Little Suite for bassoon & piano
• (1948) Dance Suite No. 1
• (1951) Dance Suite No. 2
• (1955) Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano

Songs

• (1966) . . . The Journey in This Night for soprano & string orchestra, (on a poem by Erik Lindegren
  Erik Lindegren
  J. Erik Lindegren was a Swedish author, poet, critical writer and member of the Swedish Academy . Grandson of composer Johan Lindegren....
  
  )

Electronic

• (1966) Altisonans