Classical

Online database Instrumentation catalogues EAM-collection
List of works

Descriptions of works Composer biographies Articles

Phono Suecia Edition Suecia

PDF - catalogues About Help




[search] Sigurd von Koch

In "Biographies"
Born on 28th June 1879 on the island of Ägnö in the
On the whole Stockholm archipelago, died 16th March 1919. He
site studied the piano at Richard Anderson's School of
Music, 1895-1896, and was taught composition and
counterpoint by Johan Lindegren in 1900. Further
studies followed in Berlin and Dresden 1905 and at
the Stockholm Conservatory, where he graduated as a
music teacher and precentor in 1910. He also
studied composition with Karl Kampf in Berlin
1912-1913 and was a music reviewer for the news
paper Aftontidningen 1911-1915 and for
Stockholms-Tidningen 1916-1919. He was father of
Erland von Koch.
It was not until after his studies in Berlin,
1912-1913, that Sigurd von Koch settled on a
musical career. By then he had also become
acquainted with the music of Busoni and Schönberg,
though he did not appreciate it. Debussy and Delius
appealed to him a great deal more. After this time,
however, his own music became a great deal more
personal and relevant than anything he had composed
previously. Earlier, he had hesitated between music
and other arts, since he was also a talented writer
and painter. In 1913 he wrote an expressive Violin
Sonata and a Cello Sonata with elements of folk
music. There followed, in 1914, a Romance and a
Serenade for Violin and Orchestra and, in 1916, a
Piano Quintet, the chamber music composition which
he himself rated highest. His instrumental works
also included the impressionist orchestral fantasy
I Pans marker.
Sigurd von Koch's vocal output is extremely
interesting and distinctive. He stood to one side
of Swedish tradition, creating a captivating art
song style of his own with touches of
impressionism. The foremost of these compositions
are his collections Die geheimnisvolle Flöte, Die
wilden Schwäne, Österländska kärlekssånger (to
translations by Hans Bethge of Chinese poems) and
thirteen energetic Gammalswenska Wijsor ("Old
Swedish Songs"). SJ




Contact us Links STIM IAMIC About Swedish Technical
MIC conditions