Reception av Helena Munktells kompositioner : Konserter och musikrecensioner 1885-1921

Sammanfattning: In this essay the reception of Helena Munktell’s 1885 1921 compositions are mapped andanalysed. The term reception is used to express to what extent Munktell’s compositions wereperformed, and also how they were received in newspaper reviews. The reception is studiedholistically. This means that all identifiable concerts and all accessible newspaper reviews havebeen taken into consideration, and that the mapping and analysis aims to demonstrate how thereception differs between genres and countries, as wel l as how it changes over time.Helena Munktell (1852 1919) was a Swedish composer, pianist, and singer. Hercatalogue is concise, but she composed music in several different genres. In 1915 she wasinducted into The Royal Swedish Academy of Music Munktell was active in both Sweden andFrance, and her work shows traces of Swedish folk music as well as French style elements. Shestudied composition with a number of teacher s, both in Stockholm and Paris. Her mostinfluential teacher was Vincent d’Indy. Through him directly, and César Franck indirectly, hercompositions came to include neo French mannerisms such as cyclic form, colourful chordchanges, and downplaying the imp ortance of melody in favour of harmonic progression.The analysis was done in four stages. In the first stage facts were collected. Thebulk of the source material was gathered from a scrapbook with reviews from Munktell ’sposthumous collections, and from the national database of Swedish newspapers Svenskadagstidningar In the second stage a calendar of all identifiable concerts was comprised. In thethird stage an account of all compositions, concerts, and reviews for each respective genre wascreated. In the fourth stage the results were analysed from a historical perspective and fromPierre Bourdieu’s theory on capital and fieldApproximately 140 concerts have been identified. The vocal genres are dominantmore than half of the performances concern works for vocal soloists. The opera I Firenze wasperformed in Stockholm 13 times. This accomplishment can be attributed to the fact thatMunktell had an abundance of what Bourdieu call s cultural and social capital. The opera andthe vocal performances were almost exclusively well reviewed. Munktell’s compositions werealso successful in France. She became a member of the prestigious organisation SociétéNationale de Musique where several of her compositions were performed. Three of her fourorchestral works were premiered in France, as was her violin sonata. Munktell’s success inFrance can be explained partly by her compositions having a strong French influence, and thefact that cultural capital is highly valued in France. Dalsvit was the only orchestral work thatwas performed in Sweden during her lifetime and it received very mixed reviews. The violinsonata is the instrumental composition that w as performed the most. It received mixed reviewsin the daily newspapers at the time of its first performance in Stockholm in 1905, butconsiderably more positive appraisal after the memorial concert at The Royal Swedish Operain 1921. This can be explained by the societal interest and appreciation of German musicaldominance giving way to F rench musical styles in a different way in 1921.The account from Swedish Musical Heritage Anders Edling’s biography onHelena Munktell, saying that all contemporary re views of Munktell as a composer were positiveis incorrect; they were mixed, varying between genres, and changing over time.A similar analysis could be carried out concerning other composers works. Suchan analysis would make it possible to compare the reception between two or more composers’work, but also how their different prerequisites may have influenced their reception.