Carl-Olof Anderberg

Swedish composer, pianist, and conductor, born on March 13, 1914, in Kungsholm, Stockholm, Uppland, and died on January 4, 1972, in Malmö Sankt Johannes, Malmö, Skåne. During the period 1936–1938, Carl-Olof Anderberg studied composition in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Paris and London, and later in Salzburg and Vienna. He was a piano student of Olof Wibergh in Stockholm and studied conducting with Bernhard Paumgartner, Bruno Walter and Felix Weingartner at the Mozarteum, Salzburg. In 1934, Anderberg made his debut as a pianist and composer in Malmö with what would later be discarded, the Concertino for piano and chamber orchestra. He served as a conductor at the Hippodromen theatre in Malmö during two periods, from 1939 to 1942 and from 1949 to 1950. Carl-Olof Anderberg became one of the most dynamic musical figures in southern Sweden during the 1940s. In 1946, he founded the Malmö Chamber Orchestra, which he conducted until 1950. From 1956, he was active with electronic works, composed in his own music studio, “FEM," for phonetics, electronics and music, in Malmö. Subsequently, he lived as a freelance composer in Malmö, later spending considerable time in Cologne and Vienna; he occasionally appeared as a pianist or conductor, particularly with the ensemble of the Malmö association Ars Nova, founded in 1961, during the 1960s. Anderberg’s music of the 1930s and 1940s exhibited French influence, but later he experienced a 12-note serial period, prompted by his deep analyses of Arnold Schoenberg’s piano compositions. In this manner, he incorporated new techniques into a distinctive style, firmly masterful in the orchestral works and instrumentally exceptional in the chamber music. Many of his compositions were inspired by literature or contemporary events, the latter particularly emphasized in his later works. Carl-Olof Anderberg was married twice, first to the Swedish singer Lizzy Stein from 1940 to 1950, and later to Ulla Anderberg (née Hagberg) from 1954.