By Liane Curtis
Music lovers might know the rich body of work – especially her symphonies and chamber music – by Swedish composer Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929). A premiere of an unknown but important work of hers will take place tomorrow at Whitman College in eastern Washington state (Monday, April 28, 7 PM Pacific time). A livestream will be available of the performance of Andrée’s 1911 Suffrage Cantata, the first performance of the work in the Western Hemisphere. Andrée composed the work for the Sixth Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, which was held in Stockholm in that year. The 30-minute cantata for women’s voices, soprano soloist, and full orchestra was premiered for an audience of over 1000 conference-attendees, who received it with enthusiasm. With a text by Swedish historian Sigrid Leijonhufvud, the cantata is a rare example of a large-scale composition, expressing political intent – the empowerment of women – written and performed by women and targeted to an audience of women.
The 70-year-old Andrée was already well-known in Sweden, both as a musician and a woman’s right’s activist. In the 1850s, she had campaigned for four years to have Swedish law changed so she could work as a church organist. The law was changed in 1860, and she quickly found work in Stockholm. In 1867 she was appointed to the position of cathedral organist in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city. The first woman to ever serve as a cathedral organist, she held the position until her death in 1929.
Elfrida Andrée: “It would be easier to tear a piece from a rock than to tear me away from my ideal: The elevation of womankind!” (1870)
The concert features soprano soloist Laura Loge, a specialist in Scandinavian music and languages. Also performing are the upper voices of the Whitman Chorale and Chamber Singers, and the Whitman Orchestra. The music directors are Dr. Laney Armstrong and Dr. Jonathan Spatola-Knoll. Dr. Spatola-Knoll has been studying Andrée’s music for many years, and he has prepared the critical edition that the musicians will perform. Dr. Spatola-Knoll’s presentation about the Suffrage Cantata for the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society is available on Youtube, and serves as an excellent introduction. A PDF document accompanying his presentation is here.
The first half of the concert program features a range of works composed by women with the theme “Music of Empowerment.” In incudes music by the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen and a recent aleatoric work by a young composer, Katerina Gimon. “Ripple” contains improvisations that accompany a text empowering the singers to send a ripple of positivity into the world, like “a ripple on quiet water.” Works by Melissa Dunphy, Ysaye M. Barnwell and Joni Mitchell will also be performed. More information is here.
The stream of the concert is on the Vimeo platform Monday, April 28, 7 PM Pacific time, and it is free to access. While it is hoped that the stream will be available after the performance, there is no guarantee that this will be the case. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear an unknown work by a respected composer in the process of rediscovery!
Elfrida Andrée playing the organ in Gothenburg Cathedral.