1852–1919 · Sweden · 20th century
Helena Munktell (1852–1919) was a Swedish pianist, singer and composer. She studied in Stockholm, Vienna and Paris and wrote an opera, orchestral and chamber works, choruses and songs. The site offers her advanced-level songs for voice and piano, for anyone who wants to get to know Swedish and French vocal music of the late nineteenth century.
Helena Munktell was born on 24 November 1852 at Grycksbo in Dalarna, in the municipality of Falun. She was the youngest of nine children. Her father, Henrik Munktell, was a businessman and a musician who played the piano well, and this helped his daughter to receive a thorough education.
Her mother, Christina Augusta, spent much of her time in Stockholm. When the father died in 1861, the whole family moved to the capital, where the mother looked after the business. Helena's sisters included the composer Amalia Hjelm and the painter Emma Sparre.
Helena had her first music lessons from her father. She then entered the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. Conrad Nordqvist, Johan Lindegren and Joseph Dente taught her singing, piano, counterpoint and orchestration, while Ludvig Norman taught her composition.
There was plenty of music-making in the Stockholm home, and, as was the custom of the time, musical evenings were held there. In summer the mother and the family went to Grycksbo, where musical life carried on as it had in the father's day.
In 1870 Helena travelled to Vienna with her mother to continue her studies with well-known teachers, working on singing and piano. One of her teachers in Vienna was Julius Epstein. After that she studied in Italy and Switzerland.
In 1877 Helena decided to stay in Paris and performed there as a singer and pianist. For the next two years she studied with Benjamin Godard and Vincent d'Indy. These two later became her most ardent supporters.
Composing took first place. People began to talk about Munktell's skill, and her works drew more and more attention.
Helena first came before the public as a composer in Sweden, in 1885. Munktell's music was received in different ways: rather coolly in Germany and Sweden, while in Stockholm her songs were noted as innovative. The greatest successes came in France.
Her former teacher d'Indy took it upon himself to spread her works. The violinist George Enescu gave the first performance of her violin sonata, Op. 21, in Paris and later played it in Berlin.
Munktell's one-act opera I Firenze, to a libretto by Daniel Fallström, was first performed in Stockholm in 1889. In France it was performed in the studio of her sister Emma Sparre and won praise. In this way Munktell became the first Swedish woman composer to write an opera, several years before Elfrida Andrée.
In the late 1890s Helena began to compose for orchestra. Around 1900 she took an interest in the Swedish folk tone.
Munktell was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in 1915, and in 1918 she took part in founding the Swedish Society of Composers.
Munktell suffered from an eye disease. She died on 10 September 1919 in Stockholm and was buried at Norra begravningsplatsen, the northern cemetery.
Munktell also composed for orchestra, but she was drawn most of all to vocal, choral and operatic music. Her style is inspired by French neo-romanticism, and her contemporaries found it bold. A typical example is the orchestral piece Bränningar (in English, Breaking Waves): the composer portrays the fickleness of the waves with the whole palette of the orchestra, constantly changing the way the instruments are used and combining them in unusual ways.
In this piece the flow of sound surges along and then suddenly and unexpectedly halts, as if to stress the fickleness of the elements. In its harmony one is reminded of late Wagner, d'Indy and early Scriabin, yet Munktell composed independently.
Her orchestral works include the symphonic picture Bränningar, Op. 19 (first performed in 1898), the symphonic poem Valborgsmässoeld, Op. 24, the Suite dalécarlienne, Op. 22, a suite for large orchestra and the one-movement Barcarolle for orchestra. A piano version of Valborgsmässoeld exists, and in 1916 the Dalsvit, Op. 22, was arranged for piano.
Among her chamber works are the Kleines Trio for piano, violin and cello and the violin sonata, Op. 21. Her opera I Firenze is in one act, to a libretto by Daniel Fallström.
Among Munktell's choral works are a cantata for the women's congress of 21 September 1897, for solo soprano, women's choir, piano and organ; a cantata for the inauguration of the Swedish church in London (1911); Sång till skogen for mixed choir a cappella (1891); and Trois choeurs sur des poésies scandinaves for women's choir and piano (1899).
Her songs include Dix Mélodies pour Chant et Piano, Fyra sånger för en röst vid piano (1883), the ballad Isjungfrun, Op. 20 (1889), to words by her sister Emma Sparre, in versions for baritone and piano and for tenor-baritone and orchestra, Fjerran på enslig stig to words by Daniel Fallström (1893), and Majnattsröster, Op. 25, for soprano and orchestra to words by Erik Axel Karlfeldt.
The site has three of her works for voice and piano, all at an advanced level: La dernière berceuse, Fidélité and Österns natt. The first two have French texts by Amédée-Louis Hettich: La dernière berceuse is after the composer's own text and Fidélité after Adolf Fredrik Lindblad. Österns natt was written in 1894 for soprano and alto with piano, to words by Henrika Widmark. Any of them will do as a first acquaintance with the composer.