Andrée, Elfrida

Andrée, Elfrida, Swedish organist, teacher, and composer; b. Visby, Feb. 19, 1841; d. Göteborg, Jan. 11, 1929. She began her training with her father and with Wilhelm Sôhrling in Visby. At 14, she entered the Stockholm Cons., where she graduated as an organist at 16. She then pursued training in composition with Ludvig Norman and Hermann Berens. With the assistance of her father, she secured legislation that allowed women to hold positions as organist in 1861. That same year, she became organist of the Finnish Congregation in Stockholm, and in 1862 of the French Reformed Church there. Also through her efforts, women were allowed to become telegraph operators in Sweden and Andrée was the first to attain that distinction in 1865. From 1867 until her death she was organist of the Göteborg Cathedral. She also was director of a series of 800 “popular” concerts and was active as a teacher. In 1879 she was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Fritiofs Saga (n.d.). ORCH.: Overture (1873); 2 syms. (1889, 1893). CHAMBER: Piano Quintet (1865); Piano Quartet (1865); 2 string quartets (1865, 1895); 2 violin sonatas (n.d., 1872); Piano Trio (1877). keyboard: Piano pieces; organ music, including 2 organ syms. VOCAL: Choral works; songs.

Bibliography

E. Stuart, E.A. (Stockholm, 1925); E. Öhrström, E. A.: EU levnadsôde (Stockholm, 1999).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire