Bystrôm, Oscar (Fredrik Bernadotte)

Bystrôm, Oscar (Fredrik Bernadotte), Swedish pianist, organist, conductor, teacher, and composer; b. Stockholm, Oct. 13, 1821; d. there, July 22, 1909. He studied piano with his father, Thomas Bystrôm (1772–1839), a piano pedagogue at the Stockholm Cons. He pursued training with Erik Drake at the cons, and with Arrhén von Kapfelman at the military cadet college in Stockholm. He then entered the military and served in the Svea Artillery Regiment, attaining the rank of captain by the time of his retirement in 1871. Bystrôm also pursued an active career as a musician, becoming well known as a pianist and teacher. He also ran a lime works on the island of Gotland and invented the hydropyrometer, an instrument designed to measure pressure in blast furnaces. In 1862 it won a medal at the World Exhibition in London. In 1864 Bystrôm was elected to membership in the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, where he became inspector of the Cons, in 1867. From 1872 to 1876 he also was director of the Turku Musical Soc. in Finland. Thereafter he became active in the movement to reform chorale singing, and gave numerous motet concerts of historical programs throughout Sweden. He publ, several collections of early Gregorian melodies of medieval Sweden and early chorale melodies. In 1871 he publ, a vol. on theory. Bystròm’s output reveals the influence of Berwald, and is marked by a sure hand for form, melody, and harmony.

Works

DRAMATIC: Herman Vimpel, operetta (1873; Helsinki, May 28, 1875); Cervantes, opera (unfinished).o r c h: 3 waltzes (1851; also for Piano); Overture (c. 1855); Sym. (1870–72; first complete perf., Stockholm, Oct. 19, 1874; rev. 1895); Andantino (Turku, May 31, 1876). chamber: Piano Trio (1850); Duo for Cello and Piano (1851); 2 string quartets (1856, rev. 1895; c. 1865). vocal: Choral works.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire