Ringbom, Nils-Eric
Ringbom, Nils-Eric
Ringbom, Nils-Eric , Finnish violinist, music critic, music administrator, and composer; b. Turku, Dec. 27, 1907; d. Korpoström, Feb. 13, 1988. He studied at the Turku Academy (M.A., 1933) and at the Univ. of Helsinki (D.Mus., 1955, with the diss. Über die Deutbarkeit der Tonkunst; publ. in Helsinki and Wiesbaden, 1955); among his teachers were O. Andersson and L. Funtek. He played violin in the Turku Sym. Orch. (1927–28; 1930–33), and was music critic of the Svenska Pressen (1933–14) and the Nya Pressen (1945–70). He was asst. manager (1938–42) and manager (1942–70) of the Helsinki Phil., and also served as artistic director of the Sibelius Festival (1951–60) and as chairman of the Helsinki Festival (1966–70).
Writings
Helsingfors orkesterföretag 1882–1932 (Helsinki, 1932); Säveltaide (The Art of Music; Helsinki, 1945); Sibelius (Stockholm, 1948; Ger. tr., 1950; Eng. tr., 1954); Musik utan normer (Music without Norms; 1972); Orkesterhovdingar (1981).
Works
Orch.: Little Suite (1933; rev. 1946); 5 syms. (1938–39; 1943–44; 1948; 1962; 1970). CHAMBER: Duo for Violin and Viola (1945); Wind Sextet (1951); String Quartet (1952); piano pieces. Vocal: Till livet (To Life) for Chorus and String Orch. (1936); Vandrerska (The Wanderer) for Soprano and Orch. (1942); Hymn till Helsingfors for Chorus and Orch. (1949); songs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire