Wirén, Dag (Ivar)

Wirén, Dag (Ivar), prominent Swedish composer; b. Striberg, Oct. 15, 1905; d. Danderyd, April 19, 1986. He studied at the Stockholm Cons, with Oskar Lindberg and Ernest Ellberg (1926-31), then in Paris with Leonid Sabaneyev (1932-34). He returned to Sweden in 1934, and was music critic for the Svenska Morgonbladet (1938-46) and then vice-president of the Soc. of Swedish Composers (1947-63). His early music was influenced by Scandinavian Romanticism; later he adopted a more sober and more cosmopolitan neo-Classicism, stressing the symmetry of formal structure; in his thematic procedures he adopted the method of systematic intervallic metamorphosis rather than development and variation. He ceased composing in 1972.

Works

dramatic: Blatt, gult, wtt (Blood, Sweat, Tears), radio operetta (1940); Den giada patiensen, radio operetta (1941); Oscarbaien (Osearían Ball), ballet (1949); Den elaka drott-ningen (The Wicked Queen), television ballet (1960; Swedish TV, Nov. 22,1961); incidental music for plays and films. O R C H. : 2 overtures (1931, 1940); 5 syms. (1932; 1939; 1943-44; 1951-52; Stockholm, Dec. 5, 1964); Sinfonietta (1933-34); Cello Concerto (1936); Serenade for Strings (1937); Little Suite (1941); Romantic Suite (1945); Violin Concerto (1945-6); Piano Concerto (1947-50); Divertimento (1954-57); Triptyk (1958); Music for Strings (1966-67; Stockholm, Jan. 12, 1968); Flute Concertino (1972). CHAMBER: 5 string quartets (1930; 1935; 1941-5; 1952-53; 1969-70); 2 piano trios (1933, 1961); Violin Sonatina (1939); Quartet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, and Cello (1956); Little Serenade for Guitar (1964); Wind Quintet (1971). Piano: Theme and Variations (1933); 5 Ironic Miniatures (1942-45); Sonatina (1950); 5 Improvisations (1959); Little Piano Suite (1971). VOCAL: Songs

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire