BERWALD, FRANZ (ADOLF)

born July 23, 1796, Stockholm, Swed. died April 3, 1868, Stockholm most important Swedish composer of the 19th century. Born into a renowned family of musicians, Berwald studied violin with his father and composition with J.B.E. Du Puy. He lived in Berlin (182941) and Vienna (1842), returned to Sweden, and in 184649 was in Paris and Vienna. Unable to earn a living by music, from 1850 to 1858 he managed a glassworks in ngermanland. After teaching at the Stockholm Academy (186467), he became professor of composition at the Stockholm Conservatory. Berwald is considered the founder of musical Romanticism in Sweden and was the first important Swedish symphonist. His music, somewhat influenced by Louis Spohr and Carl Maria von Weber, is highly original in formal construction and use of harmonic resources. His works include six symphonies (182045; the fourth was lost) of which the G minor (Srieuse) and the C major (Singulire) are particularly esteemed; an opera, Estrella di Soria; five cantatas; and concerti for violin, bassoon, and piano.