Essay Brakel Pettersson

8/20/2019 Essay Brakel Pettersson

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Allan Pettersson—A Composer Forgotten?

By Christopher Brakel

(Originally published in the Society of Composers, Inc. Newsletter, January/February 2001, xxxi: 1)

Throughout history, countless numbers of superior artists have been overshadowed

by the so-called giants in their respective fields. In the symphonic music tradition, this

is certainly true of Allan Pettersson (1911-1980), the Swedish composer of massive,

emotionally expressive, yet disturbing symphonies. Not only is his great achievement

dwarfed by composers of large symphonies like Mahler, Sibelius and Shostakovich, who

are well-known and performed often, but also by the composers who abandoned

traditionalism during the mid to late Twentieth Century. These are two major factors

which have inhibited the acceptance or even knowledge of Pettersson’s music. This

article seeks to provide a brief biographical timeline and explanation of Pettersson’s life

and work and also seeks to encourage the exploration, performance, and discussion of

his music in order to challenge American composers and musicologists to study his work

and provide a solid body of research in the English language, of which there exists

virtually nothing to this day.

Gustav Allan Pettersson was born in Uppland, Sweden on 19 September 1911 to an

alcoholic and violent father and a pietistic and weak mother. He was raised in the slums

of Stockholm and struggled even to get his first instrument, a violin. After several failed

attempts, he was finally admitted into the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm,

where he studied violin, viola, harmony, and counterpoint between 1930 and 1939. In

1939, he was awarded a stipend which allowed him to continue his study of viola with

Maurice Vieux in Paris. He then became a violist in the Stockholm Concert Society

Orchestra (now the Stockholm Philharmonic) and remained there until 1952. He also

studied composition privately with Karl-Birger Blomdahl and Otto Olson during this

time. From 1951 to 1953 he studied with Rene Leibowitz and Arthur Honegger in Paris,

where he would master and eventually abandon the twelve-tone technique. During the

course of his career he developed rheumatoid arthritis which would eventually cripple

him completely. But, miraculously he was able to compose seventeen symphonies, three

concertos for string orchestra, three concertos for solo string instruments, two song

cycles, and chamber music before his death on 20 June, 1980. Pettersson’s music

gained some popularity in Sweden during the late 1960’s and 1970’s, but has almost

never been performed abroad.



Brakel, Christopher – ‘Allan Pettersson – A Composer Forgotten?’ 2

Musically, Pettersson’s approach is quite traditional, his symphonies being large-

scale, tonal, and expressionistic. This has led many to dismiss his music as being old-

fashioned. But, the uniqueness of his music lies in the revolutionary way he assembled

these materials. Characteristics of his music, especially the symphonies, include

conflicting pedal-point key areas, sharp and shrill writing for the strings and woodwinds,

brooding brass ostinati , and narrative percussion lines. The pieces that illustrate this

style most clearly are his middle symphonies (Symphonies Nos. 5-9). Nearly all of his

symphonies are in a single movement ranging from forty to almost ninety minutes in

length. His concertos are exceptionally demanding on the soloist, notably the Second

Violin Concerto, even to the point where live performances are almost impossible.

What, then, led Pettersson to adopt such an approach?

During his studies with Leibowitz, he worked almost entirely in the twelve-tone

technique, as many composers were doing during the middle part of the century. But,

perhaps he needed a different musical language to express what he needed to say.

Pettersson has been quoted many times saying, “The music forming my work is my own

life, its blessings, its curses: in order to rediscover the song once sung by the soul.” This

statement helps explain why Pettersson continued to write in the traditional forms

(symphony, concerto, cantata, song) even when composers had come into the “post-

serial” era. His childhood experiences and austere life, perhaps, forced him to adopt a

musical language that would help him accept and deal with his extremely difficult and

unsettling existence. He said, “My music is the only thing that allows me to bear my

hellish fate. But if I can serve as an example for someone who shares in the same fate,

then that is very good.” Paul Rapoport in his book Opus Est, states that, “Spiritually

there is a connection to late Mahler and Sibelius…[but] his music transcends whatever

he learned from them; his musical world is both more restricted and more disturbing.”

Pettersson’s musical world is also a very dark one, Symphony No. 6, for instance, is an

hour-long haunting piece which has a gloomy coda in B minor which comprises nearly

forty-five percent of the entire work. But there are also moments of apparent resolution

or even redemption in his music, as in the finale of Symphony No. 7 where, after intense

orchestral battling, the strings play an extended song-like passage ending the piece in a

somewhat reconciling manner. His music most certainly functions on an existential

level and the way he treats dissonance sets up the more song-like tonal areas in such a

way that they become rewards for the listener. These tonal areas have been termed

“lyrical islands” by several writers about Pettersson. The interaction of these lyrical




moments with dissonance on a macro-level is one of the elements in his music which

produces a convincing narrative. Sergiu Commissiona, conductor and champion of

Pettersson’s music asserts that, “He breaks down the barriers around structures that

may seem to be rigid. His treatment of the material is primarily musical; he keeps a

plastically flowing tempo. He does not hesitate to expose the archetypes of death to life’s

warm currents of air and translucent lyricism.”

Why does one need to consider Pettersson in these times then? Where does he fit into

the history of symphonic music? It is true that musical development progressed

immensely during the time in which he was writing, but on the other hand Pettersson

continued and developed the symphonic tradition, which some have said ended with

Mahler. The term symphony has come to mean different things during the course of the

Twentieth Century, and even Pettersson was not a complete traditionalist, since his

symphonies do not adhere to the original forms and his is a highly individual voice. But,

it is at least true that he made a significant contribution to the traditional genres of

symphony, concerto, sonata, and song, and for that reason he should not be overlooked.

Also, Pettersson was one of the few prolific Swedish composers to shine, if even dimly,

during the Twentieth Century.

There are a few resources available in the English language concerning Pettersson’s

music. His music has faired well in the recorded medium, nearly all of his music is

available now on compact disc. Below is a partial list of recommended recordings,

books, and websites which can offer further information. Considering the brevity of thisintroduction to Pettersson, it is hoped that many will be curious enough to explore on

their own the resources that are now available. The intent of this article is to not only

promote interest in his music, but to encourage further scholarship and research on

Pettersson and his music, for his is “a voice crying, the voice of a crier (not to be

forgotten) threatened with drowning in the din of passing time…”




Recommended Recordings, Readings, and Websites:

Rapoport, Paul. Opus Est: Six Composers from Northern Europe. New York: TaplingerPublishing Company, 1978.

Pettersson, Allan. Symphony 6 / Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Trojahn /CPO Records #999 124-2

Pettersson, Allan. Symphony 7 / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra / Commissiona /Caprice Records #21411

Pettersson, Allan. Violin Concerto No. 2 / Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra /Blomstedt / Caprice Records #21359

The Allan Pettersson Society in Sweden:http://www.allanpettersson.org/

The International Allan Pettersson Society:http://www.iapg.de/

Classical Net – Allan Pettersson Page:http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/acc/pettersson.html

The Allan Pettersson Page:http://homepages.uc.edu/~cauthep/allan.html

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