Oscar I (1799-1859) - Divertimento
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Composer: Oscar I (1799-1859)
Work: Divertimento
Performers: RoyaI Swedish Army Conscript Band
Painting: Johann Ludwig Bleuler (1792-1850) - View of Stockholm
Further info: https://www.amazon.es/Musique-Royal-Swedish-Army-Conscript/dp/B079C4YNRZ
Listen free: https://open.spotify.com/album/5IiXBJBL41TLFRlOjMP2el
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King Oscar I
(Paris, 4 July 1799 - Stockholm, 8 July 1859)
Was the only child of Charles XIV John (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte) and Queen Desirée (Clary). Prince Oscar was a public person from a young age and was met with praise of various kinds early on. His name day was celebrated within the military and in the context of fraternal societies on the first of December every year beginning in 1810. When Oscar became crown prince in 1818, his name day was also commemorated by the students at Uppsala University with a particular ‘Oscar celebration’, which became a model for patriotic student celebrations for the rest of the century. A newly composed song was typically written every year for these occasions. The Crown Prince maintained life-long contact with Uppsala University, partly because he was the university’s chancellor while he was Crown Prince, and partly because he studied there in the 1820s. During his time at Uppsala he took part in student singing, a tradition which was continued by his sons Karl and Gustaf, when they attended the university during the 1840s. After Oscar finished his studies, plans were made for his wedding. Therefore, in 1822 Oscar took a long trip through Europe in search of an appropriate crown princess. In Aachen he met the pianist and composer Edmund Passy, who had debuted as a pianist at the Swedish Kungliga Teatern (the Royal Opera) in 1817, and was now on an extensive concert tour. When later that same year, they both found themselves back in Stockholm, the Crown Prince began taking piano and composition lessons from Passy. After several years the lessons were taken over by Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, whom Oscar had met during his studies in Uppsala. The friendship with Lindblad also meant that Oscar came into contact with German composers such as Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. Oscar regularly attended opera performances and concerts. He also took part in the development of associations, for example he was a benefactor for the Harmoniska sällskapet (the Harmonic Society), an association including a choir and orchestra that was founded in 1820 with the goal of promoting oratorios, masses and cantatas. A number of Stockholm’s professional musicians took part in the society’s activities that was led from 1823 by the hovkapellmästare (the chief conductor of the Royal Court Orchestra), Johan Fredrik Berwald. Oscar’s place in concert life and his contacts with composers also is evident in the book written in memory of him, Kung Oscars Drapa. Minnesrunor av svenska tonsättare (Skaldic praises of King Oscar: Memorial remembrances by Swedish composers) that was published in connection with his death in 1859. Fourteen composers, among them Ivar Hallström, J.A. Josephson, Lindblad and Ludvig Norman, wrote songs and piano compositions as a celebration of the King. One composition by P.C. Boman was a setting of P.D.A. Atterbom’s text from the legend-based play Lycksalighetens ö, and titled ‘Rolig natt!’. This text describes a final farewell.