Johan Lindegren

Swedish composer and music theorist, born January 7, 1842 in Ullared parish, died June 8, 1908 in Stockholm.

He was the son of the farmer Andreas Johansson from Kullen in Ullared and his wife Inger Lena Carlsdotter. His musical talent was revealed at a young age. He received his first organ lessons from the pastorate's minister B. A. Törnblom. Despite the fact that his father opposed it, Törnblom pushed for the young man to study for the organist Holmdahl in Skällinge. In 1860 he continued his studies at the Conservatory of Music, in piano, violin and theory. He was employed at the Royal Theater as a chorister in 1865, and became a tutor there in 1874. Two years later he became a teacher of counterpoint at the conservatory. In 1881 he became a singing teacher at Jakobs läroverk and in 1885 cantor in Storkyrkan in Stockholm.

Lindegren was a member of the 1895 committee for church handbook music. In 1903 he was elected to the Royal Academy of Music. Some of his students were Helena Munktell, Natanael Berg and Hugo Alfvén.

Some of Lindegren's compositions appear in the Swedish hymnals in 1921 and probably in 1937, but are not included in the Swedish hymnal in 1986. He has also composed piano pieces, a string quintet in F major, a sonata in B minor, a fugue, and an elegy. in memoriam to opera singer Oscar Arnoldson. His compositions are characterized by polyphonic structures, as well as a quest for a more authentic rhythm and cross-border harmonics.