(b Bosjökloster, 21 June 1892; d Stockholm, 19 May 1985). Swedish composer. He studied with Ellberg at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm (1915-16), and with Stenhammar. In 1920 he journeyed abroad, encountering the music of Hindemith and Schoenberg, which influenced his own: particularly important were Hindemith's neo-Baroque textures, though in harmony he continued to belong to a Scandinavian world of Sibelius, Nielsen and folk music. His music became more diatonic in the 1930s, when he also began writing operas (Marinetter, 1938). His large output includes eight symphonies (1917-74) and many other orchestral scores, incidental music, seven operas, ballets, oratorios and 12 string quartets. He was also active as a conductor (including at the Stockholm Royal Opera) and exerted an important influence on Swedish musical life as a teacher.
