Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

A Nordic outlook
Music at the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> in Stockholm…
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Rubenson compared musical life in Stockholm and Copenhagen, where he
was staying at the time, in a journal article (Rubenson 1853, pp. 7-10), in
which he also focuses on the repertoires. Like others he notes the low
level of music culture in Stockholm and the lack of taste among audiences,
together with the correspondingly low musical standards in the concert
programmes. He argues that the programmes were put together without
regard to the quality or value of the music, comprising what were considered
“safe bets”, items that had popular appeal rather than aesthetic value.
His main observation was that the Danes seemed to be much more musically
educated than the Swedes. The major difference between Stockholm
and Copenhagen as he saw it was in the construction of musical life and the
general knowledge or education of the citizens. He identifies the music society
Musikforeningen 34 in Copenhagen as a strong contributor to the higher
level of music culture. He maintains that the lack of a society that could
bring order to musical life and reform audience taste was one reason why
Stockholm lagged behind Copenhagen in this respect. During Niels Gade’s
time as head of Musikforeningen the concert repertoire was relatively modern,
concentrating on Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven
but also featuring music by Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner (Schiørring 1978, p.
300). This was precisely what Rubenson was looking for in a repertoire, and
he was probably very familiar with the activities of Musikforeningen, having
studied under Gade in Copenhagen between 1848 and 1850. Copenhagen
had a longer and more widespread tradition of music and concert societies
than Stockholm, and concert life revolved around these societies to a greater
extent. As many of the concerts on offer in Copenhagen were arranged
by one society or another, it is reasonable to assume that led Rubenson to
the conclusion that concert life in general was much better organised than
in Stockholm.
This was not the only way in which the two cities differed, however. Copenhagen
had long had its independent orchestras. Hans Christian Lumbye
and his orchestra, for example, had been giving concerts since 1839, and he
became the leading composer and conductor of dance music in Scandinavia
(Jürgensen: 2012). Even if Lumbye’s repertoire was not at all what Ruben-
34 Musikforeningen was founded in 1836, its main task being to publish Danish music
and arrange concerts, which soon became its main focus (Foltmann 2003, p. 279). It
was a private society and most of the concerts were not open to the public, but still the
number of concerts was extensive, especially during the time when Niels Gade was the
leader (Foltmann 2003, p. 280).