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

96 Anne Reese Willén
fore unique at the time. Articles in music journals and newspapers from the
1850s show how some saw its role as problematic in terms of the development
of musical life in Stockholm, and on several occasions the criticism
extended to its effect on on a national level. The articles focus mainly on
the concert and opera repertoires, and strongly reflect the vision of musical
performance of an international standard. The main source materials used
for this survey are the music journals Ny tidning för musik 1 (NTM: New
Journal for Music, Stockholm 1853-57), and Tidning för theater och musik 2
(TTM: Theatre and Music Magazine, Stockholm 1858-59), together with
letters and other archive material, mostly from the Royal Swedish <strong>Opera</strong> archive
(the main sources from there being the collection of playbills that were
posted daily outside the opera house, and the employment contracts).
NTM was the most prestigious music journal in Sweden during the midnineteenth
century. It was the first long-lived publication of this kind in the
country, the successor of the much shorter-lived Stockholms musiktidning
(Stockholm’s Music Magazine, 1843 and 1844) from the same publisher
– Abraham Hirsch (Grinde 1997a). Before this there had been a few other
attempts at publishing music journals, and all were very short-lived (Grinde
1997b): most survived for no more than four issues/numbers, and only one
lasted a whole season). NTM came out about once a week, and was not only
long-lived but was also more extensive, at least compared to other similar
publications if not to the daily newspapers (Waller 2001, p.148). The journal
contained reviews of concerts and newly published music, articles on certain
musical works and composers, critical appraisals and general commentary
on musical life in Stockholm (and other cities), correspondence from
Swedes travelling in Europe, articles from international music journals,
short reports on music in other Swedish and European cities, and advertisements.
Most of the contributors were professionals in the music field.
Among the most prominent writers were Wilhelm Bauck (1808-1877), Albert
Rubenson (1826-1901) and Ludvig Norman (1831-1885). NTM ceased
publication in 1857, but was soon followed by TfTM. Two writers from
NTM, Rubenson and Norman, became its main contributors – continuing
the work that they had started. This journal survived for only one season,
but was quite extensive, even larger than NTM (Waller 2001, p. 196). In
terms of content there was a mix of music and theatre. The musical content
was similar to that of NTM but there was more original material and it was
generally more critical.
1 The New Music Journal. From here on referred to as NTM.
2 Journal for Theater and Music. From here on referred to as TfTM.