Soup Concert

One of many Swedish female composers who are played far too infrequently is Helena Munktell. She was not only a composer, but also an incredibly skilled pianist and she travelled to Paris to study piano with Liszt-pupil Théodore Ritter, and composition with Émile Durand, Benjamin Godard and Vincent d'Indy. She soon became a member of the Société Nationale de Musique which worked for new French music.

Munktell was the first Swedish female composer to compose an opera, I Firenze (In Florence), which premiered at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm in 1889. A few years later, it was performed at a special invitation-only concert in Paris. In both Stockholm and Paris, the press reacted very positively. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has performed her orchestral work Bränningar on multiple occasions.

Munktell’s great Violin Sonata in E-flat Major is inspired by the Paris of her time. It is an utterly brilliant piece with powerful lines and broadly rolling chords in the piano part. The Sonata was premiered at Société Nationale de Musique in Paris by George Enescu, one of the great violinists of the twentieth century. 

Menu: Minestrone with vegetables, beans and pancetta, served with gremolata crème.