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Biography

Arne Mellnäs (1933-2002)

Born in Stockholm, 30 August 1933. Studies at the State College of Music, Stockholm (musical theory, piano, violin, conducting) 1953-59, 1962-63. Composition studies first privately with Erland von Koch (1954-55), then with Lars-Erik Larsson and Karl-Birger Blomdahl at the State College of Music. Further studies at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin with Boris Blacher, composition, and Josef Rufer, Schönberg analysis in 1959-60; privately with Max Deutsch in Paris and György Ligeti in Vienna in 1961-62; electronic music with Gottfried Michael Koenig in Bilthoven, Holland in 1962-63. Attended the International summer courses in Darmstadt, Germany in 1959, 1960 and 1962. Returned to the State College of Music in Stockholm to teach theory (1963-72), then orchestration and composition (1972-86).

Longer stays in Tokyo and San Francisco (The Tape Music Center) in 1964. Visiting professor of composition at Rice University, Houston, Texas in 1985; freelance composer since 1986. Board member of the Swedish Composers´ Society 1979-89. Member of the Royal Academy of Music since 1984; lifetime State Artist´s Grant since 1986; President of the ISCM 1996-2002; Honorable member of ISCM since 2002. First prize for the orchestral work Collage in the Gaudeamus composition competition in Holland in 1963.


Selected works
Publishers: Edition Reimers (ER), Nordiska Musikförlaget/Warner Chappell (NM), Wilhelm Hansen (WH), Gehrmans, Sveriges Körförbunds Förlag (SKF), C.F.Peters New York, Edition Suecia (Ed Sue), Swedish Music Information Centre (SMIC), Edition Tonos

ORCHESTRA:

Musik för orkester (1959) 11´ SMIC ms
Chiasmos (1961) 18´ SMIC ms
Collage (1962) 11´ Peters NY
Aura (1964) 14´ WH
Transparence (1972) 15´ Ed.Sue
Blow /symphonic wind orchestra/ (1974) 12´ ER
Moments musicaux (1977) 16´ SMIC ms
Capriccio (1978) 12´ Gehrmans
Besvärjelser/Incantations /symphonic wind orchestra/ (1978) 12´ SMIC ms
Ikaros, Symphony 1 (1986) 26´ ER
Passages (1989) 17´ NM
5 Bagatelle/stringorchestra/ (2000) 12' SMIC
 
SOLO CONCERTOS:

Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra (1957) 16´ SMIC ms
Intimate Games Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra (1992) 18´ ER
Labyrinthos Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra (1999) 20´ ER
CHAMBER MUSIC:

Dagsfärd och natthärbärge 3 songs for sop, fl, vla, harp (1959) Tx (swe): Ella Hillbäck 7´ SMIC ms
Växlingar /fl, cl/ (1961) 9´ SMIC ms
Färgernas hjärta /SATB soli, fl, cl, vl, vc, perc, cel/. (1961) Tx (swe): Key-åberg 12´ SMIC ms
Per caso /alto sax, tbn, vl, cb, 2 perc/ (1963) 6´ Ed. Tonos
Tombola /cor, tbn, el.guit, pf/ (1963) 8´ Ed. Tonos
Gestes sonores /chamber ensemble, instr. ad lib./ (1965) Dur: var. WH
Fixations /organ/ (1967) 10´ Peters NY
Quasi niente /1-4 string trios/ (1968) 8´ Peters NY
Inte alltid /voice, pf/ (1969) Tx (swe): Tage Danielsson 2´ NM
Cabrillo /cl, tbn, vc, perc/ (1970) 5´ SMIC ms
Capricorn Flakes /pf, cemb, vib/ (1970) Dur: var. Peters NY
Agréments /cembalo solo/ (1970) 3´ ER
Schizofoni /piano solo/ (1971) 5´ NM/WH
Disparitions /organ/ (1971) 8´ NM/WH
Omnia tempus habent /soprano solo/ (1972) Tx (lat): bible 6´ Ed.Sue
Ceremus /fl, cl, tr, tbn, perc, cb/ (1973) 30´ SMIC ms
Fragments for Family Flute /1-4 flutes/ (1973) 6´ SMIC ms
Sub luna /sop, fl/ob, vl, harp/ (1973) Tx (swe): chin.poems, transl. P-E Wahlund 8´ SMIC ms
Fragile /unspecified instr/ (1973) 10´ ER
The Mummy and the Hummingbird /fl.dolce, cemb/ (1975) 7´ ER
Soliloquium /fag solo, live electr/ (1976) 8´ SMIC ms
Canzona svedese /cemb solo/ (1979) 4´ SMIC ms
A Child´s Garden of Verses /sop, fl/ (1979) Tx (eng): R.L.Stevenson 9´ SMIC ms
Rendez-vous 1 /cl, cl basso/ (1979) 9´ ER
Nocturnes /mezzo, fl, cl, vla, vc, pf/ (1980) Tx (french, lat, eng): Baudelaire, Swedenborg, Blake, Shelley 17´ NM
Japansk danslek /sop, perc ens/ (1980) Tx (swe): S.Weöres, transl. J.Csatlos 9´ SMIC ms
Riflessioni /cl or cl basso solo, tape/ (1981) 12´ ER
Pièces fugitives /fl, vl, fg, guit, cemb/ (1981) 5´ SMIC ms
31 Variations on CAGE /2 pf, perc/ (1982) 4´ SMIC ms
Rendez-vous 2 /fl, perc/ (1983) 10´ ER
Expansion & Echoes /piano solo/ (1984) 4´ ER
Stampede /sax quartet/ (1985) 7´ ER
Gardens /fl, cl, vl, vc, perc, pf/ (1986) 15´ NM
No Roses for Madame F. /sax quartet/ (1991) 3´ SMIC ms
Rolando furioso /vl, cemb/ (1991) 3´ SMIC ms
Tre miniatyrporträtt /piano solo, left hand/ (1992) 5´ Till Tomas Tranströmer SMIC ms
Endymion /fl, alto sax, cl.b, vl, vla vc, pf/ (1993) 10´ ER
Quartetto d´archi 1 ”Hommages” (1993) 18´ ER
Rendez-vous 3 /oboe, piano/ (1995) 6´ ER
Estampes per corno solo (1995) 6´ SMIC ms
Rendez-vous 4 ”Hoquetus” /alto sax, tbn/ (1996) 8´ ER
I mörkret, i ljuset 3 songs for mezzosoprano and piano (1996) Tx (swe): Tomas Tranströmer, Göran Sonnevi, Björn Håkanson 12´ SMIC ms
Rendez-vous 5 ”Le chasseur et la nymphe” /cor, harp/ (1997) 9´ ER
´Like raindrops, pearls on velvet´ /fl, vla, guit/ (1997) 7´ ER
CHORAL:

MIXED CHOIR
Missa brevis (1959) 10´ SMIC ms
Succsim (1965) 7´ WH
Dream (1970) Tx (eng): e.e.cummings 8´ NM/Walton Music
Vae… /chorus, organ/ (1973) Tx (lat): bible 15´ SMIC ms
Mara mara minne (1973) Tx: spell formula, Bengt af Klintberg 6´ NM/WH
Bossa buffa (1973) Tx (lat): Cicero 6´ NM
a wind has blown (1973) Tx (eng): e.e.cummings 5´ ER
Tre körsatser/Three Choral Settings (1973) Tx (swe/eng): Tage Danielsson, transl. Gunilla Marcus 5´ SKF/Walton Music Tio ordspråk/Ten Proverbs (1981) Tx (swe/eng): bible 16´ ER
L´Infinito (1982) Tx (ital): Giacomo Leopardi 11´ ER
Laude (1994) Tx (ital): Francesco d´Assisi 8´ ER
Kosmos, 11 körvisor om livet, djuren och naturen (1994) 30´ SKF
Sweet Spring (Spring, Elegiac Sonnet, O the sun) (1998) Tx (eng): Thomas Nashe, Charlotte Smith, e.e.cummings 10´ ER

TREBLE CHOIR
Aglepta /children´s chorus/ (1969) Tx: spell formula, Bengt af Klintberg 5´ WH
Der Seufzer /SSA/ (1971) Tx (ger): Christian Morgenstern 3´ UE (Chormusik für die Schule)

MALE CHOIR
--
OPERAS:

Erik den helige /church opera for actors, soloists, 3 choirs, medieval ensemble, orchestra/ (1975) Tx (swe): Bengt V. Wall 110´ SMIC ms
Spöket på Canterville /The Canterville Ghost/ (1980) Tx (swe): Oscar Wilde, libr. Arne Mellnäs 60´ SMIC ms
Dans på rosor /Bed of Roses/ (1984) Tx (islandic/danish), libr: Oddur Björnsson 75´ SMIC ms
Doktor Glas (1990) Tx (swe): Hjalmar Söderberg, libr. Björn Håkanson 120´ SMIC ms
ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC:

Intensity 6.5, Edgar Varèse in memoriam (1966) el.mus
Conglomérat (1968) el.mus
Eufoni (1969) el.mus
Kaleidovision /television ballet/ (1969) el.mus
Monotrem (1969) el.mus
Far Out (Portrait of Laura Nyro) (1970) text/sound composition, tape
Appassionato (1970) el.mus
CD Recordings:

Aglepta Finlandia 921/Caprice 21498/ Opus 111 30-157
Agréments BIS 68
Besvärjelser Twin Music 23
Blow Caprice 21415
Dream Phono Suecia 38
Endymion Phono Suecia 120
Fragile Phono Suecia 38
Fragment for Family Flute BIS 150
Gardens Acoustica CD-1010
I mörkret, i ljuset Phono Suecia
L'Infinito Phono Suecia 22
Mara mara minne Swedish Society Discofil 105
The Mummy and the Humming-bird BIS 68
Omnia tempus habent Cantate 58009
Rendez-vous 1 Phono Suecia 22
Rendez-vous 4 Phono Suecia 132
Rendez-vous 5 Phono Suecia 113
Stampede Caprice 21399
Stuccsim Phono Suecia 38
Transparence Phono Suecia 22
Writings

´Från Gamla och Nya världen´, Nutida Musik 1964/65, 8 p.223
´Ur en kluddbok´, Nutida Musik 1965/66, 1-2 p.43 (on Gestes Sonores)
´Fixerade idéer´, Nutida Musik 1967/68, 1-2 p.59
Det musikaliska hantverket (with Lars Edlund), Ed. Swedish Radio, 1968
´Usch: en imaginär dialog´, Nutida Musik 1968/69, 1 p.59
´Anteckningar från ett höghus´, Tonfallet 1969, 10
´Kann ein Komponist vom Komponieren leben?´ (with F.Rabe, L.J.Werle), Melos 1969, 162
´Den svenske tonsättarens situation´, Nutida Musik 1970/71, 2 p.32
´Lidelsefulla skärvor´, Nutida Musik 1970/71, 3 p.8
´Reflektioner´, Musikrevy 1983:5
Bibliography

Bengt Emil Johnson: ´Fixations´, Nutida Musik 1967/68, 1-2 p.58 Robert Moran: ´Om Arne Mellnäs Eufoni och Monotrem´, Nutida Musik 1969/70, 3 p.30 Göran Bergendal: 33 Svenska komponister (1972, Lindblads) Rolf Haglund: ´Arne Mellnäs – visar vägen in i 80-talet´, Musikrevy 1983:5 Lennart Reimers: ´Arne Mellnäs och hans musik – en flykt framåt, Musikrevy 1988:6
Mailing address

c/o Edition Reimers, Box 17051, S-167 17 Bromma
Tel: +46/8-7040280
Fax: +46/8-804228
e-mail: info@editionreimers.se