The music of Sweden has a long history, with musical evidence dating back to the Bronze Age and the lur instruments. The Swedish fiddle and nyckelharpa are among the most common Swedish folk instruments. The instrumental genre is the biggest one in Sweden. In the 1960s, Swedish youth sparked a roots revival in Swedish folk culture. Many joined Spelmanslag (folk musicians' clubs) and performed on mainstream radio and TV. They focused on instrumental polska music, with vocals and influences from other traditional genres becoming more prominent since the 1990s. By 1970, the "dansband" culture also began. Music in Sweden is a vital part of Swedish culture, as evidenced by the national success of musical shows like Allsång på Skansen and Melodifestivalen.
Swedish music has also included more modern influences. On a per-capita basis, Sweden is one of the world's most successful exporters of music. Its most famous export is ABBA, one of the best-selling popular music groups of all time. Sweden has also historically dominated the Scandinavian music scene, with Danes and Norwegians listening to music in Swedish rather than the other way around. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Scandinavian death metal bands became very popular with the international heavy metal community.
Throughout the history of Sweden, the Swedish monarchy have been extensive patrons; notably, Gustav Vasa and Gustav III were both considered very fond of music. Gustav Vasa encouraged musicians to attend his court, and Gustav III would found the Royal Swedish Opera and Royal Swedish Academy of Music; the latter institutions are still major promoters of Swedish music today. Sweden's most famous classic troubadour was Carl Michael Bellman, who lived from 1740 to 1795; he is famous for his extensive use of the lower class in his works. Later examples of troubadours include Evert Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Fred Åkerström, and Povel Ramel. Amongst other well-known classical Swedish composers are Joseph Martin Kraus, Franz Berwald and Johan Helmich Roman.
Traditional
Swedish folk songs are dominated by ballads and kulning; the latter was originally used as a cow-herding call and is traditionally sung by women. Ballad stories descend from skillingtryck printed songs from the 19th century. Modern bands like Folk och Rackare, Hedningarna and Garmarna incorporated folk songs into their repertoire.
Swedish folk instruments
The fiddle is perhaps the most characteristic and original instrument of the Swedish folk tradition. It had arrived by the 17th century, and became widespread until 19th-century religious fundamentalism preached that most forms of music were sinful and ungodly. Despite the oppression, several fiddlers achieved a reputation for their virtuosity, including Jämtland's Lapp-Nils, Bingsjö's Pekkos Per and Malung's Lejsme-Per Larsson. None of these musicians were ever recorded; the first major fiddler to be recorded was Hjort Anders Olsson. Other early fiddlers of the 20th century included Nils Agenmark and Päkkos Gustaf. There is an extensive traditional repertoire of fiddle tunes, in forms such as the 3/4 polska and the 4/4 gånglåt. One type of fiddle peculiar to Sweden is the låtfiol, a fiddle with two sympathetic strings, similar to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle.
The nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle) is similar to both a fiddle and a hurdy-gurdy, and is known from Sweden since at least 1350, when an image of one was carved on a gate in a church in Gotland.Ling, Jan. 1967. Nyckelharpan: Studier i ett folkligt musikinstrument p.45. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the nyckelharpa was known throughout Sweden, Denmark and particularly in the province of Uppland. The latter has long been a stronghold for nyckelharpa music, including through the 60s revival, which drew on musicians like Byss-Calle from Älvkarleby. The instrument played at this time was not the same as that used today; August Bohlin and Eric Sahlström made changes to the instrument that made it a chromatic and straight, more violin-like instrument. In spite of these innovations, the nyckelharpa's popularity declined until the 1960s roots revival. The nyckelharpa was a prominent part of several revival groups later in the century, especially Väsen and Hedningarna.
The Swedish bagpipes (säckpipa) has been part of a long-running folk tradition, passed down orally until the death of Gudmunds Nils Larsson in 1949. Later revivalists such as Per Gudmundson added a tuning slide and revitalized the instrument.
Accordions and harmonicas were an integral part of Swedish folk music from the beginning of the 20th century, when they contributed to the gammeldans genre. The most famous Swedish accordionist is undoubtedly Kalle Jularbo, who was famous throughout the early 20th century. Later, the accordion fell out of favour within the roots revival, and did not return until the very end of the 1970s.
Roots revival
In the 1960s, Swedish jazz musicians like Jan Johansson used folk influences in their work, resulting in an early 1970s series of music festivals in Stockholm. The Swedish Music Movement reflected a popular trend towards jazz- and rock-oriented folk music, featuring many performers who brought a new vitality to Swedish folk.
Classical
The father of Swedish classical music is often claimed to be Johan Helmich Roman (1694–1758); his most famous work is the Drottningholm Music, written for the wedding of Crown Prince Adolf Frederick. Another influential composer is Carl Michael Bellman, whose patron was the king Gustav III of Sweden. Bellman's songs are often about drinking, prostitution and everyday love troubles. He was a virtuoso improviser, and his songs, in the collections Fredmans epistlar and Fredmans sånger, are widely performed in Europe in different translations. Bellman is most notable for his extensive influence on later Swedish musical traditions. Joseph Martin Kraus (1756–1792) had a life span very similar to that of Mozart, who lived between 1756 and 1792. Kraus was an innovative composer, with a music filled with finesse and bold contrasts. His harmonic language was very personal, although his ability to develop motives never reached the level of the Viennese composers such as Mozart or Haydn. In the early romantic era, Franz Berwald (1796–1868) was the most prominent of the Swedish composers. His music was almost ignored during his lifetime, and he made his living as an orthopedic surgeon. He gained most of his recognition after his death, and composers such as Kurt Atterberg and Wilhelm Stenhammar worked hard to raise interest in Berwald's music.
Wilhelm Stenhammar (1871–1927) was one of the later national romantic composers. He was considered one of the finest pianists of his time. He studied for some years in Berlin, where he came in contact with German high romanticism, such as the music of Bruckner and Wagner, which greatly influenced his two symphonies. He also wrote six string quartets, a respectable amount of piano music and one opera, Tyrfing, on a Norse mythological subject. Another national romantic composer (also a conductor and violinist) was Hugo Alfvén (1872–1960). His orchestration is bright and colorful, reminiscent of that of Richard Strauss, although the harmonic language is quite different. Some of his works, such as the Swedish rhapsodies, are program music, that is, music intended to evoke an extramusical narrative. Alfvén appears as a character in the film The Passion of Marie.
Important composers in the early 1900s are Hilding Rosenberg, Kurt Atterberg and Ture Rangström. The best-known opera singers were the 19th-century soprano Jenny Lind and the 20th-century tenor Jussi Björling, who enjoyed great success abroad. Also the sopranos Christina Nilsson and Birgit Nilsson; tenor Nicolai Gedda; baritone Håkan Hagegård; and, more recently, soprano Miah Persson and mezzo-sopranos Anne Sofie von Otter and Katarina Karnéus—these singers have all become well known in the world of opera. Evert Taube, Povel Ramel, Cornelis Vreeswijk and Fred Akerstrom are all popular modern troubadours, considered to be classics in Swedish music. Sweden also has a very prominent choral music tradition, deriving in part from the cultural importance of Swedish folk songs and the popularity of choir schools.Durant, Colin (2003). Choral Conducting: philosophy and practice, Routledge, pp. 46–47. : "Sweden has a strong and enviable choral singing tradition. In fact, out of a population of 8.9 million, it is estimated that between five hundred thousand and six hundred thousand people sing in choirs... All those interviewed placed great emphasis on the social identification through singing and also referred to the importance of Swedish folk song in the maintenance of the choral singing tradition and national identity."
Choral Sweden has a long tradition of professional and amateur choir singing. A large percentage of the Swedes sing in amateur choirs in various styles. The choirs of Sweden are among the best in the world, with the Radio Choir, run by Sveriges Radio (Swedish public radio) being one of the world's top professional classical choirs. Lunds Studentsångförening (LSS) and Orphei Drängar (OD) are two world-class male choirs singing both in Swedish and other languages. The choir leader Eric Ericson started his career as chief conductor of OD in the 1950s. The Adolf Fredrik's Music School, in Stockholm, is commonly considered Sweden's most prestigious music school.
Modern
Jazz Well-known jazz names include: Alice Babs, who worked with Duke Ellington for many years starting in 1963, Arne Domnerus, who has recorded albums with James Moody, Art Farmer and Clifford Brown, Bengt Hallberg, Bobo Stenson, Esbjörn Svensson Trio, composer and jazz musician Georg Riedel, Georg Wadenius, best-selling jazz musician Jan Johansson, the jazz duo Koop, Lars Gullin, the multi-instrumentalist and composer Magnus Lindgren, singer and actress Monica Zetterlund, Nils Landgren, Putte Wickman, Rolf Ericson, guitarist Ulf Wakenius, and Åke Hasselgård. In addition, American jazz trumpeter Don Cherry was based in Sweden for much of his later life.
Popular music
Sweden is one of the world's biggest exporters of music relative to the size of its economy and population. The most famous Swedish popular music act of all time is ABBA, composed of members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. After winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, ABBA grew to become the dominant pop band of the 70s and early 80s. Their sales figures are disputed but claims have been made of 380 million records around the world, making them the second-most successful group in history after The Beatles. ABBA continues to sell around one million records a year worldwide. ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus have been very successful in musical theatre, with their international hit Mamma Mia!, as well as Chess, and Kristina från Duvemåla, which was a major success in Sweden. The female members also pursued solo careers after the breakup. Agnetha Fältskog has scored various hits as a solo artist, with her 2013 album A selling up to 1.5 million copies worldwide.
ABBA marked the beginning of an era in which Swedish pop music gained international prominence, a position it still maintains today. After the UK, Sweden is the European nation with the most number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100: as of 2019, seven recordings by Swedish artists have reached the #1 position. The first one was a 1974 cover version of "Hooked on a Feeling", performed by Blue Swede, followed by ABBA's "Dancing Queen" in 1977. Roxette had four number-one hits between 1989 and 1991: "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love" and "Joyride", and in 1994 Ace of Base reached the top with their hit "The Sign".