"This premiere Sterling recording features the works of Helena Munktell, a renowned female composer, and performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Tobias Ringborg as conductor; the Radio Choir with Hans Vainikainen; and finally, the KFUM Chamber Choir with Hakan Bostrom. In the spring of 1889, the magazine Svensk Musiktidning reported that an opéra-comique entitled I Firenze [In Florence] would be performed at the Royal Opera in Stockholm later in the season. The music was composed by Helena Munktell, 'who has done extensive music studies in Paris and who has previously made a reputation as a composer through songs, and also a work for orchestra'. The libretto to this one-act opera, which takes place in an artist’s studio in 15th-century Florence, was said to have been written by Daniel Fallström, a popular writer and journalist at the time. A first performance is always a great occurrence, and the opera genre was the most artistically prestigious. In addition: this was the first opera written by a Swedish female composer, ow to be performed in the ancient Gustavian opera building. Up to then, it was mainly Helena Munktell’s romances that were publicly heard, and she was considered having a sensitive feeling for the human voice. She was taught singing and knew how to shape the vocal parts to suit well. There were many singers in her circle of friends, and when they performed her romances, she was often the accompanist. Although Helena Munktell, like other female composers, encountered opposition from male colleagues, she at long last received recognition also from those in power in the Swedish music life. In 1915, she was elected as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and consequently she was the first woman to be elected solely on merits as a composer. And when the Swedish Society of Composers was formed in 1918, she was the only woman among the 38 founders."

Artists

Joel Annmo, Frederik Zetterstrom, Marcus Jupither, Niklas Bjorling, Susanna Andersson, Torbjorn Lillieqvist, Fredrik Zetterstrom, Jenny Ohlson Akre, Bjorn Gafvert, Michael Engstrom, Stefan Therstam, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sveriges Radiokören, KFUM Kammarkör, Tobias Ringborg, Hans Vainikainen, Håkan Boström