City in Sweden. Its musical life has been largely determined by the city’s having been the seat of the Archbishop of Sweden since 1273 (which Gamla Uppsala had been since 1164) and the site of the oldest university in Scandinavia, founded in 1477. The cathedral houses the relics of St Eric (d 1160), for whom a rhymed Office was composed. A chief promoter of the Eric cult was Nils Alleson, who studied in Paris during the 1270s and as archbishop from 1292 laid down regulations for the cathedral choir, which on occasion sang polyphony (organum). After the Reformation, Gregorian chant was slowly supplanted by Lutheran chorale melodies which were codified in the chorale book compiled by Harald Vallerius in 1697. It was used in all Swedish churches until replaced in 1820–21 by the chorale book of J.C.F. Haeffner. After Haeffner’s time oratorios were performed in the cathedral by the Filharmoniska Sällskap (Philharmonic Society, 1849–c1920) and the Akademiska Kapell and later by the cathedral's own musical forces. In 1867 a regular cathedral choir was founded by J.A. Josephson and in 1920 a boys’ choir (Uppsala Domkyrkas Gosskör) was instigated by Archbishop Nathan Söderblom. In 1927 H. Weman inaugurated a series of evening services with concert performances.
The university’s significance for musical life in Uppsala began after its reorganization in 1593. King Gustavus II Adolphus’s preliminary statutes of 1621 included provision for an ‘Archimedes’ professor who was to lecture on music and the other liberal arts, according to the system of Johann Thomas Freig. Practical and particularly instrumental music assumed a prominent place with the appointment of Jonas Columbus to the chair of poetry and music in 1628. Since the time of Olof Rudbeck’s first appointment as rector magnificus (1661–2) the university has had an instrumental ensemble, later called the Akademiska Kapell, second in age among orchestras in Sweden only to that of the royal chapel (the present opera orchestra). Although its main function today is to contribute to academic ceremonies, it also gives regular concerts as part of the concert association.
Rudbeck also took over the direction of a collegium musicum. Under his best-known pupil Harald Vallerius (lecturer in mathematics from 1680 and professor from 1690) several dissertations on questions of music theory were published. His work was carried on by J.A. Bellman (d 1709) and from 1724 by Eric Burman. The university’s excellence in the theory and practice of music at this time won the praise of Johann Mattheson (1740).
Musical life in Uppsala revived around E.G. Geijer, the professor of history and musician, and J.C.F. Haeffner, director musices (leader of the orchestra) at the university from 1808. Under Haeffner a male choir tradition on the German model became established. His compositions for male choir provided a focus for unity for the students, who were influenced by the nationalist ideas of the Romantic movement. As a result the Uppsala Studentkårs Allmänna Sångförening (Uppsala Students' Choral Union) was founded in 1830 and received its statutes in 1842. Its period of greatest activity was under Oscar Arpi during the 1850s and 1860s; it is now a mixed choir. In 1853 the Sångsällskap Orphei Drängar, an élite male student choir, was founded, and particularly under I.E. Hedenblad, Hugo Alfvén and Eric Ericson it has made concert tours in Europe and the USA and gained an international reputation. The Academic Chamber Choir (1957), a mixed choir, grew out of the musical activities of the Norrlands Nation (Norrland Student Club).
Regular concert organizations were not established until the 20th century. A Konsertförening (Concert Association), founded in 1916 and reconstituted in 1942, gave a subscription series of orchestral concerts. In 1977 the Upplands Musikstiftelse took over, in its turn succeeded by Musik i Uppland. This incorporated the Municipal Chamber Orchestra, a string ensemble of professional musicians founded in 1968, and the State Regional Music organization, which had its origin in the Uppsala military music corps. The planning for a professional orchestra was the work of the then director musices, Carl Rune Larsson. In 1902 the Sällskap för Kammarmusik was established and conducted by W. Lundgren; from 1930 to 1936 chamber music was encouraged by the Mellersta Sveriges Kammarmusikförening (Mid-Swedish Chamber Music Society) and thereafter by the Kammarmusikförening. The Värmlands Nations Musikcirkel (music circle of the Värmland students’ club) was particularly active in promoting contemporary music in the 1940s and the Sällskap Samtida Musik (Contemporary Music Society) was founded in 1949. The Joculatores Upsalienses was founded in 1965 by a group of young musicologists specializing in the performance of early music on period instruments.
University lectures in music history were instituted in 1864 by the director musices J.A. Josephson; in 1927 C.-A. Moberg gave the first series of lectures in musicology and from 1947 to 1961 occupied what was the first chair of musicology in Sweden. His successors were Ingmar Bengtsson (to 1985) and Erik Kjellberg. Education in music for school-age children is given mainly in the Municipal Music School (1950).
The university library, the largest in Sweden, has extensive music holdings including medieval liturgical manuscripts and printed and manuscript music from the 16th century to today (see Libraries).
S.C. Bull: ‘Ole Bull and Uppsala Students’, Magazine of Music, iii (1886), 109 only
T. Norlind: ‘Musiken i Uppsala under 1600-talet’, Kult och konst, iv (1908), 29
G. Kallstenius: Blad ur Uppsalasångens historia (Stockholm, 1913)
G. Kallstenius: Uppsalasången 1913–1930 (Uppsala, 1930)
I. Milveden: ‘Tradition och förnyelse i Uppsalastiftets musikliv’, Uppsala ärkestift i ord och bild (Stockholm, 1954), 445
E. Haeger: ‘Haeffner och universitetsmusiken i Uppsala’, STMf, xxxix (1957), 114–25
G. Taube: Musik, dans, språk och andra akademiska färdigheter i Uppsala (Uppsala, 1963)
C.H. Martling and H. Weman: Uppsala domkyrkokör 100 år (Uppsala, 1967)
A. Hallenberg: ‘Musiklivet i Uppsala’, Musik-kultur, xxxiii (1969), 14
F. Bohlin: ‘Musik-in i Uppsala: en idé att ta efter’, Musiklivet – Vår sång, xliv/2 (1971), 4
A. Hallenberg: ‘Kommunala musikskolan, Uppsala’, Musik-kultur, xxxv/6 (1971), 6
B. Kyhlberg: Musiken i Uppsala under stormaktstiden, 1 (Stockholm, 1974)
Akademiska kapellet i Uppsala under 350 år: en översikt från ‘chorus musicus’ till symfonisk samverkan (Uppsala, 1977)
L. Jonsson: Ljusets riddarvakt: 1800-talets studentsång utövad som offentlig samhällskonst (Uppsala, 1990)
CARL-ALLAN MOBERG/JAN OLOF RUDÉN