Tor Aulin

Tor Aulin (b Stockholm, 10 Sept 1866; d Saltsjöbaden, 1 March 1914). Swedish violinist, composer and conductor, brother of Valborg Aulin.

He studied from 1877 to 1883 with J. Lindberg (violin) and C. Nordqvist (theory) at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music and in Berlin from 1884 to 1886 with E. Sauret (violin) and P. Scharwenka (composition). He was active as an orchestral musician in the early years of his career and served as leader of the Swedish Hovkapell from 1889 to 1902. In 1887 he founded the Aulin Quartet, which made annual tours of Sweden and other northern European countries until it was disbanded in 1912; it specialized not only in the Classical repertory, particularly Beethoven, but in a wide-ranging representation of the works of Scandinavian composers, above all Berwald, Grieg, E. Sjögren and W. Stenhammar. From 1890 Aulin worked closely with Stenhammar, who also took part in most of the Aulin Quartet’s tours as pianist. His circle of friends also included Grieg and Sjögren.

From 1900 Aulin devoted his time increasingly to conducting: until 1902 he directed the Svenska Musikerförbundets Orkester, from 1902 to 1909 the Stockholm Concert Society (founded largely through his initiative) and from 1909 to 1912 the Göteborg Orchestral Society. He conducted the first performance of Berwald’s Sinfonie singulière, which he subsequently edited for publication. In 1895 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music.

As a composer Aulin was stylistically as close to German Romanticism as to the Scandinavians. He is best remembered for the last of his three violin concertos, op.14 in C minor, a highly accomplished work reflecting the influence of Bruch and Schumann as well as that of Grieg. He also composed numerous songs and chamber works, wrote incidental music to the play Mäster Olof by his friend Strindberg, and made transcriptions for violin and piano of some of Sjögren’s songs.