The fonds comprises records illustrating the musical activities of Bengt Hambraeus: works for solo instruments, voice, choir, chamber ensemble, orchestra, and orchestra with soloist(s); operas; incidental music; correspondence; programmes; texts; notes; sound recordings of works by Hambraeus and others, of him performing, of interviews and lectures.
Hambraeus, Bengt, 1928-2000 : A Stockholm-born composer, organist, teacher and musicologist, Bengt Hambraeus studied organ with Alf Linder, musicology with Carl-Allan Moberg, organ acoustics with Ernst Karl Rössler, and composition with Olivier Messiaen. From 1957 to 1972, he held various positions with the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation (including that of program producer and head of production). In 1971, Hambraeus hosted a series of conferences in Canada and the U.S. on contemporary Swedish music. The following year he joined the faculty of music at McGill University, where he taught composition, theory, musicology and organ improvisation until 1995. Hambraeus' research, both in early and electroacoustic music, has helped make his work a rich and valuable focal point. His compositions (more than 150) are played at modern music festivals around the world, as well as in Canada by musicians and ensembles such as the Lyric Arts Trio, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Vivienne Spiteri, Luba and Ireneus Zuk, Lawrence Cherney, Hugh McLean, and Bruce Mather. Hambraeus' major works include Rencontres, Constellations V, Responsories, Motetum Archangeli Michaelis, Symphonia Sacra in Tempore Passionis, and Apocalipsis cum Figuris. As a tribute to Jacques Cartier, he also wrote the libretto and music for the opera L'Ouï-dire. He received numerous awards and distinctions, including Sweden's Royal Medal Litteris et Artibus (1986) and the University of Gothenburg's Neemi Järvi Award (1993).
