Elfrida Andrée, Swedish organist and composer, was born in Visby, Feb. 19, 1841, and died in Göteborg, Jan. 11, 1929. Like her sister, the important opera singer Fredricka Stenhammar, she had her first instruction in music from her father. She studied composition with Ludwig Norman at the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm, and later took lessons with Niels Gade in Copenhagen. At the same time, she studied telegraphy and was the first woman telegraph operator in Sweden. She was a keen supporter of the suffragette movement. In 1867 she was appointed organist at the Göteborg Cathedral. She established a series of popular concerts and presented about 800 programs. In consideration for her achievements, she was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Music. She was a pioneer among Swedish women as an organist and composer. She wrote four symphonies, a Swedish Mass, which had frequent performances. Her numerous organ works include two “symphonies”, one with wind instruments.
Her style reflected the ideas of the Leipzig school and the Scandinavian nationalism of her day. In addition to this string quartet, she composed a piano quintet, two sonatas and several “Romances” for violin and piano, and a piano quartet.
