Laura Valborg Aulin, 1860 - 1928:

A musical family

Born in Gävle 9 January 1860. Died in Örebro 13 March 1928. Sister of the six year younger Tor Bernhard Vilhelm, violinist, composer and conductor. Valborg Aulin was literally born in to the music. Her parents were Lars Axel Alfred and Edla Aulin, née Holmberg. The mother had planned to become a singer but a weak health prevented her career. The father held a doctor’s degree in Greek about the poet Kallimachos. As many other academics, in these days, he earned a living as senior master at the Stockholm secondary school, where he taught classical languages. During his student years at Uppsala University he developed affection for chamber music, and he became one of Sweden’s foremost amateur violinists 1). As such, he took a leading role in the Mazer Quartet Society, where he played violin and viola. This must have been an ideal environment for a young girl to develop her musical abilities.

Performing

In 1880 the first public performance together with her brother Tor took place at Brunns-salongen in Söderköping. The following year the siblings went on tour to Norrland. Tor also joined the Mazer Quartet Society, but Valborg was not allowed to, since in those days, the club meetings were open for men exclusively.

Studies

Valborg Aulin was taught piano by her grandmother, an excellent pianist (performer and teacher). At the age of twelve, Valborg began her studies with Hilda Thegerström, one of the most respected pianists at the time. One year later, Valborg Aulin entered her composition studies for Albert Rubenson, and subsequently at the Stockholm Conservatory for Herman Behrens and Ludvig Norman. She received the Jenny Lind Travelling Fellowship (1885-87) and went abroad: first to Copenhagen - studies for Niels W Gade 2) - and later to Paris 1886, with studies for Jules Massenet, Ernest Guiraud and Benjamin Godard.

Teaching and composing

Back in Stockholm Valborg Aulin settled as a teacher (piano, harmony, counterpoint and composition). Parallel to these tasks she continued to compose, and between 1887 and 1901 she gave recitals with music of her own. As a pianist she performed frequently and she joined forces with her brother and the Aulin Quartet from the very beginning: (Saint-Saëns second piano quartet, B Major op. 41 in 1887, Mozart G Minor quartet in 1889).

There is no obvious explanation why Valborg Aulin decided to accept an occupation as organ player and teacher in the provincial Örebro, some 200 km west of Stockholm. Partially due to international competition, the Aulin Quartet radually ceased to perform. The early death of Ludvig Norman, and later on, the loss of other protectors, might also have been a reason. This, combined with the lack of supporting and inspiring friends maybe made her position impossible in the conservative music life in Stockholm.

The E Minor quartet, op. 17

The two string quartets of Valborg Aulin are the most important Swedish achievements in their genre from the 1880s. Aulin’s second string quartet was written 1889 and given its premiere on March 24, 1890 3), at a concert in the auditorium of the Swedish Academy of Sciences. In April it received its second
performance in the organ room of the Royal Academy of Music. The premiere programme also contained Grieg’s, by then, most popular G Minor quartet as well as Rubinstein’s A Minor Violin sonata. The ensemble was, of course, the Aulin Quartet 4).

The critic Adolf Lindgren found the E Minor quartet less inventive than its predecessor, however better crafted in all its technical aspects. After the premiere, the quartet was put to sleep for a century, and there is no evidence that it was performed before the Tale Quartet revived it one hundred years later in the fall of 1991. One recent performance was given by the Örebro String Quartet in Grünewald-salen in the Stockholm Concert Hall. By mistake, the musicians had got the wrong material, and hence performed the E Minor quartet, even though the F Major quartet was announced.