Mankell, (Ivar) Henning

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Mankell, (Ivar) Henning

Mankell, (Ivar) Henning, Swedish composer, teacher, and music critic; b. Härnösand, June 3,1868; d. Stockholm, May 8,1930. He received piano lessons from Hilda Thegerström and Lennart Lundberg, and also studied at the Stockholm Cons, (from 1887), where he took diplomas in organ (1889) and music education (1891). As a composer, he was autodidact. After teaching in Härnösand, he settled in Stockholm in 1899 as a teacher of piano and harmony. He also wrote music criticism for the Svenska Margonbladet and Stockholms-Tidningen (1899–1907), and was active as a short-story writer. In 1917 he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Music. Mankell’s compositions, most especially his works for piano, are the work of a gifted individualist writing in a basically Romantic vein. His vast output of piano music included a Piano Concerto (1917), sonatas, ballads, nocturnes, impromptus, préludes, intermezzi, legends, miniatures, etc. He also wrote 3 string quartets, a Piano Quintet, a Piano Trio, violin sonatas, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire