Ingmar Kristian Liljefors (13 December 1906 - 14 October 1981) was a Swedish composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, writer on music, and music educator. Born in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

, Liljefors was the son of composer and conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 Ruben Liljefors

Ruben Liljefors

Ruben Mattias Liljefors was a Swedish composer and conductor.Liljefors studied in Uppsala with Ivar Eggert Hedenblad until 1895, and subsequently in Leipzig with Salomon Jadassohn until 1899. Later he attended the Stockholm Conservatory. He completed his education with Felix Draeseke, Max Reger,...

. His own son, Mats Liljefors, is a successful conductor and violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist.

In 1933 Liljefors co-founded Fylkingen

Fylkingen

Fylkingen is a society for experimental music and arts, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1933, one of the world's oldest societies of its kind. Composer Ingemar Liljefors served as the organization's first Chairman from 1933-1946....

, a society for experimental music and arts. He served as the first Chairman of that organization from 1933-1946. He was also the Chairman of Föreningen Svenska Tonsättare (Association of Swedish Composers) from 1947-1963. In 1958 he was named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

. He taught music composition, harmony

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

 and piano for many years at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm

Royal College of Music, Stockholm

The Royal College of Music, Stockholm is the oldest institution of higher education in music in Sweden, founded in 1771 as the conservatory of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music...

 where he was appointed full professor in 1968. One of his pupils was composer Ruth Schönthal

Ruth Schonthal

Ruth Schönthal was a pianist and contemporary composer.-Early years:...

. He died in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 in 1981 at the age of 74.

In addition to teaching in the classroom, Liljefors also wrote several music theory text books which were used by many music schools in his native country. These included Harmonilärans grunder med ackordanalys enligt funktionsteorien (C.A.V. Lundberg, 1937), Harmonisk analys enligt funktionsteorien (C. A. V. Lundholm, 1951), Romantisk harmonik ur pedagogisk synvinkel (Nordiska Musikförlaget, 1969), and Harmonik och sats: Schubert till Ravel (Erika, 1976). As a composer, his output included an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, a symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

, several works for string orchestra

String orchestra

A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...

, a piano and a violin concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

, a concertino, a rhapsody for piano and orchestra, many solo piano pieces and songs, and numerous chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

works. His compositions were characterized by their use of elements of Swedish folk music, particularly with regard to rhythm.