Sven-Erik Bäck was a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 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...

 of classical music

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

. He was born 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...

.

Bäck studied from 1939 until 1943 in the King's Music-Academy and from 1940 until 1945, was a composition student of Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg

Hilding Rosenberg , was the first Swedish modernist composer, and one of the most influential figures in Swedish 20th century classical music....

. He travelled in 1951 to have further studies with Goffredo Petrassi

Goffredo Petrassi

Goffredo Petrassi was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.-Life:...

 in Rome.

As of 1953 he was the leader of the chamber orchestra of the Swedish Radio Orchestra. He was also a member of string quartets - the Kyndel Quartet from 1940 to 1944 and the Barkel Quartet from 1944 to 1953.

Bäck composed three 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...

s, five works for ballet

Ballet

Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...

, many 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...

s, a number of works for chamber ensemble

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...

 including at least four string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s, an oratorio, cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

s, choral

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 works, lied

Lied

is a German word literally meaning "song", usually used to describe romantic songs setting German poems of reasonably high literary aspirations, especially during the nineteenth century, beginning with Carl Loewe, Heinrich Marschner, and Franz Schubert and culminating with Hugo Wolf...

er and music for plays

Play (theatre)

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...

 and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

.

He died in Stockholm in 1994.

Works for stage and opera

• Tranfjädrarna (The Twilight Crane), Chamber Opera, 1956
• Gästabudet (The Banquet), Chamber Opera, 1956
• Fågeln (The Bird), Chamber Opera, 1960

Chamber works other than piano solo works

• String quartets (nos. 1 (1945), 2 (1947), 3 (1962), 4 (1984))
• String quintet Exercitier (1948)
• Sonata for solo flute, 1949
• Sonata for two cellos, 1957
• Decet for wind quintet and string quintet (1973)
• String octet (1988)

Piano works

• Piano sonata (1942)
• Expansive preludes : for piano (1949)
• Sonata alla ricercare (1950) (recorded on MHS 3363, 1976 by Kjell Bækkelund, and on Roland Pöntinen
  Roland Pöntinen
  Roland Peter Pöntinen is a Swedish pianist and composer.He is the son of a Finnish-speaking father, a native of the Russian district of Ingria who emigrated from the Soviet Union to Sweden in 1945...
  
  's complete survey of Bäck's piano music for BIS)
• Sonata in two movements and epilogue (1984)

Concertos

• Violin concerto (1957/1960)
• Cello concerto (1966) http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=3&composerId_2905=58
• Ciclos, piano concerto (1977)

Without soloist

• String symphony (1951)
• Chamber symphony (1955)
• String symphony no. 2 (1986)