Erik Nordgren

Herman "Erik" Nordgren (13 February 1913 – 6 March 1992) was a Swedish composer, arranger and bandleader. Erik Nordgren was born in Sireköpinge, Malmöhus County, and grew up in the Skåne countryside. In 1941 he graduated from College of Music in Stockholm. As a musician, he played viola . Between 1945 and 1973 he wrote music for more than 60 Swedish films, including 18 of the Ingmar Bergman's most famous films, such as The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, The Virgin Spring, and Jan Troell s Pause in the marshland , Here's Your Life and The Emigrants ; the last film work in 1971. In addition, he collaborated with directors Alf Sjöberg, Hasse Ekman, Gustaf Molander, Alf Kjellin and Lars-Erik Stewart. He was music director at the Swedish Film Industry, 1953-1967, and then 1967-1977 he served as orchestra director at the SR. In addition he wrote three string quartets, chamber symphony (1944), Concerto for clarinet (1950), Concerto for Bassoon (1960) and Music for orchestra. From the 1960s, he composed electronic music, something that was not so well known to most people.

For the music to Wild Strawberries he won a special award from the magazine Folket i Bild, as well as an award of Swedish film community in 1957. He died in Västerhaninge.