Stellan Arwidsson

Karl Artur Stellan Arvidsson, who also called himself Stellan Arwidsson, was born on 7 June 1885 in Gothenburg (Sweden). Nothing is known about his youth and musical education. After finishing school, he worked for his father, who was a merchant. In 1924, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and imbecility and was committed to the "Lillhagens sjukhus" asylum. Stellan Arwidsson passed away there on 11 February 1933.

What makes this life story so special is the fact that Stellan Arwidsson felt the need to play and compose music. Thus, from 1920 onwards, he repeatedly gave piano recitals in Gothenburg, during which he played his own compositions. On March 4, 1921, a music critic for the Göteborgs Dagblad published the following extraordinary text:

"A warning.

Some time ago, I received a visit from a youth, Stellan Arwidsson, who asked to hand over to me, in my capacity as music reviewer for "Göteborgs Dagblad", a couple of tickets to a "concert" that he intended to give in the hall of the New Commercial Institute (Nya Handelsinstitutet) that same evening. He intended to exclusively play "own compositions".
I was very surprised, as I knew the youth by reputation but had never heard him spoken of as even remotely mature for the concert stage, and I therefore asked him to play for me the first number on the program, Variations on a Theme by Liszt.
The youth boldly sat down at the grand piano and began to pound away. What he produced did not have even the most remote resemblance to piano playing. And his "variations" had just as little resemblance to anything that could be called a composition. The whole thing was pure, unadulterated humbug!
When I had listened for a moment, I interrupted the youth:
"You are not a little brazen, daring to come here to me and ask me to visit your so-called 'concert' and, to top it all off, review it. I advise you to cancel this humbug, because otherwise, you will get the public thrashing that you deserve."
"You cannot come to my concert anyway, as you probably have to go and listen to the London Quartet," the youth replied quite cheekily. "And besides, I am giving my concert no matter what you do. I need to earn money!"
In the evening, I visited Stellan Arwidson's concert for a while. It was exclusively pure, unadulterated humbug. The audience consisted of a mass of adolescent boys and girls, who had apparently shown up only to make fun of the concert-giver and cause a racket. However, the principal of the Commercial Institute had caught wind of what kind of event Stellan Arwidsson's concert actually was. He therefore appeared with a couple of teachers and kept the "concert audience" at least somewhat under control.
I now intended, as I had promised the youth Arwidsson, to give him a proper thrashing for his impudence, but I refrained from this when I heard that he might possibly not be fully of sound mind.
Nor would I have brought up this story now, had I not seen that the same Stellan Arwidsson has recently been publicly advertising a "Piano Concert" with "own compositions" in the Y.M.C.A. (K.F.U.M.) hall for Monday the 7th of this month.
If the youth is not of sound mind, his relatives have an unconditional duty to take care of him so that he does not cause a public scandal.
But if he is playing a game — which I for my part am most inclined to assume — and dares to give his "concerts" solely thanks to a rare, exceptionally large portion of impudence, then it is an act that truly deserves public reprimand.
In any case, I want to warn everyone against visiting Stellan Arwidsson's concert on Monday. If he gives it out of impudence to earn money, then it is a scam and a fraud that should not be encouraged. And if he is a poor fool, then this ought to deter people from visiting.
Music is, after all, surely something far too great and sublime to be allowed, unchallenged, to be dragged down into ridicule publicly in this manner."

In the visual arts, there is a distinct category for works by artists with psychological impairments, known as "Art Brut". The sense or nonsense of such a classification shall not be addressed here, but rather the fact that in music, there has so far been little to no recognition or space for compositions by these individuals. Assuming a similar categorization, what is missing is a "Musique Brute". Stellan Arwidsson is a representative of this music, and it will be fascinating to see what today's music world thinks of his work.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the "Piano sonata No.1 in e minor op.5" by Stellan Arwidsson. The work was composed between 1917 and 1919.