Bildning och nöje. Bidrag till studiet av de svenska blåsmusikkårerna under 1800-talets senare hälft

Sammanfattning: During the latter part of the 19th century a large number of civilian wind bands, spread over a wide geographical area, developed in Sweden. The general section of this thesis describes the beginning of a transformation of the Swedish society into a more urbanized society. The new musical culture which arose among the people – the ”urban-popular” music culture – is brought into focus. The background of this suddenly rising interest in band playing is analyzed, largely from an ideological perspective. The ideals of adult education, brought over mainly from Great Britain, which was realized in Sweden by the liberal middle class, were an important background factor. In the special section of the thesis different types of bands are studied. These were on the one hand those developed within the popular movements and similar national organisations (of which the ”Skarpskytterörelsen”, a home defence organisation, the liberal workers´ associations, the temperance movement, and Salvation Army have been chosen). On the other hand there were also bands linked to individual factories. Key questions here concern the reasons for and possibility of starting bands and the social contexts in which the bands appeared. The wind bands became popular in the towns as well in the countryside. They often received economic support from individuals in the middle class. The musicians were mainly recruited from the lower classes. The middle class musical associations of the towns served as a sort of model. The bands played an important role during the transition period from the ´rural´ to the `urban´ musical cultures, a transition that was especially marked in the countryside and took place during a relatively long period. Two supplementary sections of the thesis concern the work of the military musicians as a postscript (´ Efterord´) focuses upon changes that led to a decrease in the importance of the bands in the Swedish society. Keywords: adult education, band, brass band, military band, musical history of the 19th century, popular movements, popular music, Salvation army, Sweden, wind band, wind instruments.