Education
Here Allgén studied counterpoint with Melcher Melchers and viola with Charles Barkel. In 1941 he graduated from the Academy of Music and sought further studies with Hilding Rosenberg, but found little encouragement from his tutelage.
Here Allgén studied counterpoint with Melcher Melchers and viola with Charles Barkel. In 1941 he graduated from the Academy of Music and sought further studies with Hilding Rosenberg, but found little encouragement from his tutelage.
The Allgén family lived briefly in Pixbo (1926-1929) and then Gothenburg before moving to Djursholm, where Allgén spent most of his childhood. At age 12-13 he began studying the violin but soon switched to viola and at sixteen was accepted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. During the 1940s Allgén belonged to the ’Monday Group’ (Måndagsgruppen) along with other radical modernist composers such as Karl-Birger Blomdahl, Sven-Erik Bäck and Hans Leygraf.
However, Allgén overestimated the importance of his role in the group.
After his conversion Allgén studied for the priesthood in Innsbruck, Austria and in the Netherlands, but was never ordained. He instead retreated to to Sweden where he lived as a pauper.
Lacking income, Allgén was forced to live on social benefits and refused to accept early retirement. Allgén is described as a distinctive personality, which in part led to his social exclusion as a composer.
Allgén’s entire musical production was long alleged to be technically unplayable but recent consideration has shown this to be untrue.
Although many of the works highly technically demanding several musicians since the late 1980s have incorporated Allgén’s works into their repertoire. Allgén died in a fire at his house in Täby in 1990. Due to unpaid bills the power to his property had been discontinued and it is thought most likely that he left a candle unattended as he slept.
The fire destroyed parts of his musical production, including his last composition Horror Vacui, written for the Stockholm Saxophone Quartet.