Svensk Körklang

This thesis aims to show factors that have formed the basis for what we today can term as the Swedish choir sound. ? Historical ideals are compared with more modern research in my quest to describe the origin of how a Swedish choir singer sounds. By comparing how Swedish vowels affect overtones in the singing voice in different ways, I will explain how this also affects the sound of a choir. In this way, I want to describe a sound that is not typical for a particular choir leader or choir, but a sound that spans the genre and generation boundaries within classical art music. The main parts of the dissertation are: Amateurs and professionals – a Swedish tradition, Swedish, the singing language and Early Swedish choir pedagogy. ? My concerts related to this thesis have been aimed to show the connection between not only language and the sound, but also repertoire and the sound. In this thesis I explain the linguistic and social phenomena that have laid the foundation for the fact that today there is a way of singing that has come to be something of a national symbol for the choir-singing nation of Sweden.