Claude Loyola Allgén

Claude Loyola Allgén (16 April 1920 – 18 September 1990), officially Claude Johannes Maria Klas Thure Allgén, was a Swedish composer. Background and early life Allgén was born in Calcutta. His 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. Here Allgén studied counterpoint with Melcher Melchers and viola with Charles Barkel. 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. In 1941 he graduated from the Academy of Music and sought further studies with Hilding Rosenberg, but found little encouragement from his tutelage. Religious conversion Due to his conversion to Roman Catholicism Allgén changed his formal first name in 1950, choosing to adopt the names Claude Johannes Maria after a number of saints. He added Loyola after his Catholic confirmation, during which the