Johan Helmich Roman

Johan Helmich Roman was born on October 26, 1694, in Stockholm into the Royal Court Orchestra. Sent to London in 1715, he spent six years studying composition, oboe, and violin under George Frideric Handel and Johann Christoph Pepusch, playing in Handel's opera orchestras.

Returning to Sweden in 1721, Roman was appointed royal Kapellmeister in 1727. In 1731, he shattered aristocratic monopoly by organizing Sweden's first public subscription concerts at Riddarhuset. His crowning compositional glory was the Drottningholmsmusiken (1744), a suite of twenty-four radiant movements composed for the royal wedding of Crown Prince Adolf Frederick and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. He also translated treatises by Fux into Swedish, dedicating his final years to sacred music.