Franz Berwald

Born one year before Schubert and dying the same year as Rossini, Swedish composer Franz Berwald was a key figure in early romanticism. In his four symphonies, which are named rather than numbered, Berwald introduced "Nordic style" 50 years before it took hold in works of Sibelius and Nielsen. Ignored for most of his life, Berwald only gained recognition at the very end, making his living through odd jobs and a string of failed businesses. While only one of his operas, Estrella de Soria (1841), was successful, his orchestral overtures remain popular as does his early chamber work Grand Septet (1828).