Psalmkompositören och den egna församlingen – Maria Löfberg i fokus

Resumé

The Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan) is in the midst of the process of renewing or even replacing its current hymn book. This article studies the hymn production taking place within the local congregation, namely by the local church musician. Renowned composer and organist Maria Löfberg acts as a case study, to function as a prism to illumine different topics concerned and highlight the complexity of the multifaceted role of the hymn composing church musician. Her main motive for composing hymns is a presumed lack of hymns specifically tailored for each Sunday in the church year. The texts for her hymns are usually written by Bertil Murray whereas the modern worship songs have texts by local minister Markus Leandersson, where the shift in writer also shifts the theological and liturgical focus. Musically she uses a variety of styles, including the frequent use of pastiche, emphasizing the message and liturgic function above an individualized personal style. The incorporation of the newly composed songs and hymns is consciously spread out to avoid an unfamiliarness within the congregation and also to eschew an unwanted focus on the originator, which sometimes means composing under pseudonym. The risks include the loss materiality, an overemphasize on a local repertoire and thereby loss of connection to the denomination as a whole, and the idolization of the local church musician. Most of the risks can be evaded by an approach of contextualized servitude.