Biography
Lars Johan Werle was a Swedish composer. Born in Gävle on 23 June 1926, he was largely self-taught in composition before studying musicology at Uppsala University from 1948 to 1950 and counterpoint with Sven-Erik Bäck from 1949 to 1952. He sang in the Bel Canto chorus and worked as a jazz musician, later serving as a producer at Swedish Radio from 1958 to 1970.
Werle composed operas including Drömmen om Thérèse (1964) and Resan (1969), as well as choral and vocal works. His Pentagram for string quartet won first prize at the Gaudeamus Festival in 1960. He scored Ingmar Bergman’s films Persona (1966) and Hour of the Wolf (1968), and also Ön (1966). He taught at the National Music Drama School and, from 1977, at the Gothenburg Music Academy. Werle died in Gothenburg on 3 August 2001.
