Andreas Randel

Andreas Randel (6 October 1806 – 27 October 1864) was a Swedish composer and violinist. The overture to his The People from Vårmland was recorded by Kungliga Hovkapellet Stig Westerburg.

Biography Randel got his last name from Ramdala parish; he was originally called Pettersson. He worked as a concertmaster at the Royal Swedish Opera, regiment musician and was a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music when he died. Randel learned to play pole shoes and hymns on a violin he got from a wandering player. In 1818 he came to Karlskrona where he was noted for his talent, among others by free lord Gerhard De Geer, who raised him together with his own sons. In 1821, with the support of Crown Prince Oscar, he traveled to Paris to study violin playing for Pierre Baillot and composition for Luigi Cherubini.

He returned to Stockholm with a high rating in 1828, and immediately got a position as violinist. In 1838 he became second concertmaster in the court chapel and in 1861 first chaplain. Since 1844 he had been a violin teacher and from 1859 a professor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, where he had become a member in 1837. For several years he worked as music director of the 2nd Life Grenadier Regiment and between 1853 and 1862 he was leader of the Par Bricole singing choir. In 1858 he made a concert tour to Germany and France.