This interest found its way into most of his works and thus attracted an international audience for Swedish folk music. Alfvén's most popular works, along with "Midsommarvaka" ("Midsummer Vigil"), include "Sveriges flagga" ("Swedish flag"), which has become a sort of second Swedish national anthem; "Festpel", composed for the 1908 opening of the Stockholm New Dramatic Theatre; "Elegi" and "Roslagsvar" ("Spring in Roslag").

Alfvén was also a gifted visual artist -- in the same way he created a colorful musical portrait of the annual Swedish summer feast in "Midsommarvaka," he was able to capture Sweden's colorful landscapes in his paintings.

View some of Alfvén's water colors     at the Hugo Alfvén Society Web site Detail: Anacapri (1922) Hugo Alfvén