Elfrida Andrée, the youngest daughter of a Swedish musical family, demonstrated early talent and at fourteen began studying organ in Stockholm. She became Sweden’s first female organist in 1857 at age sixteen and was later appointed Sweden’s first female cathedral organist. It would take 150 years before another woman would follow in her footsteps. She enjoyed remarkable success as a choir leader, teacher, conductor, and composer with a catalogue of approximately 120 works across a range of genres. In 1868, she took on the ambitious task of composing her Symphony No. 1 in C major, the first symphony written by a Nordic woman. In 1898, when the Royal Opera in Stockholm opened its new opera house, a competition was announced to encourage the creation of a new opera. Andrée’s entry was based on episodes from Frithiof’s Saga, one of Sweden’s most cherished poetic works. The opera was completed but was not successful, and fourteen years later the composer reworked the music into the orchestral suite recorded here.