It is with more than ordinary pleasure that we today introduce to our readers a singer who is, perhaps, less well known in Swedish than in American musical circles--a man renowned and celebrated for both his intelligent interpretation and faultless rendering of song compositions and for his sympathetic and altogether admirable personality.

It is refreshing to meet a musician who is an artist through and through, a man who does not merely consider his art as a means of earning his daily bread, but who is imbued with a genuine love for song and music and a strong desire to preserve, and win recognition for the musical traditions of the land of his fathers. Such an artist is Gustaf Holmquist, and one may well ask if we Chicago Swedes fully realize how privileged we are in having him among us.

Gustaf Holmquist was born in Nora Vestmanland on February 14, 1872, and lived 2there until he was thirteen years old, when he emigrated with his parents to America.

They made their home in Minneapolis,and soon after his arrival there, the boy began to sing in a mixed choir. It was soon discovered that he had a voice of extraordinary quality and a natural inclination toward singing. But it was not until he was twenty-one years old that he actually began his song studies under A. W. Porter in Minneapolis, under whom he studied for four years, until 1897. In that year, he broke off his studies to take a job as superintendent of a road project in Alaska. The people he had to deal with there were of the rough kind, quick to reach for their guns, but he was made of the right stuff and soon won their respect.

After one year in Alaska, he returned to the States and continued his song studies, this time under Professor W. N. Burritt. In 1900, he moved to Chicago and has lived here since with his wife, the former Olivia Ogren, whom 3he married in 1894.

In Minneapolis, Mr. Holmquist was a soloist in several "American" churches, among them the Westminster and the Presbyterian Churches.

Since his arrival in Chicago, he has been singing in the renowned quartet of the Plymouth Church. He is a soloist with the Apollo Club, recognized as the finest choir in America, and has the distinction of being the first Swede to hold this position.

Last summer, Professor Holmquist received the very flattering offer to go to the World's Fair in St. Louis as a soloist with the Evanston Musical Club; due to his excellent performance, the Club was awarded a prize of $3500. Another indication of the esteem in which he is held is provided by the circular issued by the Bureau of Fine Arts for the 1903-1904 season, which, in very flattering terms, is dedicated to Professor Holmquist.

He was engaged as soloist at the song festivals of the Swedish Singers' League 4at Jamestown in 1901, and in 1903 at Boston. We cite a music critic who represented a newspaper in Jamestown: "It was a great pleasure to make the acquaintance of the excellent baritone singer Gustaf Holmquist of Chicago. We do not hesitate to say that he is the outstanding Swedish-American song artist at the present time. This summer he has had engagements in Chautauqua, which is rather spoiled in regard to music, and where he has won enthusiastic acclaim." And of his rendition of the solo part in "Landkjending" (Sighting Land, a Norwegian composition), the Chautauqua Assembly Herald said: "Professor Holmquist sang the solo part in his mother tongue with very effective tonal technique and dignity of expression. And what a magnetic personality! Simple and unaffected, but still impressive. He is our idea of a true artist."

The professor is undoubtedly the finest Swedish singer in America today; but he has lived and worked within American musical circles, rather than Swedish. Unfortunately, comparatively few Swedish-Americans are able fully to appreciate an artist of Holmquist's type, and the limited Swedish-American community does not offer him the opportunities of which he is worthy, and which he finds when 5he performs for the American audience; Consequently, his associations have been American rather than Swedish-American. But it has been his chief ambition to make Swedish song and music known and appreciated among Americans, and he has been getting results.

Mr. Holmquist is at his best in the great compositions that call forth all his tonal resources, but on the other hand, few singers can, in a more touching manner, bring out the beautiful simplicity of such popular folk songs as "The Bird on the Branch" or "In the Years of Youth", when every fiber in his body seems to vibrate in harmony with his soft baritone.

Truly, Professor Holmquist possesses the divine spark.