Arvid Niclas, Freiherr von Höpken

Arvid Niclas von Höpken (Stockholm, 1710 – Stralsund, 1778) was a Swedish military officer and composer who, together with Ferdinand Zellbell the Younger, is the only native-born Swedish musician to have written operas in the Italian style. The eldest son of the politician Daniel Niclas von Höpken, his musical training is uncertain: he may have received lessons from Fortunato Chelleri, Kapellmeister at Kassel, during his military service in Hesse between 1730 and 1735.

Most of his career was spent in barracks. He served in Finland between 1739 and 1741, a period during which he was taken prisoner by the Russians until 1743, and later in Swedish Pomerania, in two spells (1749–1755 and 1756–1778). Despite the distance, thanks to his brother, a Privy Councillor, he maintained close ties with Stockholm, where some of his compositions were performed.

His most important works are the opera seria Il re pastore (1752) and Catone in Utica (1753), both to libretti by Metastasio, and the comic intermezzo Il bevitore (1755), possibly intended for the company of Mingiotti, who visited Stockholm regularly. His style follows Italian opera, with a clear debt to Pergolesi, although he also absorbed the influence of Graun and Hasse. In the pastoral oratorio Försök af en pastoral (1751), to a text by his wife Helena Hummerhielm, the model is Handel, especially in the closing choral fugue.

His music is noted for a tender melodic sweetness and, at times, a striking dramatic intensity, although modern critics point to a certain monotony in its harmony and melody. As the authenticity of part of his catalogue is doubtful and much of his output survives only in fragments, his legacy should be approached with caution, but he remains a key figure in eighteenth-century Swedish music.