What do YOU think of when you think of Sweden? In the 1960s, sexy blond movie stars might have come to mind, or, for the art house crowd, the dark, existentialist films of Ingmar Berman. Disco fanciers might immediately think of the pop group ABBA, but for most of the 20th century—symphonically speaking—one piece of music defined all things Swedish.

And it was on today's date in 1904, that this "Midsummer Vigil," the Op. 19, by the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén was first performed, in Stockholm, with the composer conducting.

It was the first of three orchestral rhapsodies, all based on actual Swedish folk tunes. It rapidly became Alfvén's most famous work, and soon served as a kind of musical shorthand for all things Scandinavian. In Sweden itself, Alfvén's score was adapted as a tremendously popular ballet.

Alfvén lived from 1872-1960, and had a long and productive career as a composer and conductor. He wrote five symphonies and dozens of choral works and folksong arrangements. He held several major music posts in Sweden, and even achieved success as an author and watercolorist, writing and painting vivid pictures of the landscapes he loved best—the islands and inlets of the Swedish coastline. "In the depths of my soul I am an archipelago dweller," he once confided to a friend. Unfortunately, most of Alfvén's music remains far too little known outside Sweden—with the one exception of his big hit, the "Midsummer Vigil."