The genuine rural folk traditions are disappearing with increasing settlement in urban areas. Among those still vital in Gotland, Dalarna, and various other areas are special national costumes, dances, folk music, and the like, and many traditions are retained even in urban settlements. Spring is celebrated on the last night of April with bonfires and song across the nation. This is a great students’ festival in university towns, such as Uppsala and Lund. The bright Midsummer Eve is celebrated around June 24, about the time of the year’s longest day; in the ceremony a large pole, decorated with flowers and leaves, is placed into the ground. Some celebrations have a religious association: Advent, St. Lucia’s Day, Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. Pagan elements are still sometimes noticeable in these holiday ceremonies.

J.H. Roman, an 18th-century composer, has been called the father of Swedish music, but the Romantic composer Franz Berwald received wider acclaim for his 19th-century symphonies and other works. famous 20th-century composers include the “Monday group,� who were inspired by the antiromantic Hilding Rosenberg in the 1920s and drew also upon leading modern composers from abroad. The vital Swedish folk song has been developed further by a number of musicians. A number of Swedish opera singers, among them Jenny Lind, Jussi Björling, and Birgit Nilsson, gained renown throughout the world.