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Like many other people who are slightly older, the past few months have been special for 86-year-old Gothenburg resident Lars Olsson. He has been forced to sit in isolation at his home in Utby.
– It has been lonely, but I live in a very nice house and I have many nice neighbors to encourage, from a distance, he says.
But he has felt lonely in a number of ways. Last fall, he was widowed for the second time, when his wife Iréne died of cancer. Earlier that year, GT noticed the couple, who were 80 years old when they married.
Iréne, or “Jan” as Lars called her, had already met during the school years, but they would wait until 2016 before Lars got engaged.
– We had a summer place where I came to meet your brother. I saw this beautiful “One” many times, but then it didn’t matter, he said then.
“She is looking at me now”
Lars says that even though Iréne is gone, she is still with him.
– She looks at me now, when we sit here and talk, says Lars.
To pass the time during the pandemic, Lars has played and listened to music, a great interest that he has had all his life.
– I’ve played some music and such. I like to play my grand piano, she says.
Lars started with music at the age of twelve, learning to play the violin. He then went on to play the organ and got so good at the magnificent instrument that he didn’t have to take out a student loan when he went to see a doctor. He earned the money, among other things, by working as an organist at weddings and funerals in the old Örgryte church.
He received a visit from the symphony orchestra
He also had to jump into the concert hall as an organist and thus came into contact with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. For several years he also sang with the Gothenburg Symphonic Choir, while working as a doctor.
He has attended Symphony Orchestra concerts as often as he could, but was forced to slow down a bit when he had a hard time going four years ago.
On Wednesday, however, they met again, when four members of the symphony orchestra went to Lars’ house and played for him in his garden.
– There were three violinists and a cellist. They played music for about an hour, it was Mozart and the Italian Albioni and it was very good, says Lars.
Of course, Lars hopes the pandemic will end soon, but as long as he has the music, he will cope, he says.
– I keep playing. It’s not necessary for me, she says.
