The musical sculpture at Stockholm's Konserthuset

Orfeusgruppen, also known as Orfeusbrunnen, is a sculpture-fountain created by Carl Milles and cast at Herman Bergman Konstgjuteri between 1926 and 1936. It stands in front of the Konserthuset on Hötorget in Stockholm. The sculpture was unveiled without ceremony on the morning of 1936. Orfeus represents music and the lyre within mythology, and the work stands as a sculpture-fountain in the heart of the city.

The first sketch for Orfeus showed a lone, slender male figure in gigantic scale that would stand before the high columns of the Konserthuset. According to evil tongues, the lower part of the sculpture resembled a bunch of bananas or an artichoke. However, the final result differed significantly from the initial proposals. The composition changed with the addition of eight male and female figures floating in the water around Orfeus. The male figure raising his hands to the sky bears the facial features of Beethoven, who served as Milles' symbol for the great, suffering artist-genius.

Ivar Tengbom, the architect of the Konserthuset, was initially enthusiastic about Milles' proposal. Letters to Tengbom show how carefully Milles worked to adapt the Orfeus-gruppen architecturally to the building behind it. The work was saved for Stockholm by a narrow margin in 1935 when the City Council finally gave Milles the commission after a long period of indecision. The foundation B A Danelii contributed 200,000 kr to the work.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons