God in Disguise

God in Disguise (in Swedish: Förklädd gud; sometimes translated to English as A God Disguised or Disguised God), Op. 24, is a cantata (officially "lyrical suite") for narrator, soprano, baritone, mixed choir, and orchestra written in 1940 by Swedish composer Lars-Erik Larsson. Tuneful and pastoral in style, the neoromantic God in Disguise is a setting of a 1933 narrative poem by the Swedish poet Hjalmar Gullberg; Gullberg's poem is itself based on the prologue to a Hellenic play, in which the god Apollo is exiled from Olympus and condemned to mortal servitude as a flute-playing Thessalian shepherd. The cantata, which premiered over Swedish Radio on 1 April 1940 under the composer's baton, was an instant success. It remains not only one of Larsson's most celebrated compositions, but also one of the most frequently performed pieces of Swedish art music.