It is beyond question that the composer Andréas Hallén (1846–1925) never stood in the front line of Swedish musical life. Nevertheless, the ways he composed and promoted his music have to be regarded as very advanced for his time. As this study reveals, Hallén’s work as a composer and music critic may have served as a model for the next generation of composers in Sweden. Moreover, his skills as an orchestrator as well as his cleverness in building up networks on the Continent can hardly be overestimated. Hallén turns out to have been quite a modern composer in that he took over the latest music technologies and adapted them to a certain music market. The study of Hallén and his work exposes certain musical and cultural developments that were characteristic for Sweden at the turn of the century. Documents that just recently became accessible to research indicate that it is time to re-evaluate Hallén’s role in Swedish musical life.