History of Finnish Art Music

by Kimmo Korhonen & Fimic :: 1999

Finnish music in 1900 - 1910:

National Romanticism flourishes

The Finnish arts made their first real international breakthrough at the Paris World Fair of 1900. The Finnish pavilion, designed by Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen, was a fine example of a national application of the international Art Nouveau style. The ceiling of the pavilion was decorated with frescos by Axel Gallén (later Gallen-Kallela), featuring subjects from the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala.

The Finnish pavilion and its success reflect the heyday of National Romantic art at the turn of the century. This stemmed from the search for a national identity and the dream of an independent nation. Finland was at the time an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. In the period from 1899 to 1905, known as the ‘First period of oppression’, Russia tried to undermine Finland’s autonomy by infringing upon her constitutional rights.


Sibelius’s fame grows

Jean Sibelius was the leading figure in Finnish music at that time. The premiere of his Second Symphony in March 1902 was an unqualified triumph. Although the composer dissociated himself from the political spin put on the symphony, it was nevertheless hailed as a symbol of Finland’s struggle for independence. It was during this period that Sibelius began to acquire an international reputation. He also began to move away from his early National Romantic style.

The most significant composers in the generation after Sibelius were Erkki Melartin, who wrote several symphonies, and Selim Palmgren, who was also an accomplished pianist. Younger composers making their début towards the end of the first decade of this century included Toivo Kuula and Leevi Madetoja.


Merikanto tours Finland

Finns love Oskar Merikanto. He is known for his Romantic and folk-style songs and piano pieces. On his extensive tours, he took concert music to places in Finland where such things had never before been heard. We might say that Oskar Merikanto was a key figure in bridging the gap between concert music and the public at large.

Merikanto is also credited with the first opera ever to be written to a text in Finnish, Pohjan neiti (Maiden of the North, 1898), appropriately enough based on a subject from the Kalevala. It was premiered in 1908.


Musical life focused on Helsinki and Viipuri

Despite Finland’s remote location, international top musicians often gave concerts in Helsinki and Viipuri (Vyborg) en route to St Petersburg.

The leading Finnish orchestra was the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, who also conducted it for a long time. The orchestra was well received at its performances in Berlin and at the Paris World Fair in 1900. When Gustav Mahler conducted the orchestra on his visit to Finland in autumn 1907, he described it as ‘surprisingly good and disciplined’.

Apart from the orchestras of Helsinki, Viipuri and Turku, orchestras were also founded in Mikkeli, Kotka, Kuopio, Oulu and Lahti. These, however, were largely amateur efforts. An important and hugely popular form of amateur music-making was choral singing, and the song and music festivals organized all over Finland attracted large crowds.


Finland in a nutshell

1899-1905: First period of oppression
1900: Population of Finland is 2 655 900
1904: Eugen Schauman assassinates the draconian Russian Governor General Nikolai Bobrikov
1905: General strike in Finland, following Russia’s example
1906: The Czar approves a Parliament Act for Finland, whereby a Parliament is elected for the Grand Duchy
1907: First free Parliamentary election in Finland
1908-1917: Second period of oppression


Finnish music in a nutshell

1900: Helsinki Philharmonic on European tour
1902: Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. , Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2
1903: Selim Palmgren: Piano Concerto No. 1
1904: Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. 2, Jean Sibelius: Valse triste
1905: Final version of Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto
1906: Erik Furuhjelm: Piano Quintet
1907: Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. 3 and Kalevala-based opera Aino, Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 3
1909: Jean Sibelius: String Quartet Voces intimae




Finnish music in the 1910s:

Music in the throes of politics

"How much pathos there is in our times," remarked Jean Sibelius in a letter in August 1914. Only a few weeks earlier, the First World War had broken out. Although the Great War did not directly affect Finland, the 1910s were a period of political upheaval in Finland too. The ‘Second period of oppression’, which further curtailed Finland’s constitutional rights, continued until Finland’s declaration of independence in 1917. Soon after this, in January 1918, a bloody Civil War erupted that was eventually won by the right-wing ‘White’ forces. This war deeply wounded the Finnish national consciousness and divided the nation into two camps for a long time.


Modernist influences from Russia

The First World War isolated Finland from Central Europe. Even Sibelius, who had earlier travelled extensively, was obliged to stay at home. On the other hand, young composers Aarre Merikanto and Väinö Raitio went to Moscow to study during this time. It was through Russia, then, that the first inklings of Modernism began to trickle into Finland in the late 1910s, blossoming fully in the 1920s. Modernism was represented in Finland by Merikanto, Raitio and Ernest Pingoud, a Russian emigré whose first composition concert in Helsinki in 1918 became a sensation.

Jean Sibelius, the most significant Finnish composer of the period, had progressed from his early National Romantic style to his more universal style of the 1910s, as shown in the Modernist Fourth Symphony and the primordial Fifth Symphony. By contrast, many of Sibelius’s successors such as Toivo Kuula and Leevi Madetoja were still writing music in the National Romantic vein. Madetoja’s Second Symphony (1918) is a powerful evocation of the sentiments of the Civil War. Erkki Melartin’s symphonies and Selim Palmgren’s piano concertos combined national material with international late Romanticism.


The Domestic Opera is founded

The 1910s represented a period of considerable growth for Finnish opera. Earlier sporadic opera performances were supplanted by the professional Domestic Opera founded in 1911 (known as the Finnish Opera from 1914 and as the Finnish National Opera from 1956). The opera performances organized by opera singer Aino Ackté in the Medieval castle of Olavinlinna in Savonlinna in 1912-14 and 1916 were also important in that they were the precursor of today’s Savonlinna Opera Festival.

More new Finnish operas were performed than ever before. In 1910, Selim Palmgren’s Daniel Hjort and Oskar Merikanto’s Elinan surma (The death of Elina) were premiered. Seitsemän veljestä (The seven brothers) and Kullervo by Armas Launis were premiered in 1913 and 1917, respectively. All these operas featured national subjects: "Daniel Hjort" and "Elinan surma" were historical dramas, while Launis’s operas were settings of works by Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872), Finland’s national author. Furthermore, Launis’s "Seitsemän veljestä" was the first Finnish comic opera ever written.

Unlike the previous decade, the 1910s saw no increase in the number of orchestras in Finland. There was trouble enough when the Imperial Senate discontinued the State grant to the Helsinki Philharmonic in 1911. This resulted in what was known as the ‘orchestra war’, and from 1912 to 1914 there were two rival symphony orchestras in Helsinki.


Finland in a nutshell

1910: Finland’s population is 2 934 400, the Russian Duma declares Finland subject to Russian legislation
1912: Hannes Kolehmainen puts Finland on the world map’ at the Olympics in Stockholm
1914-1918: First World War
1917: Finland declares independence following the Russian Revolution, on December 6, the new Soviet Government recognizes Finland on December 31
1918: Civil War between the Whites and the Reds, ending in May in the victory of the former; the debate on the form of government to choose is initially carried by the Monarchists, but eventually, a Republic is declared
1919: K.J. Ståhlberg is elected first President of the Republic, Åbo Akademi University founded, Prohibition Act enacted (repealed in 1932)


Finnish music in a nutshell

1910: Toivo Kuula: Orjan poika (Son of a slave), premiere of Selim Palmgren’s opera Daniel Hjort
1911: Domestic Opera founded, Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 4
1912: Aino Ackté begins opera performances in Savonlinna, Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. 4 (Summer Symphony)
1912-1914: Orchestra war, two rival symphony orchestras in Helsinki
1913: Armas Launis: opera Seitsemän veljestä (The seven brothers), Selim Palmgren: Piano Concerto No. 2 Virta (The stream)
1914: Jean Sibelius: Oceanides
1915: Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 (first version)
1916: Leevi Madetoja: Symphony No. 1, Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. 5 (Sinfonia brevis), Selim Palmgren: Piano Concerto No. 3 (Metamorphoses)
1917: Armas Launis: opera Kullervo
1918: Toivo Kuula dies after a shooting incident, Ernest Pingoud’s composition concert in November is much discussed because of its Modernism, Leevi Madetoja: Symphony No. 2
1919: Väinö Raitio: Joutsenet (The swans), Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 (final version)




Finnish music in the 1920s:


Finland opens windows towards Europe - The first stage of Modernism

"We are living in a new creative age. Oh, to be young in such a time." Thus wrote Olavi Paavolainen, a leading figure in the Modernist Tulenkantajat (Fire-bearers) literary movement, in his essay collection Nykyaikaa etsimässä (Seeking modern times, 1929).

In the first full decade of Finland’s independence, the ideals and sensibilities of the public at large were quite traditional and nationalistically oriented. Nevertheless, international Modernism was making inroads.

"Open up windows towards Europe," declared Swedish-speaking Finnish author Elmer Diktonius in 1922. The Swedish-speaking artists in particular were keen to take up international trends. One of the most significant poets of the period was Edith Södergran (1892-1923), whose ecstatic and powerful verse continues to inspire composers to this day.


Romantics joined by first Modernists

Jean Sibelius, a member of the Romantic generation, was the undisputed leading figure in Finnish music. However, he had fully dissociated himself from his earlier late Romantic aims and adopted his own universal style. Other dominant Romantics included Erkki Melartin and Leevi Madetoja, although Melartin derived some inspiration from the Modernists too. Many younger composers continued to subscribe to Romanticism, even National Romanticism. Yrjö Kilpinen established himself as a composer of solo songs in the 1920s.

The main Modernists in Finnish music were Ernest Pingoud, Väinö Raitio, Aarre Merikanto and Uuno Klami. They imported international Impressionism, Expressionism and Neo-Classicism into Finnish music and revised it. However, their music was received with mixed emotions and sometimes even rejected.

One of the greatest artistic tragedies caused by this was the fate suffered by Aarre Merikanto’s main work. The opera Juha (1922) is the first opera masterpiece written in Finland, yet it remained unperformed in the composer’s lifetime. It was not premiered until 1963.

Madetoja’s more traditional but dramatically very effective Pohjalaisia (The Ostrobothnians, 1923) was elevated to the status of national opera. The freedom theme appealed to contemporary audiences, and the premiere of the opera in Helsinki in 1924 was a huge success.


Finland tunes in

Amateurs have traditionally had an important role in Finnish music. Amateur activities were organized on a more solid basis in the 1920s with the founding in 1922 of the Suomen Kuoroliitto (Finnish choral association), known since 1934 as the Finnish Amateur Musicians’ Association, SULASOL.

The Finnish Broadcasting Company, founded in 1926, was also a new factor on the musical scene. In 1927, the Radio Orchestra - the predecessor of the present Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra - was founded. The Radio Orchestra began commissioning small-scale orchestral works.

The Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society (TEOSTO), founded in 1928, also improved the working conditions of composers.


Finland in a nutshell

1920: Population of Finland is 3 147 600, Finland joins the League of Nations
1921: Compulsory Education Act
1922: University of Turku founded
1923: Regular radio transmissions begin
1924: Paavo Nurmi wins five gold medals at the Paris Olympics
1926: Finnish Broadcasting Company founded (first radio broadcasts begin on September 9)
1929: Extreme right-wing Lapua movement founded


Finnish music in a nutshell

1921: Ernest Pingoud: Profeetta (The prophet)
1921-1926: Selim Palmgren as Professor of Composition in Rochester in the USA
1922: Suomen Kuoroliitto (Finnish choral association) founded, Helsinki Folk Conservatory founded, Aarre Merikanto: opera Juha, Väinö Raitio: Antigone
1923: Leevi Madetoja: opera Pohjalaisia (The Ostrobothnians), Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 6, Väinö Raitio: Fantasia poetica
1924: Oskar Merikanto dies, the Helsinki Music Institute, founded by Martin Wegelius in 1882, is renamed the Helsinki Conservatory, Erkki Melartin: Symphony No. 6, Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 7
1925: Aarre Merikanto: Schott concerto
1926: Jazz arrives in Finland, Yrjö Kilpinen: Tunturilauluja (Fell songs, 1st collection), Leevi Madetoja: Symphony No. 3, Selim Palmgren: Piano Concerto No. 4 Huhtikuu (April), Jean Sibelius: Tapiola
1927: Radio Orchestra (later the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra) founded, Uuno Klami: Karelian Rhapsody, Leevi Madetoja: ballet pantomime Okon Fuoko
1928: Aarre Merikanto: Sinfoninen harjoitelma (Symphonic sketch)
1929: Tampere Orchestra founded, Väinö Raitio: miniature ballet Vesipatsas(Column of water)




Finnish music in the 1930s:

Clouds gather

The 1930s were a sort of interim period in Finnish music. Jean Sibelius published no more significant works. Erkki Melartin, Selim Palmgren and Leevi Madetoja, all members of the Romantic generation, were past their prime. Yrjö Kilpinen was enjoying great success abroad, particularly in Germany. Renaming the Helsinki Conservatory the Sibelius Academy in 1939 was a significant event.

The opposition of national thinking and internationalism that had evolved in the previous decade in Finnish culture continued into the 1930s. The Nationalist approach was enlivened particularly by the 100th anniversary of the first version of the Kalevala, the ‘Old Kalevala’, in 1935. A large number of compositions based on the Kalevala were written around that date.

Architect Alvar Aalto, by contrast, was an example of an international and also Modernist artist; in the 1930s, he made a significant contribution to international Functionalism.


The Nationalist trend strengthens

The Viipuri Orchestra, conducted by Boris Sirpo, enjoyed a boom period in the 1930s. It performed contemporary music more frequently than any other orchestra in Finland. During this time, Uuno Klami wrote some of his major works (the first version of the Kalevala Suite and the oratorio Psalmus), demonstrating that it was possible to link national subjects to modern stylistic aspirations.

However, the traditional Nationalist approach remained dominant in music. Ernest Pingoud, Väinö Raitio and Aarre Merikanto, the Modernists of the previous decade, turned towards a more conventional idiom. Most emerging composers of the time wrote in a National Romantic or discreetly Neo-Classical style.

As the 1930s progressed, increasing international tensions cast a gloom over the country. In November 1939, the Winter War against the Soviet Union broke out, and Finland was drawn into the Second World War.


Finland in a nutshell

1930: Population of Finland is 3 462 700
1931: General Mannerheim appointed chairman of the defence council
1932: Non-aggression pact between Finland and Soviet Union signed, the extreme right-wing Lapua movement stages the Mäntsälä Rebellion and is disbanded; the Prohibition Act, in force since 1919, is repealed on April 5, 1932 at 10 am, prompting the famous mnemonic 543210
1933: The Paimio Sanatorium designed by Alvar Aalto completed
1935: Finnish foreign policy is officially defined as Scandinavia-oriented
1939: Frans Emil Sillanpää receives the Nobel Prize in literature
1939-1940: The Winter War


Finnish music in a nutshell

1930: Erkki Melartin: ballet Sininen helmi (The blue pearl; first full-length Finnish ballet)
1931: New building of the Helsinki Conservatory (later the Sibelius Academy) completed
1933: Uuno Klami: Kalevala Suite (first version), Väinö Raitio: opera Prinsessa Cecilia (Princess Cecilia)
1934: Leevi Madetoja: opera Juha
1935: 100th anniversary of the Kalevala, main festivities in Helsinki and at the Sortavala song festival, Jean Sibelius appears in public for the last time at his 70th birthday celebrations, Aarre Merikanto: Kyllikin ryöstö (The abduction of Kyllikki)
1936: Uuno Klami: oratorio Psalmus
1937: Erkki Melartin dies
1939: Helsinki Conservatory renamed the Sibelius Academy




Finnish music in the 1940s:

Shadows of war

"When the war ended, I was sixteen years old. All my contemporaries had been brought up to be soldiers." These words by author Veijo Meri reflect the deep shadow that the Second World War cast over the 1940s. In Finland, the war was divided into two main campaigns: the Winter War of 1939-40 and the Continuation War of 1941-44. These were followed by the eviction of German troops in the Lapland War of 1944-45.

The national dimension became even more pronounced in the work of composers, and many emphatically patriotic works were written. The most significant work to be completed during the war was the final version of Uuno Klami’s Kalevala Suite (1943), although most of its material dated from the 1930s.

Despite the difficult circumstances, concerts were constantly organized - even if the audience was obliged on more than one occasion to dash to an air raid shelter in the middle of a performance. The Great Hall of the University of Helsinki, the city’s main concert venue at the time, was destroyed in an air raid in February 1944 but reconstructed four years later.


Finland recovers from the war

Finland remained independent in the war but was forced to cede extensive territories to the Soviet Union, including Viipuri, Finland’s second-largest city and a lively seat of culture. In the post-war years, Finland was heavily burdened by war reparations which, nevertheless, were paid in full by 1952. The war also left deep mental scars, evident in the pessimistic mood that dominates Mika Waltari’s famous historical novel Sinuhe (1945), for example.

Musical life soon returned to normal after the war. Orchestras in Helsinki began giving regular concerts in 1947, and international soloists again began to visit Finland. An opera society was founded in Tampere in 1946, and most major Finnish cities have followed this example to date. The orchestras of Turku and Tampere were converted into municipal institutions, which provided a more stable and secure foundation for their work.


Englund and the rise of Neo-Classicism

We may think of the Second World War as a turning point after which Finnish music began to rise again. Of the older composers, Klami and Aarre Merikanto were still active. The most promising young composer was Ahti Sonninen, heralded as ‘a new Sibelius’.

The most interesting young composer, however, was Einar Englund. He attracted attention with his first two symphonies (1946, 1948), which stemmed from the mental landscape of the recent war and inaugurated the Neo-Classical period in Finnish music. Neo-Classicism had in fact been known in Finland since the 1920s, but at this time it became the mainstream style and remained so until the mid-1950s. At the same time, leading names in international Neo-Classicism (such as Stravinsky and Bartók) became established in Finnish concert programmes.


Finland in a nutshell

1939-1940: The Winter War
1940: Population of Finland is 3 695 600
1941-1944: The Continuation War
1944-1945: The Lapland War against retreating German troops
1945: A.I. Virtanen receives the Nobel Prize in chemistry
1947: Paris Treaty signed with the Allies
1948: Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance signed with the Soviet Union (this treaty expired in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed)


Finnish music in a nutshell

1941: Selim Palmgren: Piano Concerto No. 5
1942: Ernest Pingoud dies
1943: Uuno Klami: Kalevala Suite (final version)
1945: Väinö Raitio dies, Society of Finnish Composers founded
1947: Leevi Madetoja dies, Ahti Sonninen: Sinfonisia tuokioita (Symphonic moments)
1948: The Academy of Finland founded: Yrjö Kilpinen is appointed first academician in the field of music, Einar Englund: Symphony No. 2
1949: Erkki Aaltonen: Hiroshima Symphony (Symphony No. 2)




Finnish music in the 1950s:


Towards a new music - The second stage of Modernism

Finland recovered from the war with amazing rapidity. The pre-war standard of living was regained in the early 1950s. A milestone in Finland’s re-entry into the international community was achieved with the Olympic Games held in Helsinki in 1952. In the vanguard of mass culture, Coca-Cola was introduced to Finland, and many Finns saw coloured people for the first time ever. Even the domestic film comedies of the period featured black people, sultans and exotic southern beauties in quintessentially Finnish settings.

This opening up meant that Finnish culture was poised to make a contribution to the international arts in architecture (Alvar Aalto) and industrial design. The concept of ‘Finnish design’ was publicized for instance by successful participation in the Milan Triennale, beginning with Tapio Wirkkala’s three top prizes at the Triennale of 1951.


The many faces of Neo-Classicism

The 1950s were a boom period for Finnish music too. The first half of the decade was dominated by Neo-Classicism, with Einar Englund at the forefront. Composers such as Joonas Kokkonen, Einojuhani Rautavaara and Usko Meriläinen also subscribed to Neo-Classicism in their early works, as did Erik Bergman in his breakthrough work Rubaiyat (1953). Ahti Sonninen was a great promise who did not quite live up to the expectations placed on him.

Another viewpoint was taken by the major older composers, Aarre Merikanto and Uuno Klami. The latter never finished his exquisite ballet score Pyörteitä (Swirls). The National Romantic trend persevered even after the war, but its proponents were overshadowed by more recent developments.

Erik Bergman became the leading Modernist in the 1950s. He was the first Finnish composer to take up dodecaphony in the early 1950s. Later, he even progressed to Serialism in some of his works. Bergman studied dodecaphony with Wladimir Vogel in Switzerland in 1954; somewhat later, Meriläinen, Rautavaara and Tauno Marttinen also studied with Vogel, who can in fact be regarded as the godfather of Finnish dodecaphony. Many previously traditionalist composers such as Joonas Kokkonen also eventually made the transition to dodecaphony.


The end of an era

The Sibelius Week, first organized in 1951, brought an important addition to the Finnish concert calendar. This annual festival brought many top performers to Finland. The Jyväskylä Culture Festival, founded in 1956, had a more contemporary orientation and was highly important in introducing Finnish audiences to the latest trends.

One of the defining events of the decade was the death of Jean Sibelius in September 1957, ending an era in Finnish music.


Finland in a nutshell

1950: Population of Finland is 4 029 800
1952: Olympic Games in Helsinki, Armi Kuusela is crowned as Miss Universe, war reparation payments completed
1954: Food rationing discontinued, Väinö Linna’s war novel Tuntematon sotilas (The unknown soldier) published
1955: Finland joins the UN and the Nordic Council, the first regular TV broadcasts are begun, the Soviet Union announces that it will return Porkkala peninsula, leased on a 50-year contract after the war, to Finland as a gesture of good will
1956: Extensive general strike in Finland Urho Kekkonen is elected President of the Republic (he held the office until 1981)
1957: Passport controls between Scandinavian countries are removed


Finnish music in a nutshell

1950: Tauno Pylkkänen: miniature opera Sudenmorsian (Wolf bride)
1951: Selim Palmgren dies, the first Sibelius Week in Helsinki
1952: Erik Bergman: Espressivo for piano (first Finnish dodecaphonic work), Ahti Sonninen’s ballet Pessi ja Illusia (Pessi and Illusia) premiered (most frequently performed Finnish full-length ballet)
1953: Erik Bergman: Rubaiyat
1955: Einar Englund: Piano Concerto No. 1
1956: Jyväskylä Culture Festival founded, Usko Meriläinen: Concerto for Orchestra
1957: Jean Sibelius dies, Joonas Kokkonen: Musiikkia jousille (Music for strings)
1957-1960: Uuno Klami: ballet Pyörteitä (Swirls)
1958: House of Culture in Helsinki completed, Erik Bergman: Aubade, Einojuhani Rautavaara: String Quartet No. 2, Aarre Merikanto dies
1959: Yrjö Kilpinen dies




Finnish music in the 1960s:

The avant-garde arrives

There was much social turmoil and upheaval in the 1960s. The Finnish standard of living continued to rise, bringing Finland onto a par with the richest countries in the world. On the flip side of this boom were the great structural shifts caused by mass migration from the countryside to cities and emigration to Sweden.

The rebellious 1960s questioned the justification of traditional authority. Various forms of popular culture emerged, and left-wing radicals demanded that art should have a political and moral content. The decade was also characterized by unprecedented sexual liberation.


Music from the nursery

In music, the early 1960s represented the culmination of Modernism. Dodecaphony was the staple diet of most major composers. Erik Bergman and Einojuhani Rautavaara explored the approach up to and including Serialism. Finnish electroacoustic music was also in its pioneering stages at this time.

The Modernism of the 1960s came to a head around 1963 in the ‘nursery concerts’. This epithet coined by a contemporary critic was by no means intended as a compliment, but the young rebels took it to heart. At these concerts, composers such as Erkki Salmenhaara, Kari Rydman and Henrik Otto Donner brought contemporary avant-garde phenomena to Finland for the first time. The Jyväskylä Culture Festival was also active in promoting new trends in the 1960s, inviting such composers as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono and György Ligeti to visit.

Not everyone viewed the Modernist extremities of the day favourably. Einar Englund, the Neo-Classicist, later remarked: "In view of my strict musical training, these new trends seemed a sardonic mockery of the composer as a serious artist. The consequence of all this for me was that I fell silent in waiting for better times."

The tide of Modernism turned towards the end of the decade, and free-tonality became the mainstream stylistic ideal. Most of the composers who had previously embraced dodecaphony now turned to a more traditional style, for instance Aulis Sallinen, Joonas Kokkonen and Rautavaara. The Modernist ideal was carried on most notably by Bergman, Usko Meriläinen and Paavo Heininen.


Great music festivals founded

The Sibelius Week, founded in 1951 and largely focusing on the music of Sibelius, was organized for the last time in 1965. The Helsinki Festival was founded to take its place in 1968. The heritage of Sibelius has been carried on through the international Sibelius Violin Competition, organized since 1965, and he was also honoured with the now famous Sibelius Monument sculpted by Eila Hiltunen (1967). Other music festivals founded in the 1960s include the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the Turku Music Festival, Pori Jazz and the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival. Finland Festivals was founded in 1968 as an umbrella organization for music and culture festivals.

The foundation of Finnish music was reorganized in a number of ways in the 1960s. The Finnish Music Information Centre was founded in 1963. The Association of Finnish Symphony Orchestras was founded in 1965 to further cooperation. Three years later, the Association of Finnish Operas was founded to liaise between the various regional operas in Finland. The work of composers has been helped enormously by the Act on Artist Grants passed in 1969.


Finland in a nutshell

1960: Population of Finland is 4 446 200
1961: Finland becomes an associate member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
1965: Legislation on the five-day working week passed
1966: Left-wing parties gain majority in Parliamentary elections, author Hannu Salama is prosecuted for blasphemy for his novel Juhannustanssit (Midsummer dance)
1968: Left-wing student radicalism culminates in the takeover of the Old Student House in Helsinki
1969: Medium-strength beer is released for sale in food shops


Finnish music in a nutshell

1960: Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony No. 1
1961: Uuno Klami dies, Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 3
1962: Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 4 (Arabescata; only fully serial symphony ever written in Finland)
1963: Finnish Music Information Centre founded, Tapiola Choir founded, culmination of Modernism in the ‘nursery concerts’, Paavo Heininen: Adagio (revised in 1966), Aarre Merikanto’s opera Juha (1922) receives its first performance on stage in Lahti
1964: Usko Meriläinen: Symphony No. 2
1965: Erkki Salmenhaara: Le bateau ivre
1967: Savonlinna Opera Festival begins, Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony No. 3
1968: Helsinki Festival begins
1969: Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 1, Paavo Heininen: Symphony No. 3 (revised in 1977), Aulis Sallinen: String Quartet No. 3 (Aspects on the Funeral March of Hintriki Peltoniemi)




Finnish music in the 1970s:

Finland becomes a land of opera

Economic growth in Finland had been constant since the Second World War apart from a few dips, but the international energy crisis brought a recession to Finland in 1975. In the same year, Helsinki hosted the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, reflecting Finland’s status as a mediator between East and West and a promoter of political détente.

Culturally, the radicalism of the 1960s continued into the 1970s, and the conservatives and radicals were firmly entrenched in their respective camps.

In music, free-tonality remained the mainstream style, although new trends emerged alongside it. Einar Englund, the country’s best-known Neo-Classicist, returned to public life after a long silence with his Third Symphony (1971). The stylistic plurality of the 1970s is most evident in the output of Einojuhani Rautavaara, which embraces a wide range of influences. Neo-Romanticism was his primary style at the time, but he also wrote Modernist works. Younger composers such as Pehr Henrik Nordgren and Kalevi Aho also combined various styles in their works like Rautavaara.


Finnish opera takes off

This decade saw the beginning of a phenomenon described as the Finnish opera boom. Aulis Sallinen’s operas Ratsumies (The Horseman, 1974) and Punainen viiva (The Red Line, 1978) and Joonas Kokkonen’s opera Viimeiset kiusaukset (The Last Temptations, 1975) became immensely popular. In their wake, opera in general became a favourite with the public at large. All the above works were performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival, which in the 1970s began its ascent into the élite of world opera festivals.

Another strand of opera thrives alongside Kokkonen, Sallinen and the international atmosphere of Savonlinna. The Ilmajoki Music Festival, organized largely on the strength of volunteer work, was launched in 1975 with performances of Madetoja’s opera Pohjalaisia (The Ostrobothnians). Since 1978, the festival has produced folk-style operas written for the festival by Jorma Panula and Atso Almila. The operas of Ilkka Kuusisto, including the successful comic opera Miehen kylkiluu (Rib of man, 1977), also belong to this genre.

The opera boom of the 1970s also involved the regional operas, which are still going strong today. Although they are amateur companies, they are capable of putting on astoundingly polished productions.


Ears open! society founded

Erik Bergman, Usko Meriläinen and Paavo Heininen were the champions of Modernism in the 1970s. Bergman discovered his own colourful and improvisational style at this time. Younger composers taking an interest in Modernism included Jukka Tiensuu and Erkki Jokinen.

In 1977, a group of composers born in the 1950s founded the Korvat auki! (Ears open!) society, whose contribution to Finnish Modernism in the 1980s was crucial. To this day, the society’s concerts remain an important forum for young composers.

The organization of Finnish musical life was further strengthened in the 1970s. The Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music (LUSES) was founded in 1970. Finlandia Hall, Helsinki’s main concert venue, was inaugurated in 1971. The most significant music festivals founded during this period are the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (1970) and the Lahti Organ Festival (1973).


Finland in a nutshell

1970: Population of Finland is 4 598 300
1970-1971: Finland is a member of the UN Security Council
1975: Helsinki hosts the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
1975-1978: Economic recession caused by international energy crisis
1977: First Finnish nuclear power plant started up in Loviisa


Finnish music in a nutshell

1970: Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music (LUSES) founded, Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival founded
1971: Finlandia Hall completed, Einar Englund: Symphony No. 3, Joonas Kokkonen: Symphony No. 4, Usko Meriläinen: Symphony No. 3
1972: Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra founded, Pehr Henrik Nordgren: The Turning Point, Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cantus arcticus
1973: Erik Bergman: Colori ed improvvisazioni
1974: Erik Bergman: Bardo Thödol, Aulis Sallinen: opera Ratsumies (The Horseman)
1975: Joonas Kokkonen: opera Viimeiset kiusaukset (The Last Temptations)
1976: Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 5, Einar Englund: Symphony No. 4 (Nostalgic)
1977: Ears open! society founded, Ilkka Kuusisto: opera Miehen kylkiluu (Rib of man), Einojuhani Rautavaara: Violin Concert, Jukka Tiensuu: Mxpzkl
1978: ISCM seminar in Stockholm and Helsinki, Aulis Sallinen: opera Punainen viiva (The Red Line)
1979: Paavo Heininen: Dia




Finnish music in the 1980s:

Out into the world - The third wave of Modernism

"Individual and national selfishness unseated social and political participation." Thus wrote left-wing author Claes Andersson in 1986. He subsequently served as Minister of Culture in the 1990s. The 1980s were a period of strong economic growth, and the ideals of the previous decade were forgotten. However, the boom of the 1980s was unsustainable, and moving into the 1990s Finland plunged into a deep recession.

The boom period was reflected in the arts as improved economic resources and the reinforcement of various grant systems. Music was on an upswing. New concert halls were built all around Finland, and new orchestras were founded (including the Avanti! chamber orchestra in 1983 and the Tapiola Sinfonietta in 1987). New music festivals were also founded in Naantali (1980), Lieksa (1980), Joensuu (1981), Uusikaupunki (1982), Korsholma (1983) and Porvoo (1986). The Performing Music Promotion Centre (ESEK) was founded in 1981.


Modernism rides again

Finnish music in the 1980s was characterized above all by the flourish of Modernism, its third wave after the 1920s and the 1950s. The generation of composers born in the 1950s was in a central position in this development. Many of the finest were members of the core group of the Ears open! society founded in 1977: Eero Hämeenniemi, Kaija Saariaho, Magnus Lindberg, Jouni Kaipainen, Olli Kortekangas and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Many older Modernist composers, such as Erik Bergman, Usko Meriläinen and Paavo Heininen, shared the limelight with them.

Like all earlier generations of Modernists, the Modernists of the 1980s emphasized the international dimension. Paris became a second home for Saariaho, Lindberg and Jukka Tiensuu, and Saariaho even settled there permanently. Young Finnish Modernists did well at the annual UNESCO composer rostra in Paris and in the radiophonic category of the Prix Italia. Radiophonic composition was a focus of much interest in the 1980s, reflecting the interest in cross-discipline projects.


Festivals for contemporary music

The pre-eminence of Modernism was also apparent in that a number of festivals focusing on contemporary music emerged in Finland, including the Helsinki Biennale (1981, replaced in 1998 by the annual Musica nova Helsinki), the ‘new music academy’, the Time of Music, in Viitasaari (1982) and the Tampere Biennale (1986) which, unlike the Helsinki Biennale, focuses on Finnish contemporary music. The founding of the Avanti! chamber orchestra, which has performed a lot of music by young composers, also stemmed from this trend.

Although Modernism was the mainstream style in Finnish music in the 1980s, more traditional or eclectic approaches remained alive and well in the work of Einojuhani Rautavaara, Kalevi Aho, Pehr Henrik Nordgren and Mikko Heiniö. The opera boom of the 1970s continued in the internationally successful operas of Aulis Sallinen, while expanding stylistically with the operas of Heininen and Bergman.


Finland in a nutshell

1980: Population of Finland is 4 787 800
1981: Urho Kekkonen, President of the Republic since 1956, resigns due to ill health
1985: Commercial local radio stations go on the air in Helsinki, 150th anniversary of the Kalevala (first version)
1986: Finland becomes a full member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
1989: Finland joins the Council of Europe
1989-1990: Finland is a member of the UN Security Council


Finnish music in a nutshell

1981: Joonas Kokkonen: Requiem, the Performing Music Promotion Centre (ESEK) founded
1983: Avanti! Chamber Orchestra founded, Finnish National Opera visits the Metropolitan in New York, Paavo Heininen: opera Silkkirumpu (The Damask Drum), Aulis Sallinen: opera Kuningas lähtee Ranskaan (The King Goes Forth to France)
1985: Ondine record company founded, Jouni Kaipainen: Symphony No. 1, Olli Kortekangas: TV opera Grand Hotel, Magnus Lindberg: Kraft, Einojuhani Rautavaara: opera Thomas, Kimmo Hakola: String Quartet No. 1, Eero Hämeenniemi: ballet Loviisa, Einojuhani Rautavaara: Symphony No. 5
1987: Tapiola Sinfonietta founded (originally the Espoo City Orchestra), Kalevi Aho: opera Hyönteiselämää (Insect Life), Mikko Heiniö: symphony Possible Worlds, Einojuhani Rautavaara: opera Vincent
1988: Erik Bergman: opera Det sjungande trädet (The Singing Tree), Paavo Heininen: opera Veitsi (The Knife), Kaija Saariaho: Stilleben, Aulis Sallinen: opera Kullervo
1989: Magnus Lindberg: Kinetics, Jukka Linkola: ballet Ronja Ryövärintytär (Ronya the Robber’s Daughter), Usko Meriläinen: Aikaviiva (Timeline), Jukka Tiensuu: Puro




Finnish music in the 1990s:

Stylistic pluralism takes the field

In the early 1990s, Finland was plunged into a recession that was exceptionally deep by Western standards. At the worst point, in late 1993, about one fifth of the labour force was unemployed. Although the Finnish economy has picked up since then, unemployment remains a serious problem. European integration has progressed; in 1995, Finland joined the European Union together with Sweden and Austria. On January 1, 1999, Finland entered the third stage of European Monetary Union and was the first country to adopt the European currency, the euro.

Although the recession was serious, it did not undermine the foundations of Finnish musical life. The most important construction project in the field of music in recent decades was the new Opera House. The decision to build the house was taken during the economic boom of the 1980s, but the project was continued even after the recession hit. The new Opera House was completed and inaugurated in 1993. Public support for music and for culture in general also remained reasonable even in the throes of the recession. Thus, the best composers and performers have had the opportunity to concentrate fully on their artistic work.


The wave of Modernism breaks

The stylistic palette of the 1990s differs greatly from that of the previous decade. The wave of Modernism was replaced by a stylistically broader, more tolerant and more genuinely pluralist atmosphere.

This change was partly influenced by the fact that some of the leading Modernists of the 1980s, such as Magnus Lindberg and Jouni Kaipainen in particular, turned towards a clearer and softer idiom. Internationally successful composers Aulis Sallinen, Kaija Saariaho and Lindberg were joined in the 1990s by Einojuhani Rautavaara, recordings of whose works have become extremely popular. His operas have been performed all over Europe and in the United States. Audiences in Central Europe have also begun to discover the works of Pehr Henrik Nordgren in the 1990s.


The performing arts have improved considerably

The new Opera House created a whole new range of opportunities for the Finnish National Opera. The quality of the performing arts in general has continued to improve. Whereas previously it was singers and conductors who managed to create an international career, today they are being joined by instrumentalists too.

This improved quality in music-making is reflected in orchestras too, of course. The traditional leading orchestras, the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic, have been joined at the cutting edge by Sinfonia Lahti (the Lahti City Orchestra), the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra and the Tapiola Sinfonietta.


Finland in a nutshell

1990: Population of Finland is 4 998 500
1993: Peak unemployment caused by recession
1995: Finland joins the European Union
1998: One in two Finns owns a mobile phone (highest proportion in the world)
2000: Population of Finland is 5 181 155


Finnish music in a nutshell

1991: Mikko Heiniö: Wind Pictures, Herman Rechberger: church opera Laurentius
1992: Aulis Sallinen’s opera Kullervo (1988) premiered in Los Angeles
1993: New Opera House inaugurated, Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 8 (Organ Symphony), Eero Hämeenniemi: Nattuvanar, Pehr Henrik Nordgren: Symphony No. 3, Aulis Sallinen: opera Palatsi (The Palace)
1994: Jouni Kaipainen: Symphony No. 2, Magnus Lindberg: Aura, Einojuhani Rautavaara: Angel of Light (Seventh Symphony)
1995: Olli Kortekangas: opera Joonan kirja (Book of Jonah)
1996: Joonas Kokkonen dies, Kalevi Aho: Symphony No. 10, Kimmo Hakola: Piano Concerto, Veli-Matti Puumala: Chains of Camenae, Einojuhani Rautavaara: opera Aleksis Kivi, Kaija Saariaho: Château de l’âme, Esa-Pekka Salonen: L.A. Variations
1997: Jouni Kaipainen: Piano Concerto
1999: Einar Englund dies



Translation © Jaakko Mäntyjärvi