Aarre Merikanto was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

He was the son of Liisa Häyrynen and the famous romantic

Romantic music

Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....

 composer, professor Oskar Merikanto

Oskar Merikanto

Oskar Merikanto was a Finnish musician and composer.He was born to Swedish-speaking parents in Helsinki. His father, originally Frank Mattsson, changed the family name to sound more Finnish....

. His childhood he spent in Vilppula

Vilppula

Vilppula is a former municipality of Finland. Neighbouring Mänttä was merged into it on 1 January 2009 to form the municipality of Mänttä-Vilppula....

, Finland. From year 1919, he was married to Meri Grönmark. He is regarded as one of the most notable Finnish composers, with Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara

Einojuhani Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius.-Life:...

 and Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...

.

He studied music in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

 1911, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 1912-1914 and Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 1916-1917.

Merikanto was diagnosed with lung cancer

Lung cancer

Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...

 in the summer 1957, and he died the next year. His son is the sculptor Ukri Merikanto.

Works

• Juha
  Juha (Merikanto)
  Juha is a three-act opera by Aarre Merikanto, with a Finnish libretto by Aino Ackté based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Juhani Aho. Although completed by 1922, it was only finally staged at the music college in Lahti on 28 October 1963. The story is a drama of a love triangle : the older...
  
  (opera) completed 1922, first performed 1963
• Symphonies
  Symphony
  A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
  
   I B minor 1916, II A major 1918, III 1953
• Violin concerto
  Violin concerto
  A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
  
  s I 1915, II 1925, III 1931, IV 1954.
• Piano concerto
  Piano concerto
  A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
  
  s I 1913, II 1937, III 1955.
• Cello concertos I 1919, II 1941.
• Symphonic poems Lemminkäinen
  Lemminkäinen
  Lemminkäinen or Lemminki is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the Heroes of the Kalevala, where his character is a composition of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good looking, with wavy blonde hair.The original, mythological...
  
  1916, Pan 1924, Notturno 1928,The Abduction of Kyllikki 1936
• Schott Concerto for violin, clarinet, horn & string sextet 1925
• Nonet 1926
• Symphonic Study 1928
• Fantasia 1923
• Konzertstuck for Cello & Chamber Orchestra 1923

Chronological List of Compositions

1911 Helena, 1act opera, soli pno, performed once, then mutilated

1912 Ballade, pno, lost

1912 Lieder Ohne Worte I-II, pno

1912 String Trio, lost

1913 Impromptu b, pno

1913 op3 Piano Concerto 1f#

1913 String Quartet c#, unfin, lost

1913 String Quartet g, lost

1914 Concert Ouverture, lost

1914 Serenade, vcl str

1914-6 op5 Symphony 1 b

1915 Music for Violin & Piano

1915 op8 Theme 5 Variations & Fugue, orch, originally 9 variations

1915 op9 Violin Concerto 1 g

1915 Savannah-la-Mar, sop orch

1916 Cavatina, vln pno

1916 Four Pieces, pno

1916 Moderato sentito, vln or vcl +pno, lost

1916 op10 Lemminkainen, tone poem

1917 A Dream, tone poem, lost

1917 op17 String Quartet e

1917 Piano Trio a

1918 Alla Marcia, Finland's Young Guard, pno or orch

1918 Impression on Jail, vln pno

1918 op19 Symphony 2 A, War

1919 Andantino, pno

1919 Illusion, pno

1919 Little Tale, pno

1919 op20 Six Pieces, pno

1919 op21 Cello Concerto 1 D

1919 Pièces Héroiques, pno4hnds

1920-2 op25 Juha, Aino Ackte 3act opera

1922 Andantino, vln pno

1922 Autumn Sonnet, sop orch

1922 Echo, sop orch

1923 Fantasy, orch

1924 op28 Pan, tone poem

1925 Concerto for vln cl hn strsextet, Schott Concerto

1925 op30 Violin Concerto 2

1925 Sketch for piano

1925 Song of the Twilight, pno

1925 Suite, orch

1925 To the Last Living Being, vv

1925-6 Nonet, pno fl c-ang cl 2vln vla vcl db

1926 Konzertstuck, cello small orch

1926 Moderta, vcl pno, lost

1927 r31? Partita per orch, (aka Suite 1)

1928 Symphonic Study, mutilated but reconstructed 1981 HEININEN

1929 Concert Piece, vln pno, lost

1929 Notturno, poem, orch

1930 Ten Pieces for orch, incl 1927 Partita

1931 Violin Concerto 3, unperformed & burned by cpsr 1955

1932 Four Compositions, orch

1932 String Sextet, mutilated but reconstructed 1993 HEININEN

1933 Andante Elegiaco & Canzonetta, vcl pno

1933 Andante Religioso, orch

1933 Prelude & Fugue on a theme of Robert Kajanus, orch, lost

1934 Canzona, str or strqt

1934 Dance Suite, orch

1934 Four Four Folk Dances, orch

1934 Lullaby, orch

1934 Sketch for Little Orchestra, unfin

1934-5 Abduction of Kyllikki, orch

1935 Caressing the Echo, vv

1935 Dance Vision, brass

1935 Melody & Song After Hunting, brass

1935-7 Piano Concerto 2

1936 Finnish Folk Melodies, orch

1936 Intrada, orch

1936 Partita, 2fl ob 2cl bsn hp

1936 Two Finnish Folk Dances, orch

1936 Two Studies: Tranquillo; Cantabile, small orch

1937 Five Ugrian Folk Melodies Suite 1, 5 Vogul & Ostyak melodies

1937 Music to the Play Panu, orch

1937 Scherzo, orch

1938 Five Ugrian Folk Melodies Suite 2, 5 Mordvin Vogul & Ostyak melodies

1938 r43 Ukri, mvv orch

1939 Olympic Fanfare 1, brass

1939 String Quartet a

1940 Three Impressions, orch

1941 r43-4 Cello Concerto 2 d

1941 Two Pieces: Andante Cantabile; Allegro Ritmico, orch

1942 Music for Summer Night, orch

1943 Alla Marcia I-II, pno

1943 Arioso, An Ugrian Melody, fl cl str

1943 Preludio, vln pno

1943 The Swing, vv

1943-4 Intermezzo, vln pno

1946 Idiot, vv

1946 Improvisation, 2pno, mutilated & lost

1946 Midsummer, vv

1946 Old Lemminikainen, vv

1946 Silence, vv

1947 Fanfare, 3tpt 4hn 3trb tuba timp, lost

1947 The Laurel of Hellas, Hymn, vv orch

1948 Jubileum Cantata, 70th anniv of the publishing house WSOY, sop ten vv orch

1949-50 Song of the City by the Sea, cantata, sop bar vv orch

1951 Olympic Hymn, vv orch

1952 Andante, pno

1952 Olympic Fanfare 2, brass

1952 Symphony 3

1952 Worlds Meet, film about Olympics in Helsinki, uses olympic music

1953 Gold & Glory, film about Olympics in Helsinki, uses olympic music

1953 Ihalempi, mvv orch

1953 The Jump of Pan, pno

1954 Let this Night be Merry, vv

1954 Violin Concerto 4, Rainbow

1955 Genesis, cantata, sop vv orch

1955 Piano Concerto 3

1955 Piano Concerto 3: Pietà, vln pno

1956 Andante, str

1956 Tuhma, mvv orch

External links

• The Finnish Music Information Centre
• Otonkoski, Lauri: "Aare Merikanto" Finnish Music Information Centre 1997