Arma's Launis

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Arma's Launis

Armas Launis (born April 22, 1884 in Hämeenlinna , † August 7, 1959 in Nice ) was a Finnish composer, but also folk music scientist, university professor, writer and journalist.

The composer

Armas Launis mainly wrote operas . He wrote both the music and the text for ten operas. In particular:

  • in Finland: The Seven Brothers (1913), the first Finnish comic opera, and Kullervo (1917), both as stage performances and Aslak Hetta as a concert performance from 2004 at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki under the direction of Sakari Oramo
  • in France: a stage performance of Kullervo (1940, Nice, Palais de la Méditerranée) and various radio broadcasts, including a short version of Jehudith .

In addition, Armas Launis also wrote chamber music pieces, cantatas, choral works, orchestral suites and the music for the first folkloric Finnish film A Wedding in Karelia, the Land of Poetry (1921).

The folk music scientist

Launis was one of the first scientists to collect and research folk music. On extensive solo trips to Lapland (1904, 1905, 1922), Kainuu (1902), Ingrien (1903, 1906), Karelia (1902, 1905) and Estonia (1930), he met locals, chatted with them and listened to their music . He made recordings of well-known singers, wailers and kantele players. Launis understood the richness and liveliness of sung folk art as well as its identity-creating importance. His numerous publications and the corpus of melodies he has collected are still highly regarded and used as valuable contributions to the nation's ancestral heritage.

He later traveled to North Africa and became interested in the music of the Arabs, Berbers and Bedouins. This influence was noticeably in his late works, especially the operas Théodora and Jehudith .

The university professor

Armas Launis received his PhD (1911) and became a teacher at the University of Helsinki. He taught music analysis and composition. He completed his training in Berlin with Wilhelm Klatte and in Weimar with Waldemar von Baussenern. It was important to him to open up musical training to everyone. That is why he founded the first People's Conservatories in Finland and directed them until 1930. These still exist today. As early as 1920 the Finnish state set up a pension for him for life, which enabled him to go on research trips.

The journalist

In order to maintain contact with his homeland, Launis regularly wrote articles for various Finnish newspapers (Helsingin sanomat, Uusi Suomi, Suomen Kuvalehti). He was a co-founder and active member of the Société de la presse étrangère de la Côte d'Azur (Society of Foreign Press on the Côte d'Azur) and a journalist for the Association française d'expansion et d'échanges artistiques (French Society for the Promotion of artistic exchange).

After 1930 he lived permanently in Nice and took part in the musical exchange between France and Finland.

Works

Operas

  • The Seven Brothers (1913)
  • Kullervo (1917)
  • Aslak Hetta (1922)
  • The Witches Song (1934)
  • The Karelian Scarf (1937)
  • The summer that never came (1936)
  • Jehudith (1937-1940)
  • Once upon a time (1939)
  • Theodora (1939)
  • Frozen Flames (1957)

Books

  • On the nature, origin and distribution of the Estonian-Finnish rune melodies (1910)
  • Ooppera ja pühlenäytelmä: muutamia vertailevia piirteitä (1915)
  • Esivanhempieni muisto 1500–1900 (1921)
  • Aslak Hetta: 3 Näytöksinen ooppera (libretto 1921)
  • Kaipaukseni maa. Lapinkävijän muistoja (1922)
  • Murjaanien maassa (1927)
  • Suomen maaseutukaupunkien kansankonservatoriot (1927)
  • Erään Turumaalaisen saaristolaisuvun vaiheita (1929)
  • Tunturisävelmia etsimässä. Lapissa 1904 yes 1905. (Minna-Rikka Järvinen 2004)

Melodies collection

  • Lappish juoigos melodies (1908) (Lappish melodies)
  • Suomen kansan sävelmiä IV: I Inkerin runosävelmät (1910)
  • Suomen partiovänen laulukirja (1917)
  • Suomen kansan sävelmiä IV: II Karjalan runosävelmät 1930
  • Eesti runoviisid (Tartto 1930)

Magazine articles

  • Runosävelmistä (Kalevalanseuran vuosikirja 1, 1921)
  • Kullervo-oopperan esihistoriaa (Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 1,1921)
  • Saamein säveleitä etsimässä (Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 2,1922)
  • Muuan karjalainen kanteleensoittaja (Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 1923)

swell

  • Ahmajärvi, Jouni 2003 "Se maa on taikamaa, on maa mun kaipauksen" Armas Launiksen kuva Lapista ja saamelaisista.Julkaisematon per gradu-tutkielma Oulun yliopisto, Historian laitos.
  • Fantapié, Henri-Claude 2000: Armas Launis (1884–1959): un compositeur finlandais dans le contexte niçois et français. Boréales 2000: 78/81, p213–230. http://www.solistesdeparis.com
  • Fantapié, Henri-Claude 2003: Quand un compositeur du Nord croise un collègue venu du Sud .... Boréales 2003 86/89, p249–263.
  • Hako, Pekka 1982: Armas Launis 1884–1959-Felix Krohn, Armas Launis, Ernst Linko. Hämeen läänin taidetoimikunta, Hämeenlinna.
  • Hako, Pekka 2004: Armas Launis: opera composer. Finnish music quarterly 2004: 2, pp. 42-47.
  • Heinonen, Kati 2005: Armas Launiksen fonogrammit Soikkolasta: laulutavan, runon ja laulutilanteen välisiä yhteyksiä kalevalamittaisessa runoudessa. Pro gradu-tutkielma http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/hum/kultt/pg/heinonen/ .
  • Jouste, Marko 2004: Armas Launiksen vuoden 1904 Lapin matkan joikusävelmien keräys ja soiva vertailuaineisto. Musiikin suunta 2004: 2, pp. 58-81.
  • Järvinen, Minna Riikka 2004: Ummikkona Pohjan perille.- Launis, Armas: Tunturisävelmiä .Lapissa 1904 and 1905. Toim. Minna Riikka Järvinen. Helsinki: SKS, 341–351.
  • Tomasi, Henri 1940: Armas Launis. Notes biographiques.Kullervo.Autres oeuvres. Préface H. Holma, London.
  • Väisänen, AO1960: Armas Launis 1884-1959. Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 40, pp. 345-349.
  • Tarasti, Eero, Muotokuvia, Imatran Kansainvälisen Semiotiikka-Instituutin julkaisuja, no.3

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Launis, Armas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Hämeenlinna , Finland
DATE OF DEATH 7th August 1959
Place of death Nice