Joonas cocoons

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Joonas Kokkonen in the 1950s.

Joonas Kokkonen  [ ˈjɔːnɑs ˈkɔkːɔnɛn ] (born November 13, 1921 in Iisalmi , † October 2, 1996 in Järvenpää near Helsinki ) was a Finnish composer . Please click to listen!Play

Life

Kokkonen spent most of his life in Järvenpää . His studies took him to the University of Helsinki and to Ilmari Hannikainen and Selim Palmgren at the Sibelius Academy , where he later taught composition; His students included Aulis Sallinen , Erkki Salmenhaara and Paavo Heininen . In addition to his work as a composer, as chairman or organizer he was significantly involved in Finnish cultural life, for example at the top of organizations such as the Society of Finnish Composers and others. His aim has always been to raise the level of musical education, as well as the status and recognition of classical music and Finnish music in general. In the 1960s and 1970s he received numerous awards for his work.

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Kokkonen was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius . Despite his studies at the Sibelius Academy, he learned composition largely self-taught. His compositions are usually divided into three style periods: an early neoclassical style from 1948 to 1958, a relatively short middle phase of the twelve-tone style between 1959 and 1966 and a late "neo-romantic" style phase with a free tonality, which, however, also takes up aspects of earlier creative phases; the latter began in 1967 and lasted until the end of his life.

The majority of his early works are chamber music and include a piano trio and a piano quintet; the style is contrapuntal and influenced by Bartók , but also draws on models from the Renaissance and Baroque . The first two of his four symphonies were composed during the second style phase. Despite using the twelve-tone technique, he avoided excessive severity, which is expressed in the occasional use of triads and octaves; he also preferred a melodic use of rows, giving successive notes the same timbre (many other twelve-tone composers split a row between different voices).

In the third style period, Kokkonen wrote the works that made him internationally known: the last two symphonies, ... through a mirror for twelve solo strings and harpsichord, the requiem and the opera The Last Temptations (1975) ( Viimeiset kiusaukset ), based on Life and death of the Finnish revival preacher Paavo Ruotsalainen . The opera is interspersed with chorales that refer back to Johann Sebastian Bach and at the same time recall the Afro-American spirituals that Michael Tippett had used with similar intent in his oratorio A Child of our Time . The opera has seen more than 500 performances worldwide, including in 1983 at the Metropolitan Opera in New York . It is widely regarded as Finland's most distinctive national opera.

In 1963 Kokkonen was honored with the Finnish Academic Award and in 1968 with the Music Prize of the Nordic Council . In 1973 he and Witold Lutosławski received the Wihuri Sibelius Prize .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Tomi Mäkelä:  Kokkonen, Joonas. In: MGG Online (subscription required).
  2. ↑ Joonas Kokkonen in the Munzinger archive , accessed on September 26, 2018 ( beginning of the article freely available)
personal data
SURNAME Kokkonen, Joonas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Iisalmi , Finland
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1996
Place of death Järvenpää near Helsinki