Oskar Merikanto

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Oskar Merikanto.

Frans Oskar Merikanto  [ ˈɔskɑr ˈmɛrikɑntɔ ] (born August 5, 1868 in Helsinki , † February 17, 1924 in Hausjärvi-Oitti ) was a Finnish composer and musician . His father Frans Ferdinand Kanto from Jalasjärvi had the family name changed from Mattson to Merikanto in 1882. Please click to listen!Play

Life

After early musical education and a first organ and piano concert in Helsinki in 1887, Merikanto initially studied with Robert Papperitz (organ and music theory), Theodor Coccius , Willy Rehberg (piano), Gustav Schreck (composition) and Carl Reinecke in Leipzig and then in Berlin under the direction of Albert Becker , who had previously been Jean Sibelius 's teacher .

In 1891 he returned to Finland, where he became organist in 1892 and opera conductor in Helsinki in 1911. Until his death he was the organist of the New Church (later St. John's Church ) in Helsinki. He was one of the founders of the "Local Opera" (later the Finnish Opera, now the National Opera ) and there until 1922 conductor. Study trips to church music in European countries followed, including one across Europe in 1907.

Oskar Merikanto was a music teacher, as an organ teacher at the church music school until World War I and at the Helsinki Music Institute until 1920. He sent many of his students to Germany for further training.

He practiced his own artistic activity on the organ and as a pianist nationwide and performed - remarkably at the time - even in the United States. Merikanto's piano playing has survived on a few early records.

He was also the leading nationally known organ expert in Finland. Merikanto composed three operas , violin, piano and organ pieces, choral works and songs .

Oskar Merikanto's organ work is small but compositionally significant, including a larger Passacaglia . His Singspiel Pohjan neiti from 1898 (“Fräulein des Nordens”, premiered in 1908) is considered the first Finnish-language opera. Other operas were Elinan Surma from 1910 and Regina von Emmeritz from 1920. Many of his Singspiele are still popular in Finland today, with Tukkijoella (“ Raft Ride ”) to Toivo Pekkan's play being the best known.

His well-known, melodic and popular songs include Kun päivä paistaa (“When the day shines”), Ma elän (“I live”), Miksi laulan (“Why I sing”) and Oi, muistatko vielä sen virren (“Oh, remember You the hymn ”). He also composed to Swedish and German texts, such as B. To Spring (Schiller), The Unconceived God and Isn't It Strange . Were also popular Dar björkarna Susa (Where the birches swing) and Kesäillan valssi (Summer Night Waltz).

His son Aarre Merikanto was also successful as a composer.

Works (selection)

  • Pohjan neiti ( Fraulein des Nordens , based on motifs from Kalevala ), Singspiel, libretto: Antti Rytkönen (* July 17, 1870 - December 19, 1930) based on an idea by Lorenz Nikolai Achté, 1899
  • Tukkijoella ( Lumberjack on the River ), incidental music, 1890
  • Elinan surma ( Elinas Verscheiden ), opera, 1909–1910
  • Nälkämaan laulu (Song of the Hungry) (1911)
  • Regina von Emmeritz , Opera, 1916–1919
  • Passacaglia in F sharp minor op.80 for organ
  • Romance , Op. 12
  • Organ pieces, including the "wedding hymn"
  • Songs:
    • Red flowers
    • To the spring / Keväälle
    • Flow quietly / Oi, tyynny, sa virta
    • Wistfulness / Alakuloisuus
    • Till Dig
    • Omenakukat (apple blossom)
    • Ma Elan
    • Rukous (Ave Maria)
    • Pai, pai, paitaressu

Web links

Commons : Oskar Merikanto  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Seppo Heikinheimo, aarre merikanto. Säveltäjäkohtalo itsenäisessä Suomessa. 1985
  2. http://www.whoswho.de/bio/willy-rehberg.html
  3. http://archives.gac.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ScanAm/id/1106/rec/1
  4. Tomi Mäkelä: Saariaho, Sibelius and others - New Heroes of the New North: The Last 100 Years of Music and Education in Finland . Georg Olms Verlag, 2014, ISBN 978-3-487-15128-1 ( google.de [accessed on July 28, 2017]).