Categories
Late Romantic Finnish

MELARTIN, Erkki

Erkki Melartin

Born in Käkisalmi, Finland [now Priozersk, Russia], Feb 7, 1875
Died in Pukinmäki, Helsinki, Feb 14, 1937

  • Erkki Melartin (pronunciation) studied at the Helsinki Music School with Martin Wegelius (1892–9) and in Vienna with Robert Fuchs.
  • Melartin went on to serve as director of the Helsinki Music School from 1911–36, where he “raised an entire generation of composers as a teacher, and supported young modernists.”
  • As a composer, Melartin was incredibly prolific, and his extensive output includes six symphonies (in addition to several more pieces for orchestra), stage works, chamber music, art songs, choral pieces, piano works, and more.
    • Melartin’s music is rooted in the Late Romantic idiom while experimenting with the newer Impressionist and Expressionist styles.
    • Largely overshadowed by his Finnish contemporary, Jean Sibelius, Melartin was writing symphonies around the same time as Sibelius and maintained a distinctive style and musical voice throughout.1

Learn More

Short biography from Fennica Gehrman

Sources

  1. Erkki Salmenhaara and Heikki Poroila, “Melartin, Erkki,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed August 25, 2023, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000018310.

Pieces