Einojuhani Rautavaara (born October 9, 1928) is a Finnish composer of classical music, probably the best known Finnish composer of his generation. October 9 is the 282nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (283rd in Leap years). ... 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ...

Life

He was born in Helsinki and studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki under Aarre Merikanto from 1948 to 1952 before Jean Sibelius recommended him for a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. There he was taught by Vincent Persichetti, and he also took lessons from Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. He first came to international attention when he won the Thor Johnson Contest for his composition A Requiem of Our Time in 1954. Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki City manager Jussi Pajunen Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area  - total  - land ranked 342nd 185. ... The Sibelius Academy in downtown Helsinki. ... Aarre Merikanto (June 29, 1893 - September 29, 1958) was a Finnish composer. ... Sibelius Jean Sibelius (December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957) was a Finnish composer of classical music; he also studied the violin as a young man. ... The Juilliard School is a performing arts conservatory in New York City, informally identified as simply Juilliard, and most famous for its musically trained alumni. ... Nickname: The Big Apple Motto: Official website: City of New York Location Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Geographical characteristics Area Total 468. ... Vincent Persichetti (June 6, 1915 – August 14, 1987) was a composer and teacher at the Juilliard School whose students included Philip Glass and Thelonious Monk. ... Roger Sessions (28 December 1896 – 16 March 1985) was an American composer, critic and teacher of music. ... Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (November 14, 1900 – December 2, 1990) was an American composer of concert and film music. ... Tanglewood is the name of an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. ...

Rautavaara served as a non-tenured teacher at the Sibelius Academy from 1957-1959, music archivist of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra from 1959-1961, rector of the Käpylä Music Institute in Helsinki from 1965-1966, tenured teacher at the Sibelius Academy from 1966-1976, Artist Professor (government appointment) from 1971-1976, and Professor of Composition at the Sibelius Academy from 1976-1990. The Sibelius Academy in downtown Helsinki. ...

Rautavaara is a prolific composer and has written in a variety of forms and styles. Much of his work is quite accessible and has proved to be quite popular. He experimented with serial techniques in his early career but left them behind in the 1960s and even his serial works are not obviously. His third symphony, for example, uses such techniques, but sounds more like Anton Bruckner than it does a "difficult" serialist such as Pierre Boulez. His later works often have a mystical element (such as in several works with titles making reference to angels). A characteristic 'Rautavaara sound' might be a rhapsodic string theme of austere beauty, with whirling flute lines, gently dissonant bells, and perhaps the suggestion of a pastoral horn. In the European classical music theory, serialism is a set of methods for composing and analyzing works of music based on structuring those works around the parameterization of parts of music: that is, ordering pitch, dynamics, instrumentation, rhythm, and on occasion other elements into a row or series in which... Anton Bruckner Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824–11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer of the Romantic era. ... Pierre Boulez Pierre Boulez (IPA: /pjɛʁ.buˈlɛz/) (born March 26, 1925) is a conductor and composer of classical music. ... The Annunciation - the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear Jesus (El Greco, 1575) Angels typically are depicted as having white feathered wings, and accompanied by halos. ...

His compositions include eight symphonies, several concertos, choral works (several for unaccompanied choir, including Vigilia (1971-72)), sonatas for various instruments, string quartets and other chamber music, and a number of operas including Vincent (1986-87, based on the life of Vincent Van Gogh), Aleksis Kivi (1995-96) and Rasputin (2001-2003) A number of his works have parts for magnetic tape, including Cantus Arcticus (1972, also known as Concerto for Birds & Orchestra) for taped bird song and orchestra, and True and False Unicorn (1971, second version 1974, revised 2001-02), the final version of which is for three reciters, choir, orchestra and tape. His latest works include Book of Visions (2003-2005) for orchestra and Manhattan Trilogy (2003-2005) for string orchestra. Rautavaara had a serious seizure at the beginning of the year 2004 but has later on recovered. A symphony is an extended piece of music for orchestra, especially one in the form of a sonata. ... In classical music, the word concerto (pl. ... Sonata (From Latin and Italian sonare, to sound), in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to cantata (Latin cantare, to sing), a piece sung. ... The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963 A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. ... Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Vincent Willem van Gogh (March 30, 1853 – July 29, 1890) was a Dutch painter, generally considered one of the greatest painters in European art history. ... Magnetic tape is a non-volatile storage medium consisting of a magnetic coating on a thin plastic strip. ... Bird song refers to the sounds, usually melodious to the human ear, made by many birds of the order Passeriformes as a form of communication. ...

Many of Rautavaara's works have been recorded, with a performance of his seventh symphony, Angel of Light (1995), by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leif Segerstam on the Ondine label, being a particular critical and popular success - it was nominated for several awards, including a Grammy. See Conductor for other possible uses of the word. ... Leif Segerstam (born March 2, 1944) is a Finnish conductor and composer. ... Ondine ( June 16, 1937 - January 1, 1989) met Andy Warhol in 1961 at an orgy, and died of liver disease in Queens, New York, New York, USA in 1989. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

Works

Orchestral Works

• Symphonies
  • Symphony No. 1
  • Symphony No. 2 Sinfonia Intima
  • Symphony No. 3
  • Symphony No. 4 Arabescata
  • Symphony No. 5
  • Symphony No. 6 Vincentiana
  • Symphony No. 7 Angel of Light
  • Symphony No. 8 The Journey
• Concerto for Birds and Orchestra Cantus Arcticus, for taped bird sounds and orchestra
• Angels and Visitations
• Book of Visions
• Garden of Spaces
• Isle of Bliss

Concertante Works

• Piano Concerto No. 1
• Piano Concerto No. 2
• Piano Concerto No. 3 Gift of Dreams
• Violin Concerto
• Cello Concerto
• Double Bass Concerto Angel of Dusk
• Flute Concerto
• Clarinet Concerto

Stage Works

• Vincent, opera
• Rasputin, opera
• Aleksis Kivi, opera
• The House of the Sun, chamber opera
• The Gift of the Magi, chamber opera

Choral Works

• All-Night Vigil, a capella sacred music

Chamber/Instrumental Works

Recordings

• Einojuhani Rautavaara, All-Night Vigil (excerpts). On Bella Voce 2002. Bella Voce, Mirror Image Productions, 2002.

Bella Voce (It. ...

External links

• CV and list of works from the Finnish Music Information Centre
• Home page at Boosey & Hawkes
• Biographical sketch at Virtual Finland, produced by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland