Joonas Kokkonen (pronunciation (help· info)) (November 21, 1921 – October 1 or 2, 1996) was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera The Last Temptations has received over 500 performances worldwide, and is considered by many to be Finland's most distinguished national opera. Image File history File links Fi-Joonas_Kokkonen. ... November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for full calendar). ... October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Johan Julius Christian Jean/Janne Sibelius ( ; December 8, 1865 – September 20, 1957) was a Finnish composer of classical music and one of the most notable composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... The New Opera in Oslo, Norway The Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. ...

Life

He was born in Iisalmi, Finland, but spent most of his life in Järvenpää at his home, which was known as "Villa Kokkonen". He received his education at the University of Helsinki, and later at the Sibelius Academy, where he afterwards taught composition; his students there included Aulis Sallinen. In addition to his activities as a composer, he made a significant and powerful impact on Finnish cultural life, serving as a chairman and organizer, heading organizations such as Society of Finnish Composers, the Board of the Concert Centre, and others. His purpose was always to improve music education, as well as the status and appreciation of classical music as well as Finnish music. In the 1960s and early 1970s he won numerous prizes for his work. Iisalmi (Idensalmi in Swedish) is a town and municipality of Finland. ... Coat of arms of Järvenpää Järvenpää (IPA: /ˈjærÊ‹emËŒpæː/; Träskända in Swedish) is a town and municipality of Finland. ... University of Helsinki is not to be confused with Helsinki University of Technology. ... The Sibelius Academy in downtown Helsinki. ... Aulis Sallinen (born April 9, 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. ...

The date of his death has been variously reported as October 1, 1996 (New Grove Dictionary, and various internet sources); October 2, 1996 (many internet sources, including the Finnish Music Center); and October 20, 1996 (New Grove Dictionary of Opera). October 1 is the 274th day of the year (275th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... October 2 is the 275th day (276th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 90 days remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... October 20 is the 293rd day of the year (294th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 72 days remaining. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Music and influence

Even though he studied at the Sibelius Academy, he was mainly self-learned in composition. Usually his compositions are divided into three style periods: a neo-classical early style from 1948 to 1958, a relatively short middle period twelve-tone style from 1959 to 1966, and a late "neo-Romantic" style of free tonality which also used aspects of his earlier style periods, which began in 1967 and lasted for the rest of his life. Neoclassicism in music was a 20th century development, particularly popular in the period between the two World Wars, in which composers drew inspiration from music of the 18th century, though some of the inspiring canon was drawn as much from the Baroque period as the Classical period - for this reason... Serialism is a rubric applied to diverse systems of composing music in which various elements of a piece are ordered according to a pre-determined set or sets of musical pitches (sometimes called rows), and variations on them. ... Tonality is a system of writing music according to certain hierarchical pitch relationships around a key center or tonic. ...

Most of his early music is chamber music, and includes a Piano Trio and a Piano Quintet; the style is contrapuntal and influenced by Bartók, but looks back to Renaissance and Baroque models as well. In the second style period he wrote the first two of his four symphonies. Although he used twelve-tone technique, he avoided orthodoxy by occasionally using triads and octaves; he also liked to use the row melodically, giving the successive pitches in the same tone color (many other composers of 12-tone music split the row between different voices). Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. ... A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, almost always a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. ... A piano quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one piano and four other instruments, or the name of a piece written for such a group. ... In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony. ... Béla Bartók in 1927 Béla Viktor János Bartók (March 25, 1881 – September 26, 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and collector of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk music. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note which distinguishes different types of musical instrument. ...

In the third style period Kokkonen wrote the music that made him internationally famous: the last two symphonies, the ...durch einen Spiegel for twelve solo strings, the Requiem, and the opera The Last Temptations (1975) (Viimeiset kiusaukset), based on the life and death of the Finnish Revivalist preacher Paavo Ruotsalainen. The opera is punctuated with chorales which refer back to Johann Sebastian Bach, and which are also reminiscent of the African-American spirituals used for a similar purpose in Michael Tippett's oratorio A Child of our Time. The opera was staged at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1983. The Requiem (from the Latin requiés, rest) or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Anglican High Church and certain Lutheran Churches in the United States. ... Paavo Ruotsalainen (July 9, 1777 - January 27, 1852) was a Finnish farmer and lay preacher. ... Bach in a 1748 portrait by Haussmann Places in which Bach resided throughout his life Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced ) (21 March 1685 O.S. – 28 July 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... Sir Michael Kemp Tippett, O.M. (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was one of the foremost English composers of the 20th century. ... The Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, seen from Lincoln Center Plaza A full house at the old Metropolitan Opera House, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Józef Hofmann, November 28, 1937. ... New York, NY redirects here. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References and further reading

• Erkki Arni: "Joonas Kokkonen", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed February 27, 2005) (subscription access)
• The Last Temptations: opera by Joonas Kokkonen (trans. Keith Bosley, 1977)

February 27 is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Keith (Anthony) Bosley (born 1937 in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire) is a British language expert. ...

External links

• Short biography with some description of his works
• Finnish Music Information Centre biography
• Swedish record company BIS website