Aarre Merikanto Aarre Merikanto

Aarre Merikanto (29 June 1893, Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland – 28 September 1958, Helsinki, Republic of Finland) was a Finnish composer.

He was the son of Liisa Häyrynen and the famous romantic composer, professor Oskar Merikanto. His childhood he spent in Vilppula, Finland. From year 1919, he was married to Meri Grönmark. He is considered a key figure in early Finnish modernism (together with Väinö Raitio and Ernest Pingoud) and several of his works, most notably the opera Juha, have obtained posthumous attention. As professor of composition in the Sibelius Academy (1951–1958) Merikanto taught several Finnish composers of the next generation, including Einojuhani Rautavaara, Usko Meriläinen, Aulis Sallinen and Paavo Heininen.

He studied music in Helsinki 1911, Leipzig 1912–1914 and Moscow 1916–1917. Merikanto's early style was rooted in Finnish romanticism, but in the 1920s he developed a personal, atonal but not dodecaphonic Modernist style. The reception of Merikanto's works of this period was mixed: the "Schott" Concerto for nine instruments was awarded in a competition organized by the German publishers Schott & Söhne, but his domestic Finnish audiences and critics were generally unenthusiastic and his opera Juha, today considered one of his major works, was never performed during Merikanto's lifetime. Disappointed with the reactions, starting in the early 1930s, Merikanto gradually abandoned his more radical style and turned towards a more traditional idiom based on Neoclassicism. He also destroyed or mutilated the scores of several works from his earlier style period, some of which were later reconstructed by his last composition student Paavo Heininen.

Merikanto was diagnosed with lung cancer in the summer 1957, and he died on 28 September the following year, aged 65. His son was the sculptor Ukri Merikanto.

Main works

• Juha (opera) completed 1922, premiered 1963
• Symphonies I B minor 1916, II A major 1918, III 1953
• Violin concertos I 1915, II 1925, III (destroyed) 1931, IV 1954.
• Piano concertos I 1913, II 1937, III 1955.
• Cello concertos I 1919, II 1941.
• Symphonic poems Lemminkäinen 1916, Pan 1924, Notturno 1928,The Abduction of Kyllikki 1936
• Schott Concerto for violin, clarinet, horn & string sextet 1925
• Nonet 1926
• Symphonic Study 1928
• Fantasia 1923
• Konzertstück for Cello & Chamber Orchestra 1923
• Ten Pieces for Orchestra 1930
• Olympic Fanfare 1939
• Song of the City by the Sea (cantata) 1949–50
• Genesis (cantata) 1955