Edvard Armas Järnefelt (14 August 1869 – 23 June 1958), was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

conductor and composer, who achieved some minor success with his orchestral works ''Berceuse'' and ''Praeludium''. He spent much of his conducting career at the

Royal Swedish Opera Royal Swedish Opera ( sv, Kungliga Operan) is an opera and ballet company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Location and environment The building is located in the center of Sweden's capital Stockholm in the borough of Norrmalm, on the eastern side ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden.

Life

Armas Järnefelt was born in

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

, in the

Grand Duchy of Finland The Grand Duchy of Finland ( fi, Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta; sv, Storfurstendömet Finland; russian: Великое княжество Финляндское, , all of which literally translate as Grand Principality of Finland) was the predecessor ...

, the son of General August Aleksander Järnefelt and

Elisabeth Järnefelt Elisabeth Järnefelt (née Clodt von Jürgensburg; 11 January 1839 – 3 February 1929) was a Finnish salonist, known as "the mother of Finnish art and culture".Biografiskt lexikon för Finland 2. Ryska tiden (2009). Life Elisabeth's parents we ...

(née

Clodt von Jürgensburg The House Clodt von Jürgensburg (or Klodt; russian: Клодт фон-Юренсбург) was a Russian nobility, Russian noble family of Baltic Germans, Baltic German origin, whose members were prominent soldiers and artists. Notable members ...

). Järnefelt studied with

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and with

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Both Järnefelt and Busoni enjoyed a close relationship with

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

, who was married to Järnefelt's sister Aino. From 1905 Järnefelt had a long career as conductor at the

, beginning as repetiteur from 1905 to 1911 (he became a Swedish citizen in 1909); conductor 1911-1923 and chief conductor 1923–1933. Between 1932 and 1936 Järnefelt was the artistic director and conductor of the

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet ( fi, Suomen Kansallisooppera ja -baletti; sv, Finlands Nationalopera och -balett) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the T ...

. He presented, among others,

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

and

Götterdämmerung ' (; ''Twilight of the Gods''), WWV 86D, is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled (''The Ring of the Nibelung'', or ''The Ring Cycle'' or ''The Ring'' for short). It received its premiere at the on 17 August 1876, as p ...

from

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

cycle, and

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is an opera or a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is loosely based on the 13th-century Middle High German epic poem ''Parzival'' ...

. He was principal conductor of the

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra (in Finnish: ; in Swedish: ; literal English translation: Helsinki City Orchestra; commonly abbreviated as HPO) is an orchestra based in Helsinki, Finland. Founded in 1882 by Robert Kajanus, the Philharmonic ...

1942–1943, and also returned to the Royal Swedish Opera as chief conductor from 1938 to 1946. He died in

Works

Järnefelt's musical works include: * ''Lyrical Overture'' (1892) * ''Childhood Days'' (''Lapsuuden ajoilta'') (1892) * ''Serenade'' for orchestra in six movements (1893) * Symphonic poem ''Korsholma'' (1894) * Suite for small orchestra (1895) * Symphonic poem ''Heimathklang'' (lit. ''The sound of home'') (1895) * Suite in E-flat major (1897) * ''Finnish Rhapsody'' (1899) * ''Praeludium'' (1900) * ''Berceuse'' (1904) In addition, he composed more than 70 solo songs, 21 pieces for male chorus, 12 part-songs for mixed chorus, and 13 cantatas. His ''Berceuse'' (1904) arranged for violin and piano is included in the Royal Conservatory of Music grade 7 violin repertoire (Canada). Järnefelt also wrote stage and film music, e.g. for the film ''Song of the Scarlet Flower'' (1919), directed by

Mauritz Stiller Mauritz Stiller (born Moshe Stiller, 17 July 1883 – 18 November 1928) was a Swedish film director of Finnish Jewish origin, best known for discovering Greta Garbo and bringing her to America. Stiller had been a pioneer of the Swedish film ...

, possibly the first original film music by a Nordic composer.

Family life

His siblings were , a critic and translator of Russian literature; the writer

Arvid Järnefelt Arvid Järnefelt (16 November 1861, in , Russian Empire – 27 December 1932, in Helsinki, Finland) was a Finnish judge and writer. Arvid's parents were general and governor August Aleksander Järnefelt and Elisabeth Järnefelt (''née'' Clo ...

(the incidental music for his play ''

Kuolema ''Kuolema'' (''Death'') is a drama by the Finnish writer Arvid Järnefelt, first performed on 2 December 1903. He revised the work in 1911. The play is notable for its incidental music: a group of six compositions created by the author's broth ...

'' was written by

); the painter

Eero Järnefelt Erik "Eero" Nikolai Järnefelt (8 November 1863 – 15 November 1937) was a Finnish painter and art professor. He is best known for his portraits and landscapes of the area around Koli National Park. He was a medal winner at the Paris ''Expositi ...

(Erik); Ellida; Ellen, Aino (who married Sibelius); Hilja; and Sigrid. He was married twice: firstly to the soprano

Maikki Järnefelt Maria 'Maikki' Järnefelt-Palmgren ( Pakarinen; 1871—1929) was an internationally-recognised Finnish operatic soprano and singing pedagogue, who toured extensively around Europe. She is especially known as a Wagnerian and Lied singer. Mari ...

(née Pakarinen) from 1893 to 1908 (she subsequently married

Selim Palmgren Selim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren (16 February 1878 – 13 December 1951) was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then ...

), and secondly in 1910 to the opera singer Liva Edström.

Legacy

In June 2012 a display of Järnefelt paraphernalia was opened in the entrance of the Sibelius Academy situated in the Helsinki Music Center.

References

External links

* 1869 births 1958 deaths Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery Finnish classical composers Finnish conductors (music) Finnish male classical composers Finnish emigrants to Sweden Finnish people of German descent Litteris et Artibus recipients Naturalized citizens of Sweden People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Musicians from Vyborg Swedish classical composers Swedish conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Swedish male classical composers 19th-century Finnish nobility {{finland-composer-stub