Artur Uritamm (9 September 1901 in

Tõstamaa Tõstamaa is a small borough ( et, alevik) in Pärnu municipality, Pärnu County, southwestern Estonia. Tõstamaa has a population of 466 (as of 1 January 2020). Tõstamaa St. Mary's Lutheran church was built in 1763–1768. Tõstamaa Manor Tõ ...

– 8 July 1982 in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n classical composer, organist and pedagogue. Uritamm was a student of

Artur Kapp Artur Kapp (28 February 1878 – 14 January 1952) was an Estonian composer. Born in Suure-Jaani, Estonia, then part of the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire, he was the son of Joosep Kapp, who was also a classically trained musician. K ...

at the

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre (''Eesti Muusika- ja Teatriakadeemia'') began as a mixed choir of the Estonia Society Musical Department (EMD) on the eve of World War I. The assembly of the Estonia Society created the Tallinn Higher Musi ...

, graduating in 1937. He was on the faculty of the same school from 1940 until 1941, during which time he received a number of awards for his compositions. Tiring of the academic atmosphere and unable to find a position at the conservatories in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, he resigned to work in a mill in Koluvere, managed by his brother. He was asked by Artur Kapp, then director of the Conservatory, to reconsider his decision, and he returned to his alma mater in 1945, staying until 1946 and teaching music theory. During the latter period he also served as the director of the Estonian Music Foundation and as the music editor of the newspaper ''Hammer and Sickle''. He was ousted from his positions by the Soviets in 1946; he was also expelled from the Composers' Union for refusing to write music in the approved manner. From 1946 to 1947 he served as the organist at the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. John in

Kullamaa Kullamaa (german: Goldenbeck) is a village in Lääne-Nigula Parish, Lääne County, in western Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) The first Estonian professional composer Rudolf Tobias (1873–1918) lived in Kullamäe between 1885 and 1889, wher ...

, following in the footsteps of Johannes Tobias, whose son Rudolf, considered the founder of Estonian classical music, also spent much time at the church. From 1950 to 1955 Uritamm taught music at a high school in Märjamaa, and from 1955 until 1961 he taught children at a school in

. Uritamm married his wife, Ellen, in 1943. He was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

. Among his friends was

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, ...

, who encouraged him to preserve his music. For political reasons, much of Uritamm's work remained unheard for long stretches during his career; since Estonia gained independence in 1991, however, his work has begun to appear on concert programs. His music has been described as ironic and deriving some of its sonic character from folk music. Little of his work has been recorded, but the

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...

''Three Faces of the Homo Sovieticus'', written in 1948 (premiered in 2012) was released on compact disc in 2014, and two of his songs were recorded by the baritone Tiit Kuusik in 1976.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Uritamm, Artur 1901 births 1982 deaths People from Tõstamaa People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian classical organists Male classical organists Male classical composers 20th-century classical composers 20th-century organists Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni 20th-century Estonian composers 20th-century Estonian musicians 20th-century male musicians