Karl Emil Moritz Genetz (October 24, 1852 – May 1, 1930) was a Finnish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

of patriotic

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

works. Genetz was born in

Impilahti Impilahti (russian: Импила́хти; krl, Imbilahti; sv, Impilax) is a rural locality in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish border, about west of Petrozavodsk, the capital city ...

, Finland (now in the

Republic of Karelia The Republic of Karelia (russian: Респу́блика Каре́лия, Respublika Kareliya; ; krl, Karjalan tašavalta; ; fi, Karjalan tasavalta; vep, Karjalan Tazovaldkund, Ludic: ''Kard’alan tazavald''), also known as just Karelia (rus ...

). He became professionally employed as a language teacher, but gained prominence for his choral compositions. After studying chemistry and law at the University of Helsinki, he became a singer in the

Finnish 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 ...

, and traveled on a state grant to study at the

Dresden Conservatory Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the List ...

from 1875 to 1877. He spent time in various cities of Finland, including Hämeenlinna, Helsinki, and

Hamina Hamina (; sv, Fredrikshamn, , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, reg ...

, working as a

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and Official language, official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Ita ...

teacher, composing patriotic works, and conducting choirs. He died in Helsinki in 1930. Many of his works are still well known in modern Finland. James Fuld in his ''The Book of World-Famous Music'' points out that the first two measures of Genetz' ''Herää Suomi! (Arise Finland!)'' for male chorus, published in 1882, are almost identical with the main tune of Jean Sibelius' '' Finlandia'' of 1900, during which time the Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire, which makes one consider how blatantly revolutionary against the Czarist regime Sibelius' wordless orchestral piece was.

References

* 1852 births 1930 deaths People from Pitkyarantsky District People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish composers Finnish male composers {{finland-composer-stub