Joonas Kokkonen (; 13 November 1921 – 2 October 1996) 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 ...

composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after

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

; his opera ''

The Last Temptations ''The Last Temptations'' ( fi, Viimeiset kiusaukset) is an opera in two acts by Joonas Kokkonen to a libretto by Lauri Kokkonen. Along with Leevi Madetoja's ''Pohjalaisia'' and Aarre Merikanto's ''Juha'', it is considered one of the most import ...

'' has received over 500 performances worldwide, and is considered by many to be Finland's most distinguished national opera.

Life

Joonas was born in

Iisalmi Iisalmi (; sv, Idensalmi) is a town and municipality in the region of Northern Savonia in Finland. It is located north of Kuopio and south of Kajaani. The municipality has a population of (), which makes it the second largest of the five towns ...

, Finland, but spent the latter part of his life in

Järvenpää Järvenpää (; sv, Träskända) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located on the Helsinki–Riihimäki railway track in Uusimaa region, some north of Helsinki. Neighbouring municipalities are Tuusula, Sipoo and Mäntsälä. People ...

at his home, which was known as Villa Kokkonen, designed by

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

and finished in 1969. He served in the Finnish army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

with great distinction. He received his education at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

, and later at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It als ...

, where he afterwards taught composition; his students there included

Aulis Sallinen Aulis Sallinen (born 9 April 1935) is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". 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. He was appointed to the prestigious Finnish Academy upon the death of

Uuno Klami Uuno (Kalervo) Klami (20 September 1900, Virolahti – 29 May 1961, Virolahti) was a Finnish composer of the modern period. He is widely recognized as one of the most significant Finnish composers to emerge from the generation that followed ...

. His composition activity slowed down greatly after the death of his wife and increased alcohol consumption. He had long planned a Fifth Symphony but nothing was ever committed to paper and it died with him. 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''). According to his biographer Pekka Hako, he died on October 2, in the early hours of the day.

Music and influence

Even though he studied at the Sibelius Academy, he was mainly self-taught 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 The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

style from 1959 to 1966, and a late "neo-Romantic" style of free

tonality Tonality is the arrangement of pitches and/or chords of a musical work in a hierarchy of perceived relations, stabilities, attractions and directionality. In this hierarchy, the single pitch or triadic chord with the greatest stability is call ...

which also used aspects of his earlier style periods, which began in 1967 and lasted for the rest of his life. Most of his early music is

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and includes a

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 musi ...

and a

Piano Quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a pian ...

; the style is

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

and influenced by Bartók, but looks back to

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

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). 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 A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

, and the opera ''

'' (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 Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

, and which are also reminiscent of the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

spirituals used for a similar purpose in

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

's oratorio ''

A Child of Our Time ''A Child of Our Time'' is a secular oratorio by the British composer Michael Tippett (1905–1998), who also wrote the libretto. Composed between 1939 and 1941, it was first performed at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 19 March 1944. The wo ...

''. The opera was staged at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1983.

List of compositions

Orchestral

*Music for String Orchestra (1957) *Symphony No. 1 (1960) *Symphony No. 2 (1960–61) *Opus Sonorum (1964) *Symphony No. 3 (1967) *Symphonic Sketches (1968) *Symphony No. 4 (1971) *Inauguratio (1971) *"...durch einem Spiegel" (1977) *Il passagio (1987)

Concertante

*Concerto for Cello & Orchestra (1969)

Chamber

*Piano Trio (1948) *Piano Quintet (1951–53) *Duo for violin & piano (1955) *String Quartet No. 1 (1959) *Sinfonia da camera (1961–62) *String Quartet No. 2 (1966) *Wind Quintet (1973) *Sonata for Cello & Piano (1975–76) *String Quartet No. 3 (1976) *Improvisazione for violin & piano (1982)

Piano

*Impromptu for piano (1938) *Pielavesi Suite for piano (1939) *Two Small Preludes for piano (1943) *Sonatina for piano (1953) *Religioso for piano (1956) *Bagatelles for piano (1969)

Organ

*Lux aeterna for organ (1974) *Hääsoitto (Wedding music) for organ *Iuxta Crucem for organ *Surusoitto (Funeral Music) for organ

Vocal

*Three Songs to Poems by Einari Vuorela (1947) *Illat Song Cycle (1955) *Three Children's Christmas Songs (1956–58) *Hades of the Birds Song Cycle for Soprano & Orchestra (1959) *Two Monologues from "The Last Temptations" for bass & orchestra (1975)

Choral

*Missa a capella (1963) *Laudatio Domini (1966) *Erekhteion, academic cantata (1970) *Ukko-Paavon Virsi for chorus (1978) *Requiem (1979–81) *"With his fingers Väinämöinen played" for male chorus (1985)

Opera

(1972–1975)

References

External links

Short biography with some description of his works

Finnish Music Information Centre biography

Ondine's Kokkonen page (record label)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kokkonen, Joonas 1921 births 1996 deaths People from Iisalmi Finnish classical composers 20th-century classical composers Finnish opera composers Male opera composers University of Helsinki alumni Finnish military personnel of World War II Finnish male classical composers 20th-century male musicians 20th-century Finnish composers