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Väinö Eerikki Raitio (15 April 1891, in
Sortavala Sortavala (russian: Сортавала; Finnish and krl, Sortavala; sv, Sordavala); till 1918 Serdobol (russian: Сердоболь) is a town in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, located at the northern tip of Lake Ladoga near the Finnish bo ...
,
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 predecesso ...
– 10 September 1945, in
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 ...
) was part of the small group of
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 Def ...
s who appeared in the Finnish art music scene in the 1920s with a new cosmopolitan music style, very different from the dominant conservative National Romanticism. Raitio's career as a composer reached its peak in the 1920s when eight large
symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
poem Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...
s appeared from his pen. Influenced by
Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (; russian: Александр Николаевич Скрябин ; – ) was a Russian composer and virtuoso pianist. Before 1903, Scriabin was greatly influenced by the music of Frédéric Chopin and composed ...
, his style was too modern for Nordic music circles, and his
orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...
work ''Joutsenet (The Swans, Les Cygnes)'' of 1919 remained as his sole orchestral piece to be published (in 1938). Raitio's profile as a composer slipped, as he concentrated on shorter works for smaller ensembles in the 1930s and 1940s. In private, however, much effort was made by the composer to write
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...
tic works. Still today, his five operas are only known from the composer's hand-written manuscripts.


Works


Early period (–1919)

*Violin Sonata in F sharp minor *String Quartet in G minor op. 10 *Piano concerto op. 6 *''Poème'' for cello and orchestra op. 7 *Symphonic Ballade op. 9 *Symphony in G Minor op. 13


Reaching maturity (1919–1920s)

*''Joutsenet'' op. 15 ('The Swans'/'Les Cygnes') *Piano Quintet in C sharp minor, op. 16 *''Nocturne'' op. 17 *Fantasy for quintet op. 19 *''Fantasia estatica'' op. 21 *''Four Colour poems for piano op. 22 *''Antigone Trilogy'' op. 23 *''Moonlight on Jupiter'' op. 24 *''Fantasia poetica'' op. 25 *''The Pyramide'' for mixed choir and orchestra op. 27 *''The Avenue'' for soprano and orchestra op. 29


Back to traditional forms (1930s–40s)

*''Suite Summer Scenes from Häme'' *''Forest Idylls'' * Scherzo ''Felix domestica'' *''Legend'' for violin and orchestra *Double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra *''The Maids on the Headlands'' *''Idyll'' *''Notturno'' for violin and orchestra *''Serenata'' for violin and orchestra *''Fantasy'' for cello, harp and orchestra


Stage works

*5 Operas: **''Jeftan tytär'' (''The Daughter of Jephtha''), op. 30 (1929) **''Prinsessa Cecilia'' (''Princess Cecilia'') (1933) **''Lyydian kuningas'' (''The King of Lydia'') (1937) **''Väinämöisen kosinta'' (''Väinämöinen's Proposal'') (1934–1936) **''Kaksi kuningatarta'' (''The Two Queens') *Ballet ''The Waterspout'' (''Vesipatsas'') *''Le ballet grotesque''


Further reading

*


External links


Väinö Raitio Society
(mostly in Finnish)
Music Finland composer material
1891 births 1945 deaths 20th-century classical composers Finnish male classical composers Finnish classical composers Finnish opera composers 20th-century male musicians Male opera composers People from Sortavala People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) 20th-century Finnish composers {{Finland-composer-stub