Helvi Lemmikki Leiviskä (25 May 1902 — 12 August 1982) 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, writer, music educator and librarian at the Sibelius Academy.

Life

Helvi Leiviskä was born in 1902 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and in 1927 graduated in composition from the Helsinki Music Institute (

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 al ...

) where she studied with

Erkki Melartin Erkki Gustaf Melartin (7 February 1875, Käkisalmi – 14 February 1937, Helsinki) was a Finnish composer, conductor, and teacher of the late-Romantic and early-modern periods. Melartin is generally considered to be one of Finland's most sign ...

. She continued her studies in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and then returned to Finland where she studied with Leevi Madetoja. She began work as a composer with a debut in 1935 and also worked as a music teacher privately and in public schools from 1922 to 1938. In 1933 she took a position as librarian at the Sibelius Academy. After

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 opposing ...

, Leiviskä furthered her studies with

Leo Funtek Leo Funtek (August 21, 1885 – January 13, 1965) was a Slovenian violinist, conductor and arranger. He is best known for work as a music professor and for his 1922 arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky's piano suite '' Pictures at an Exhibition''. ...

and wrote reviews for periodicals including '' Ilta-Sanomat'' as well as articles for several publications. She died in Helsinki at 80 years of age.

Selected works

*Piano Concerto, 1935 *Triple Fugue for Orchestra, 1938 *Symphony No. 1, 1947 *Symphony No. 2, 1954 *Symphony No. 3, 1971 *''Sinfonia Brevis'', 1962 *''Folk Dance Suite'' (''Kansantanssisarja''), 1934 *''Hobgoblin of Darkness'' (''Pimeän peikko''), 1942 *''The Lost Continent'' (''Mennyt manner'') for choir and orchestra, 1957 *''Juha'' (film music), 1937 *Violin Sonata, 1945 *Piano Quartet, 1926

Discography

* Helvi Leiviskä: Violin Sonata, Piano Quartet, Symphony No. 3. Finlandia Classics FINCLA-1 (2012).

Awards

* Pro Finlandia Medal, 1962

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiviska, Helvi 1902 births 1982 deaths 20th-century classical composers Finnish music educators Finnish women educators Women classical composers Finnish classical composers Writers from Helsinki Sibelius Academy alumni Finnish librarians Finnish women librarians Women music educators Finnish women classical composers 20th-century women composers 20th-century Finnish composers