Tauno Kullervo Pylkkänen (March 22, 1918 – March 13, 1980) was a Finnish composer. He was a popular opera composer and was nicknamed during his lifetime as ''Northern

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

''. Pylkkänen was an orphan born in Helsinki during the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

whom actor Hilma Rantanen and office manager Väinö Veikko Pylkkänen adopted as their foster son from a newspaper advertisement. His real father, Heikki Pakarinen, who had fallen into the

Red Guard The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

against his will, died in the Hämeenlinna prison camp in August 1918. Pylkkänen was a student of

Leevi Madetoja Leevi Antti Madetoja (; 17 February 1887 – 6 October 1947) was a Finns, Finnish composer, music criticism, music critic, conductor (music), conductor, and teacher of the Romantic music, late-Romantic and modernism (music), early-mode ...

and Selim Palmgren, and studied at the Helsinki Conservatory, then in Paris, Rome, and Vienna. He made his breakthrough as a composer with the opera ''Mare ja hänen poikansa'' (1943) after Aino Kallas, which was premiered in the Finnish Opera in 1945. It was followed by ten more operas, including the internationally successful ''Sudenmorsian'' (1950). From 1960 to 1967 he was artistic director of the Finnish Opera. In addition to the operas he composed a symphony, a symphonic fantasy, six symphonic poems, a cello concerto, chamber music works, a cantata, film music, a choir cycle for women's voices, songs and two song cycles.

Personal life

Pylkkänen was

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

, which was not publicly known during his lifetime. His friend, assistant professor , revealed the matter in her 2000 memoir. In December 1948, Pylkkänen was caught in a police raid on a "gay meeting place" and brought to justice (homosexuality was a crime in Finland until 1971), but he was acquitted and the case was not made public. Later, Pylkkänen suffered from alcoholism, depression and memory problems. His ability to work waned soon after finishing the ''Unknown Soldier'', so he stopped composing at the age of 49 and was on leave from the National Opera in May 1968. His last major work was a missed manuscript on the history of the Finnish National Opera. In his last years he spent a quiet life in the in Etu-Töölö, Helsinki.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pylkkanen, Tauno Finnish composers Finnish male composers Musicians from Helsinki 1918 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Finnish male musicians LGBTQ classical composers Finnish gay musicians Finnish LGBTQ composers Gay composers