Einojuhani Rautavaara (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈei̯noˌjuhɑni ˈrɑu̯tɑˌʋɑːrɑ]; born October 9, 1928; died July 27, 2016) was a Finnish composer who created classical music. He was one of the most well-known Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius (1865–1957). Rautavaara wrote many musical works that covered many different styles. These include eight symphonies, nine operas, and fifteen concertos, as well as many vocal and chamber pieces. In his early years, he used a method called 12-tone serial techniques. Later, his music became more neo-romantic and mystical. Some of his major works are his first piano concerto (1969), Cantus Arcticus (1972), and his seventh symphony, Angel of Light (1994).
Life
Einojuhani Rautavaara was born in Helsinki in 1928. His father, Eino Alfred Rautavaara, was an opera singer and cantor. He changed his last name from Jernberg to Rautavaara in 1901. His mother, Elsa Katariina Rautavaara, was a doctor. His father’s musical skills greatly influenced his early years, and with his mother’s encouragement, Einojuhani began learning piano casually as a child. His father died when Einojuhani was 10 years old, and his mother passed away less than six years later. He moved to live with his aunt, Hilja Helena Teräskeli, in Turku, where he started formal piano lessons at age 17.
Rautavaara studied piano and musicology at the University of Helsinki. He later studied composition at the Sibelius Academy under Aarre Merikanto from 1948 to 1952. He gained international recognition after winning the Thor Johnson Contest in 1954 for his composition A Requiem in Our Time, even though he admitted he had little experience writing for brass bands and his techniques were not fully developed at the time. This work caught the attention of the famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, who recommended Rautavaara for a scholarship to study at the Juilliard School in New York City. There, he studied with Vincent Persichetti and also took lessons from Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. Rautavaara later said that living in Manhattan was “maybe the most important experience, [and] taught much more about life to me than all those teachers about music.” He returned to Helsinki and graduated from the Sibelius Academy in 1957. That same year, he studied further in Switzerland under composer Wladimir Vogel. The following year, he traveled to Cologne, Germany, to study under composer Rudolf Petzold.
From 1957 to 1959, Rautavaara worked as a teacher without a permanent position at the Sibelius Academy. From 1959 to 1961, he served as a music archivist for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He was rector of the Käpylä Music Institute in Helsinki from 1965 to 1966. From 1966 to 1976, he worked as a tenured teacher at the Sibelius Academy. From 1971 to 1976, he was an artist professor appointed by the Arts Council of Finland. From 1976 to 1990, he taught composition at the Sibelius Academy. Some of his notable students during this time included Finnish composer Kalevi Aho and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
In 1959, Rautavaara married Heidi Maria “Mariaheidi” Suovanen, an actress. They had two sons, Markojuhani and Olof, and a daughter, Yrja. The couple separated in 1982 and divorced in 1984 after Rautavaara fell in love with Sinikka Koivisto, who was 29 years younger than him. In 1984, he married Sinikka.
In 1985, Rautavaara was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Music. In January 2004, he suffered an aortic dissection, a serious heart condition, and spent nearly six months in intensive care before recovering. During this time, the Finnish government supported him by naming him an arts professor and paying him to compose. He died on July 27, 2016, in Helsinki from complications after hip surgery.
Music
Einojuhani Rautavaara was a very productive composer who wrote music in many different styles. His body of work can be divided into four main periods: an early "neoclassical" period in the 1950s, when his music was closely connected to traditional styles; an "avant-garde" and "constructivist" stage in the 1960s, during which he experimented with serial techniques but later stopped using them; a "neo-romantic" period in the late 1960s and 1970s; and a later, eclectic "post-modern" style where he combined many different musical styles and techniques. His music is often described as "mystical" because it frequently explores spiritual and religious themes. Many of his works have titles that reference angels. His compositions include eight symphonies, 15 concertos, choral music (including pieces for unaccompanied choir, such as Vigilia (1971–1972)), sonatas for various instruments, string quartets, chamber music, and several operas based on real people, such as Vincent (1986–1987, about Vincent van Gogh), Aleksis Kivi (1995–1996), and Rasputin (2001–2003).
In the performance notes for his 1999 piece Autumn Gardens, Rautavaara wrote, "I often compare composing to gardening. In both, you observe and guide natural growth rather than building from existing parts. I hope my music feels like 'English gardens'—free and natural, not strictly controlled." He also said he first chose the instruments for a piece, allowing the music to "grow organically" as an idea.
Along with Erik Bergman, Rautavaara was one of the first composers in Finland to use serial techniques in the early 1950s. However, he completed only a few serial works. His most important works from this time include his Third and Fourth Symphonies and the opera Kaivos (The Mine), which was only shown on television in 1963. This opera inspired later pieces, such as Canto I (1960), Canto II (1961), and the Third String Quartet (1965). Even his serial works from this time had romantic and expressive qualities similar to composers like Alban Berg and Anton Bruckner, rather than the more strict serialist style of Pierre Boulez. Rautavaara himself called his Third Symphony the "Bruckner symphony."
Rautavaara’s use of 12-tone and serial techniques was unusual in Finland at the time, making him a controversial figure and helping him become a leading composer in Finland, alongside Joonas Kokkonen and Erkki Salmenhaara. In the mid-1960s, he faced a creative challenge with serialism, realizing it was very hard to use and did not match his artistic goals. He later said, "The modernism of that time, which I experimented with, was not a path for me to follow." He found a new direction by the end of the decade, inspired by works like his first Cello Concerto (1968) and Anadyomene (1968). His music became more varied, using soft romantic harmonies, modern techniques, and occasional 12-tone passages.
The 1970s were Rautavaara’s most productive period. He said he discovered a "synthesis" of styles during this time, moving beyond simply collecting ideas. He created a large amount of music, much of which is still performed today. Choirs noticed his new, soft style and commissioned many choral works. His major choral pieces, Vigilia and True and False Unicorn, were written in 1971. Cantus Arcticus followed in 1972, and he composed a large piece for male choir, A Book of Life, that summer.
In the 1970s, Rautavaara began working on more operas. His first opera, Apollo contra Marsyas (1970), was not well received. Later, he created The Myth of Sampo (1974–1983) and Marjatta, lowly maiden (1975), based on the Kalevala. His mature operatic style appeared in Thomas (1985), followed by Vincent (1987) and The House of the Sun (1991), which brought him international fame. His later operas include The Gift of the Magi (1994), Aleksis Kivi (1997), and Rasputin (2003).
Some of Rautavaara’s works include parts for magnetic tape, such as Cantus Arcticus (1972, also called Concerto for Birds & Orchestra) and True and False Unicorn (1971, with later versions in 1974 and 2001–02).
In the late 1970s, Rautavaara focused on blending styles, as seen in his Organ Concerto "Annunciations" (1977), Violin Concerto (1977), and Angels and Visitations (1978). This piece started a series of works titled "Angel," including his Fifth Symphony (Monologue with Angels), the double-bass concerto Angel of Dusk (1980), and the Seventh Symphony Angel of Light.
His opera Thomas (1985) marked the start of his mature operatic style, combining neo-Romantic harmonies with aleatoric counterpoint, twelve-tone rows, and modal systems. He wrote the libretto himself, telling the story of a 1
Discography
Most of Rautavaara's compositions have been recorded by Ondine. This includes a collection of all his symphonies, several operas, and two albums that were nominated for a Grammy. Some of his important works have also been recorded by Naxos. BIS Records, a Swedish label, recorded an album of vocal works titled "Rautavaara Songs." In 2019, a recording of the piece Lost Landscapes, played by Joanna Kamenarska on the violin and Moisès Fernández Via on the piano, was released by the Mexican label Urtext Digital Classics. Pekka Kuusisto and Paavali Jumppanen also recorded Lost Landscapes for Ondine in 2011.