Erkki Melartin

Erkki Melartin (1875–1937) was a Finnish composer, conductor and teacher whose remarkably varied output places him among the leading figures of Finland's musical life in the early twentieth century. Born in Käkisalmi, he studied at the Helsinki Music Institute with Martin Wegelius and later in Vienna with Robert Fuchs. From 1908 to 1911 he conducted the Viipuri Orchestra, before serving for twenty-five years as director of the Helsinki Music Institute, the institution that subsequently developed into the Sibelius Academy. As an influential and encouraging teacher, he helped to nurture a new generation of Finnish composers.

Melartin composed in almost every major musical genre, leaving six completed symphonies, a violin concerto, four string quartets, numerous piano pieces and songs, the ballet *The Blue Pearl*, and the opera *Aino*, based on the Finnish national epic, the *Kalevala*. His musical language grew from late Romanticism while absorbing elements of Impressionism and Expressionism, giving his work a distinctive voice largely independent of his celebrated contemporary Jean Sibelius. Although much of his music was neglected after his death, renewed scholarship and performances have brought increasing recognition of its imagination, craftsmanship and expressive range.