Articles
Leevi Madetoja in Profile
Leevi Madetoja (b. Oulu 17 February 1887, d. Helsinki 6 October 1947) was possibly the most significant of the Finnish post-Sibelian Romantic composers. While coinciding with the Late Romantic era, he nevertheless avoided the overstatement characteristic of their works in favour…
Orchestral Works of Leevi Madetoja
The works of Leevi Madetoja (February 17, 1887 – October 6, 1947) are a blend of the seriousness characteristic of the Finns and an elegance assimilated from French music. In style Madetoja may be classified as a Romantic, but instead…
Leevi Madetoja’s Ostrobothnians – An opera about freedom
In one respect Leevi Madetoja (1887-1947) succeeded where his teacher, Jean Sibelius, failed: he created a national Finnish opera. The premiere of The Ostrobothnians at the Finnish Opera on October 25th, 1924 marked the birth of the first truly full-blooded…
French Colouring in a Bothnian Landscape
Leevi Madetoja is generally ranked among the most important of those Finnish composers whose careers spanned the first few decades of this century, during a time which was marked in society by unstable political conditions and the struggle to achieve…