Robert Kajanus

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Kajanus (c. 1920s)
Kajanus's signature

Robert Kajanus (2 December 1856 – 6 July 1933) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher. In 1882, he founded the Helsinki Orchestral Society, Finland's first professional orchestra. As a conductor, he was also a notable champion and interpreter of the music of Jean Sibelius.[1][2]

Life

Kajanus studied music theory with Richard Faltin, violin with Gustaf Niemann in

folk
legends of the Finnish people.

He worked in Dresden in the years immediately after his graduation, and returned to Helsinki in 1882. He founded the first permanent orchestra in Finland: the Helsinki Orchestral Society (later to become the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finland's national orchestra).[3] He brought the orchestra to a very high performance standard very quickly, so that they were able to give quite credible performances of the standard late classical/mid-romantic repertory. Kajanus led the Helsinki Philharmonic for 50 years, and among the milestones of that history was the first performance in Finland of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in 1888. His early-electric 78-rpm atmospheric, authoritative recordings of Sibelius symphonies are still interpretive milestones.

Sketch of Kajanus conducting by Akseli Gallen-Kallela in 1893
Portrait of Kajanus by Albert Edelfelt, 1905

Kajanus was appointed director of music at the

Légion d'honneur
.

Family

Kajanus's parents were Georg August Cajanus (1812–1888) and Agnes Ottilia Flodin (1824–1902).[5][6] Robert Kajanus was the father of harpists Lilly Kajanus-Blenner (1885–1963) and Aino Kajanus-Mangström (1888–1951), and violinist Kaj Kajanus (1908–1994); the grandfather of award-winning Finnish/Norwegian sculptor Johanna Kajanus; and great-grandfather of pop musician and composer Georg Kajanus, who was famous for a while in Great Britain with his band Sailor which enjoyed chart success in the mid-1970s.

Selected works

Kajanus composed over 200 works, of which

Finnish Defense Forces) and thus, effectively, the Finnish presidential march.[7]

  • Adagietto
  • Aino, symphonic poem for male chorus and orchestra (1885)
  • Suomalainen rapsodia (Finnish rhapsody) No. 1 in D minor, Op. 5 (1881)
  • Suomalainen rapsodia (Finnish rhapsody) No. 2 in F major (1886)
  • Huutolaistytön kehtolaulu (The Pauper Girl's Lament)
  • Kullervon surumarssi (Kullervo's Funeral March), Op. 3 (1880); contains the folk tune "Velisurmaaja" ("The brother-slayer")
  • Lyrische Stücke (1879)
  • Overtura sinfonica for orchestra (1926)
  • Piano Sonata (1876)
  • Sechs Albumblätter (1877)
  • Sotamarssi (War March), with lyrics by A. Oksanen – arr. by Arvo Kuikka as an honor march of the Suomen ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force)[8]
  • Sinfonietta in B flat major for large orchestra, Op. 16 (1915)
  • Suite ancienne for strings (1931)
  • Violin Sonata (1876)

Kajanus and Sibelius

Kajanus had a decisive impact upon the development of the career of

En Saga, following the success of Kullervo. Pohjola's Daughter
was dedicated to Kajanus. When Kajanus took the Helsinki Orchestra on a tour of Europe in 1900 both he and Sibelius conducted, including what proved to be the first performances of Sibelius's music outside of Finland. This ensured the spread of the young composer's reputation far beyond the borders of his homeland, the first Finnish composer to receive such attention.

Kajanus was the first to make recordings of Sibelius's First, Second, Third and Fifth symphonies and Tapiola. They were recorded in the early 1930s, with the London Symphony Orchestra. The relationship between Kajanus and Sibelius was such that his interpretations of the composer's music are usually regarded as authentic.[9]

In 1930, the Finnish government and Britain's EMI-Columbia label, perceiving a potentially wide audience for the composer's work, jointly arranged to record Sibelius's first two symphonies, and Kajanus was selected to record both at the insistence of the composer. In 1932 Kajanus recorded Symphonies Nos. 3 and 5, along with orchestral suites and tone poems. This was a massive recording project for the work of a living composer, and the recordings have been considered definitive for many years and are regarded as necessary listening in the study of Sibelius. Only his death in July 1933, at the age of 76, prevented Kajanus from recording all of Sibelius' Symphonies.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lappalainen, Seija (6 September 2001). "Kajanus, Robert (1856–1933)". Kansallisbiografia. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. ^ Manninen, Antti (11 September 2005). "Robert Kajanus johti 50 vuotta Helsingin orkestereita". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ a b Finnish Music Information Centre Robert Kajanus biography page; accessed 29 March 2011.
  4. ISBN 0313277281
    .
  5. ^ Yrjö Kotivuori, Ylioppilasmatrikkeli 1640–1852: Georg August Kajanus. Verkkojulkaisu 2005 <http://www.helsinki.fi/ylioppilasmatrikkeli/henkilo.php?id=14855>. visited 22 March 2015.
  6. ^ "Agnes Ottilia Flodin".
  7. ^ BIS Records : Finlandia : A Festival of Finnish Music
  8. ^ Puolustusvoimat: Ilmavoimat
  9. ^ Finnish Music Information Centre Robert Kajanus in Profile by Kimmo Korhonen, 2000; accessed 29 March 2011.

External links

Preceded by
none
 Principal Conductor, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra
1882–1932 		Succeeded by
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