Pacius, Fredrik (actually, Friedrich)
Pacius, Fredrik (actually, Friedrich)
Pacius, Fredrik (actually, Friedrich), significant German-born Finnish conductor, teacher, and composer; b. Hamburg, March 19, 1809; d. Helsinki, Jan. 8, 1891. He studied violin with Spohr and composition with Hauptmann in Kassel. After playing violin in Stockholm’s Royal Chapel (1828–34), he settled in Helsinki (1835) as a lecturer at the Univ., being promoted to prof. (1860); also founded a choral society (1835) and regular sym. concerts (1845). Pacius is acknowledged as the father of Finnish music, and his works owe much to the German Romanticists, especially Spohr and Mendelssohn, and to Finnish folk music. His setting of J. Runeberg’s Swedish poem Vart land became the Finnish national anthem in 1843; it was set to Finnish words as Maamme in 1848. He also wrote the first Finnish opera, Kung Karls jakt (to a Swedish libretto; Helsinki, March 24,1852), as well as the opera Loreley (Helsinki, April 28, 1887) and incidental music to Prinsessan af Cypern (1860), both to Swedish texts. Other works include one movement of a sym., a Violin Concerto (1845), other orch. works, part-songs, and songs.
Bibliography
M. Colan-Beaurain, F. P. (Helsinki, 1921); O. Andersson, Den unge P. och musiklivet i Helsingfors pã 1830-talet (Helsinki, 1938); J. Rosas, F. P. som tonsättare (Turku, 1949).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire