Pylkkänen, Tauno Kullervo

Pylkkänen, Tauno Kullervo , Finnish composer; b. Helsinki, March 22, 1918; d. there, March 13, 1980. He studied composition with Palmgren, Madetoja, and Ranta at the Helsinki Academy of Music (1937–40), and also studied musicology at the Univ. of Helsinki (M.A., 1941). He worked at the Finnish Broadcasting Co. (1942–61) and was artistic director of the Finnish National Opera (1960–70); lectured on opera history at the Sibelius Academy (from 1967). He was primarily an opera composer; his idiom was basically Romantic, with sporadic excursions into modernity.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Bathsheba Saarenmaalla (Bathsheba at Saarenmaa; 1940; rev. 1958); Mare ja hauen poikansa (Mare and Her Son; 1943); Simo Hurtta (1948); Sudenmorsian (The Wolf’s Bride), radio opera (1950); Varjo (The Shadow; 1952); Ikaros (1956–60); Opri and Oleksi (1957); Vangit (The Prisoners; 1964); Tuntematon sotilas (The Unknown Soldier; 1967). Ballet: Kaarina Maununtytär (Kaarina, Maunu’s Daughter; 1960). ORCH.: Introduction and Fugue (1940); Lapin kesa (Summer in Lapland; 1941); Kullervon sotaanlahto (Kullervo Leaves for War; 1942); Sinfonietta (1944); Sym. No. 1 (1945); Suite for Oboe and Strings (1946); Marathon, overture (1947); Symphonic Fantasy (1948); Ultima Thule (1949); Cello Concerto (1950); Symphonic Prelude (1952). CHAMBER: Notturno for Violin and Piano (1943); String Quartet (1945); Fantasia appassionata for Cello and Piano (1954); Trittico for Clarinet, Violin, Viola, and Cello (1978). VOCAL: Cantatas; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire