Marjatta – Trio based on the Kalevala
The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884) and based on Finnish-Karelian folk poems, was first published in 1835 as the Old Kalevala and then in its final form as the New Kalevala in 1849. It served as the most influential source of inspiration for artists in Finland at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Among visual artists, Akseli Gallen-Kallela (1865–1931), Louis Sparre (1863–1964), Robert Wilhelm Ekman (1808–1873), and Sigfrid August Keinänen (1841–1914) are the best-known representatives of Karelianist enthusiasm. Of these artists, Akseli Gallen-Kallela's Kalevala-themed paintings are the most significant. His paintings Aino-taru (triptych, 1891), The Defence of Sampo (1896), Lemminkäinen's Mother (1897), Joukahainen's Revenge (1897), Kullervo's Vow (1899), and Kullervo Goes to War (1901) have all been designated as national paintings, through which the events of the Kalevala are passed down from generation to generation. Among writers, Aleksis Kivi's (1834–1872) play Kullervo (1864) is widely known, while Juhana Heikki Erkko (1849–1906) wrote both a play on Kullervo (published in 1895) and one on Aino (published in 1893), and Eino Leino (1878–1926) on the latter (1907). Among composers, Jean Sibelius (1865–1957) is undoubtedly the most significant author of compositions based on the Kalevala, with his Kullervo Symphony in five movements, Op. 7 (1892) for mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists, male choir and symphony orchestra, his four-movement Lemminkäinen Suite for orchestra, Op. 22 (1895), and his tone poems Pohjolan tytär (Daughter of the North), Op. 49 (1906), Luonnotar, Op. 70 (1913), and Tapiola, Op. 112 (1926) for orchestra. Other composers include Robert Kajanus (1856–1933), who treated the Kalevala in his symphonic poem Aino (1885) for male choir and orchestra, based on a text by an unknown author, and Erkki Melartin (1875–1937) in his two-act opera Aino, Op. 50 (1909). Melartin also composed a 15-minute "legend of Kaleva" for soprano and symphony orchestra for opera singer Aino Ackté (1876–1944), entitled Marjatta, Op. 79 (1914). Uuno Klami's (1900–1961) compositions include the 10-minute orchestral work Lemminkäinen's Adventures on the Island (1934) and the five-movement Kalevala Suite, Op. 23 (1943) for orchestra.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there were hardly any compositions based on the Kalevala. A new flourishing began in the 1970s. The two-decade silence can largely be explained by the fragmentation of a unified culture, which was a result of two World Wars (1914–1918 and 1939–1945) and the reformist, ideological, and artistic-aesthetic movements that emerged in their midst. The concept and aesthetics of modernism arose, consciously breaking away from the pre-war trends that emphasized emotions and structure, as well as tradition. From a compositional point of view, the fragmentation of a unified culture was reflected in the disappearance of keys, i.e., tonality. The father of atonality is considered to be the Austrian composer Arnold Schönberg (1874–1951), who developed a twelve-tone system in the 1910s and 1920s, which later evolved into serialism, in which each parameter of a piece of music is assigned a numerical value, rejecting the central-tone-based tonality. This led to experimental trends in music, such as abstraction (e.g., minimalism and dodecaphony) and neo-romanticism (e.g., neoclassicism and neo-romanticism). Compositions based on the Kalevala that emerged after that era stood out. In 1975, composer Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928–2016) completed a commission from the City of Espoo, a one-act mystery play entitled Marjatta matala neiti (Marjatta, the Lowly Maiden) commissioned by the City of Espoo. It was premiered on September 3, 1977, in Espoo by the Tapiola Choir conducted by Erkki Pohjola (1931–2009). In 1982, he completed the choral opera Runo 42 'Sammon ryöstö' (The Robbery of Sampo), which was premiered by the Helsinki University Choir on April 8, 1983, in Helsinki at its 100th anniversary concert, conducted by Matti Hyökki (1946–). Composer Aulis Sallinen's (1935–) two-act opera Kullervo, Op. 61 (1988), based on Aleksis Kivi's play of the same name, with a libretto written by Sallinen himself, has enjoyed great popularity since its premiere at the Finnish National Opera on November 30, 1993.
The world premiere of my 30-minute composition Marjatta – Trio for violin, viola, piano, and kantele (2025) – on March 6, 2026, at Lauttasaari Church, is part of the artistic revival of the Kalevala that began in the 1970s. Marjatta is among the most notable characters in the Kalevala, yet she is also one of the most overlooked, which is why there are only a few compositions about her. My composition aims to remedy this imbalance, the lack of compositions on Marjatta. Jean Sibelius planned an oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra with the writer Jalmari Finne (1874–1938) from June 27, 1905, to the latter half of October of the same year, but eventually abandoned the project. The musical material intended for the oratorio ended up in Symphony No. 3 in C major, Op. 52 (1907), the tone poem Pohjolan tytär (Daughter of the North), Op. 49, for orchestra (1906), and into the second movement of the three-movement Historiallisia kuvia II (Historical Pictures II) orchestral suite, Op. 66, titled Minnelied (Love Song) (1912).
The idea to compose the present Marjatta Trio was conceived in May 2023, when one approached the German violinist and violist Gregor Hrabar and suggested to his repertoire a four-movement and ca. 40-minute String Quartet No. 1, subtitled A tale of two lovers, inspired by Shakespeare's eponymous popular tragedy (2022). He did not see a space for the work in his repertoire, but mentioned his quest for new chamber music and enquired whether I had any other works in that genre in my list of compositions. I had to respond in the negative, which led us to decide to undertake a brand-new endeavor. When Mr. Hrabar mentioned that his wife, violinist Emi Otogao, would be willing to participate and that their colleague, pianist Marie-Thérèse Zahnlecker (nowadays Gleim), would also participate, plans settled on a one-movement Trio for violin, viola and piano, as well as the kantele. The work was finished in Lapinlahti, Helsinki, on June 5, 2025. The discussions with the kantele player Iida-Maria Kuronen on the concluding kantele section were of valuable assistance.
The last poem in the Kalevala tells the story of Marjatta, a pure-hearted maiden living with her parents, who is ostracized by her community and consequently assigned the task of herding the community's sheep in the forest. In the forest, Marjatta is called by a lingonberry, which jumps into her mouth, causing her to become pregnant. Marjatta's parents cannot accept their daughter's pregnancy and throw her out of the house. The whole village also turns its back on her, and Marjatta gives birth to her child alone in the forest, in a horse barn. A boy is born, the King of Karelia, who ousts Väinämöinen, the great sage and kantele player who had held power until then. Väinämöinen is forced to leave, leaving his kantele and his songs as a legacy to his people.
Musically monolithic and lasting 30 minutes, Marjatta follows and depicts the original Kalevala poem chronologically from its beginning to its end. To make the whole easier to understand and more coherent, during the composition I outlined the following musical leitmotifs, which depict the key characters and elements of the story: the King of Karelia, Marjatta, the lingonberry, eternal light, and the kantele. It is impossible to musically represent the poem in exact detail, which is why the most natural approach was to focus on the main events in a general narrative without delving into details, while at the same time emphasizing the mystical elements of the story. Mysticism is present throughout the work. In terms of composition, mysticism is expressed not only through the abundance of long, suspended notes and rhythmic repetitions, but also through the dominant use of the deep register of the piano, which brings a sense of connectedness to nature, primitivism, and unyielding power to the whole. The dynamics are mostly subdued, which allows the few powerful climaxes to achieve their maximum impact in a natural way. The climaxes also serve as elements that unify the whole and carry it forward.
The piece opens with a mysterious introduction from the dawn of time. Already in the seventh measure, the theme of the King of Karelia is presented in a fragmentary form, which appears in its entirety, in all its glory, in the middle of the piece, from measure 233 onwards, as Marjatta nurses her newborn child:
Marjatta's theme, from measure 56 onwards, is pure and luminous:
The melancholic transition subdues the music into the lingonberry motif, which appears from measure 78 onwards, as Marjatta picks the berry that seals her fate:
When her parents become aware of Marjatta's pregnancy, they drive her out of the house, which is musically depicted by aggressive, powerful melodic-rhythmic piano passages. Against this, the unchanging, quiet and static tremolo of the violin and viola depicts Marjatta's paralysing horror as she faces her parents' decision. The intensity and tempo of the music gradually accelerate, depicting Marjatta's departure from her parents' house, her rush into the forest, and her simultaneous anxiety about being alone and having nowhere to give birth. Exhausted by despair, Marjatta falls to the ground for a moment to cry, before continuing her path deeper into the forest, which is musically expressed by a long, wailing solo on the viola in the middle of the ever-flowing musical flow. The most dramatic moment of the entire piece is the section that follows, depicting the birth of the child, in which the triplet rhythms taken from Marjatta's theme are paired with repetitions of the lingonberry motif, both now in fortefortissimo (extremely loud) dynamics. Silence follows. Marjatta looks at the newborn with a smile, which is expressed musically as a gentle piano solo. The first of the piece's two sections before the epilogue ends with a fermata, a pause, even though Marjatta is a single-movement unity.
The second section of Marjatta depicts the child's growth into the King of Karelia and the dispelling of darkness from the way of eternal light. The theme of eternal light appears after a brief, flowing introductory section in a pair of measures, first on the violin and then repeated on the viola:
The theme of the King of Karelia then follows, gaining intensity and becoming more present with the ever-accelerating tempo and intensifying dynamics. At the climax, darkness merges into light as peace descends everywhere. This is followed by a brief reminiscence of the very beginning, the introduction, dawn of time, as the music condenses into long violin and viola notes. Marjatta closes with an epilogue, a lullaby played on the kantele, which can be viewed both as Väinämöinen's farewell song and as a manifestation of the steady presence of fundamental and eternal peace.
The article above was written originally in Finnish by Mr. Hiltunen for the Kalevala Society on February 26, 2026, ahead of the world premiere at Lauttasaari Church on March 6, 2026. The performance was presented by violinist Emi Otogao, violist Gregor Hrabar, and pianist Marie-Thérèse Gleim, to whom the composition is also dedicated. The concluding kantele section was performed by the kantele player Iida-Maria Kuronen.
