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Born: February 14, 1876 - Kuortane, Finland
Died: August 26, 1953 - Helsinki, Finland |
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The Finnish choral conductor and composer, Heikki Klemetti, studied philosophy, then music at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin.
In 1900 Heikki Klemetti founded the famous men’s choir Suomen Laulu, which became a mixed choir in 1907. With this choir he toured Scandinavia and Europe between 1901 to 1925, and also the USA in 1939. He led it until 1942. He as involved in choral music in most of his life’s work. He conducted also other choirs, such as the Helsinki University Chorus, taught voice production, wrote several books and articles on choral music and composed music.
Heikki Klemetti published a history of music (several volumes, from 1916), a textbook of choral singing (1917), and a textbook of voice production (1920). His output includes several works for all types of choir, including numerous choruses, masses, and antiphons (collected and officially approved as the hymnal of the State Church of Finland in 1924). He also arranged songs for choral school and home (3 volumes, 1927, 1928) and some early church music. His arrangements of songs from the Piae Cantiones collection are perhaps his most frequently performed works. Klemetti is also a major figure in the history of Sulasol. Klemetti was a Romantic, and it was not until his later works that his style became more radical; for example, the harmonic structure of Vidi coelum is surprisingly wild. |
