Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Rautavaara's Rasputin
Debuts in Finland

If you should find yourself in Helsinki this week (and who hasn’t on occasion), don’t miss the premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara's new opera, Rasputin, at the Finnish National Opera.

Rautavaara, the leading Finnish composer of his generation. Says he has long been fascinated by the charismatic mysticism of the illiterate peasant turned court confidant, whose colorful life ended in poison, bullets and the ultimate destruction of the Imperial family. The composer was finally spurred on to create the opera by the recent publication of Edvard Radzinsky's book that includes the transcripts of police interrogations with Rasputin which "almost begged to be set as a libretto".

"The key word to the libretto is ambivalence; Rasputin was a mysterious peasant, a muzhik, who was deeply religious, a fervent Christian and ascetic, almost a prophet – but on the other hand the very incarnation of corruption and debauchery, a drunk, and if rumors are to be believed also the Tsarina's lover and counsellor whose advice ruined the entire country, Rautavaara writes. “However, it does not seem appropriate to create merely a realistic stage play, a re-enactment of history or a recreation of an episode. There must also be a presence of profound Russian mysticism, the 'wind from Siberia' which can be sensed in the existentialism of Dostoevsky or the dolorous pessimism of Tchaikovsky."

Rautavaara was born in Helsinki in 1928 and studied with Merikanto at the Helsinki Academy (1948-52), with Persichetti at the Juilliard School in New York (1955-56), and with Roger Sessions and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood (1955). He first came to international attention in 1955 when the neo-classical A Requiem in Our Time for brass and percussion won the Thor Johnson Composer’s Competition in Cincinnati. He studied serialism and soon integrated twelve note techniques, without displacing his essential Romanticism. For instance, Symphony No.3 (1961) may be the first totally serial Finnish work, yet it is also a tribute to the symphonies of Bruckner, complete with Wagner tubas.

In the late 1960s Rautavaara distanced himself from serialism and his mystical character came more to the fore in music of rich color and sweeping melodic profile, at once accessible and evocative. His operas have often explored issues of creativity and madness, such as Vincent (1986-87), Aleksis Kivi (1995-96) and Rasputin (2001-03), and his symphonies and concerti have increasingly been commissioned by orchestras outside his native Finland, including most recently Symphony No.8 ‘The Journey’ (1999) for the Philadelphia Orchestra, a Harp Concerto (1999-2000) for the Minnesota Orchestra and a Clarinet Concerto (2001-02) for Richard Stoltzman and the National Symphony in Washington. Among his immensely popular works are Cantus arcticus (1972) Concerto for birds and orchestra; Angels and Visitations (1978) for orchestra; andSymphony No.7 (Angel of Light) (1995) for orchestra.

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