Erkki Melartin(1875-1937): a Catalogue of the Orchestral and Choral Music

[Dundonnell]

In the case of Erkki Melartin the marvellous Finnish Music Information Centre does not have a catalogue of works. I have instead used the website of the Melartin Society: http://www2.siba.fi/Melartinseura/  Since however the website is entirely in Finnish this has proved incredibly difficult for someone who doesn't read Finnish This is the best I can manage but it must be noted that Melartin did orchestrate a number of his piano pieces and his songs. He also wrote a substantial amount of incidental music to plays.

ERKKI MELARTIN: A CATALOGUE OF THE ORCHESTRAL AND CHORAL MUSIC

1900-01:Legend II for orchestra, op.12
1901-02/05:Symphony No.1 in C minor, op.30/1: 25 minutes    + (Ondine cd)
1903:      "Vardtradet" for male choir and orchestra, op.51/1
1903-04:Symphonic Poem "Siikajoki", op. 28
1904:   Symphony No.2 in E minor, op.30/2: 28 minutes   + (Ondine cd)
             Ballad "Irma impi" for soprano and orchestra, op.31/1
             "Torre di Nerone" for bass-baritone and orchestra, op.31/2
             Serenade for string orchestra in E flat major, op. 31/4
1906-07/08:Symphony No.3 in F major, op.40: 35 minutes   *   +  (Ondine cd)
1907:      Promotional Cantata "The Questions at the Gate" for soloists, chorus and orchestra, op. 43
1908:   "Ilmarinen" for baritone, male choir and orchestra, op.51/2
             "Karjalalle" (""Karelia") for choir and orchestra, op. 61/5
1909:     Lyric Suite No.2 for orchestra, op.56
1910-13/30:Violin Concerto, op.60: 29 minutes    +  (Ondine cd)
1910:      Symphonic Poem "Traumgesicht", op. 70
1911:      Suite from the Incidental Music to "The Sleeping Beauty", op.22: 22 minutes    +  (Ondine cd)
               Symphonic Poem "Patria", op.72
1912-13/16:Symphony No.4 "The Summer Symphony" in E major, op.80: 41 minutes   +  (Ondine cd)
1914:   "Marjatta" for soprano and orchestra, op. 79
1914-15:Symphony No.5 "Sinfonia brevis" in A minor, op.90: 32 minutes   + (Ondine cd)
1915:      Lyric Suite No.3 "Impressions de Belgique", op.93: 25 minutes    + (Ondine cd)
1918-24:Symphony No.6, op.100: 35 minutes     +  (Ondine cd)
1925:      "Sursum corda" for string orchestra, op.125
1928-46:Symphony No.7, op.149   (unfinished)
1928:      Divertimento for radio orchestra, op. 152
1929:      Intermezzo for radio orchestra, op.147
1929-30:Ballet "Sininen helmi" ("The Blue Pearl"), op.160
1930?:   Symphony No.9, op. 188  (unfinished)
1930-31:"Lohdotus" for chamber orchestra, op. 168: 5 minutes
1933?:    Karelian Rhapsody for small orchestra, op.146 b: 10 minutes
1935:     Cantata for the Finnish Medical Society's 100th Anniversary for soloists, chorus and orchestra
1936:    Ballet music "Yksilo ja massa" for orchestra, op.184
              Symphony No.8, op.186   (unfinished)

[eschiss1]

As to the orchestral works there's a few noncommercial alternative recordings too for what it matters (e.g. of the violin concerto and 6th symphony, conducted I think by Jussi Jalas?) .

[anssik]

A few remarks on the catalogue may be in order, for it may give rise to false impressions, if uncommented. The three most important cases are Melartin's "Symphonies no. 7, 8 and 9". The manuscript for the 7th contains only the first movement (allegro) plus the first page of the second (without a tempo marking). The manuscript information says "keskeneräinen orkestrointi Artturi Rope", meaning "unfinished orchestration by AR"; I don't know whether this means that the orchestration is unfinished, because the symphony is unfinished, or whether the orchestration for the existing first movement is unfinished. There are some sketches for the 8th, but they "are so difficult to decipher and fragmentary that there can be no talk of a composition in the proper sense". No manuscript-material has been found for "Symphony no 9", although in a letter to a friend, dated January 6, 1936, Melartin writes that it is "now finished". So what we do have are the first six symphonies plus the first movement for the 7th, to which the composer gave the name "Sinfonia gaia". This information was derived from the excellent home pages of Erkki Melartin Seura.

[Dundonnell]

That is very helpful information indeed for which I am most grateful I hesistated before including the references to these three symphonies for the very reason that I was not sure how far Melartin had gone with them.