Juhan Jürme (1896-1943, Estonia)

[Christopher]

Juhan Jürme (also known as Johannes Jürgenson) was an Estonian composer. Born 1896, died 1943.

He graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory (now the Estonian Academy of Music and Theater) in 1927, majoring in composition with Artur Kapp and organ with August Topman. He then worked as a (cinema) pianist, organist, choirmaster and composer. From 1942 until his early death, Jürme was a lecturer at the Tallinn Conservatory. In 1943 he died in a Soviet bombing raid on Tallinn.

Jürme is best known as a composer of vocal symphonic works on biblical themes. He also wrote the oratorio Nebuchadnetsar (1937), the opera Võõras veri ("Foreign Blood", 1939) and the well-known cantatas Pärast püha õhtusöömaaega ("After Holy Communion", 1927) and Memento Mori (1933). His choral and orchestral piece Rukkirääk ("The Corncrake", 1937), which is part of every Estonian song festival, is particularly popular.

"Memento Mori" was recently (March 2023) performed and recorded in Tallinn Cathedral, a performance dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the composer's death.

The recording can be heard here (41 mins long): https://youtu.be/PZv_kYeS9og

[Christopher]

More about the piece and the performance can be read here - https://www.ajakirimuusika.ee/single-post/helilooja-juhan-jürme-sõjakeerises-vara-lahkunud-talent. It's in Estonian but google translate renders it as follows:

Juhan Jürme - Cantata: Memento Mori (Think, man, of death!)

1. Chorus
2. Aria (Rich Man)
3. Arioso (Lazarus)
5. Angels' choir and Lazarus
6. Recitative (Rich Man)
7. Aria (Abraham)
8. Arioso (Rich Man)
9. Recitative (Abraham)
10. Chorus

written in 1933
Soloists, mixed choir, female choir, organ, symphony orchestra
Text: Artur Sommer (Soomre) after Luke 16:19-31

Composer Juhan Jürme - a talent who left early in the whirlwind of war
Performance of "Memento mori" by Juhan Jürme in Tallinn Cathedral.

Score was destroyed during the Soviet bombing of Tallinn in WW2, Hulgo Lepnurm restored choir, solo and organ parts in 1952, orchestration in 1993.

On March 18, 2023, the cantata "Memento mori" by Juhan Jürme (March 20, 1896 - March 25, 1943, Johannes Jürgenson until 1938) was performed in the Tallinn Cathedral. The presentation was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the composer's death. This year also marks the 90th anniversary of the work's creation. The cantata was performed by the Laudate Dominum choir of Toom parish, the concert choir and women's choir of Kaarli parish and the chamber choir of Viimsi Jaakob parish. The choirmasters were Andrus Kalvet, Piret Aidulo, Pärtel Toompere and Kersti Petermann. The chamber orchestra (concert master Meelis Vahar), cathedral organist Kadri Ploompuu on the organ (who was also the main initiator and leader of the performance) and soloists Rafael Dicenta – tenor (Rikas mees), Aare Saal – baritone (Laatsarus), Olari Viikholm – bass (Aabraham) took part. . The performance was conducted by Veljo Reier.

The premiere of "Memento mori" took place on the evening of the Remembrance Day, November 26, 1933, in the Charles Church. At that time, Jürme was the organist-choir director of the Charles Church. The piece was commissioned and the concert was organized by the mixed choir of the Kaarli Song Society, which became a very good collective in the 1930s under the leadership of Jürme and Alfred Karind. The author of the text was Artur Sommer (Artur Soomre, 2. VI 1890 - 22. IX 1944), a teacher of the Kaarli parish, and it is based on a passage from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:19-31), which talks about the rich man and the poor Lazarus.

The ten-part cantata sets high demands on choirs and soloists (also in terms of the range of vocal parts). The expressive text is supported by excitingly composed music. Päevaleht writes after the premiere in 1933 that the text has brought "declamatory recitative to the music, especially in the soloists' parts, where the cantata's participants - the rich man, Lazarus and Abraham - recount their long trials, as the orchestral accompaniment illustrates this narration. [--- ] recitative, however, does not allow to develop any motif to the end and give it a definite form." As a side note, it should be said that for the first performance, the Walcker organ of the Charles Church, which this year celebrates the 100th anniversary of its construction, was tuned higher, and which, if the original tuning had been preserved, would not have been able to sound together with the wind instruments in the orchestra. The premiere was led by the composer himself, Alfred Karindi played the organ. Presentations in Kaarli in 1934 and 1938 followed.

In the Kultuulileh (29 March 1996) you can find Hugo Lepnurme's article, which he wrote for Jürme's 100th birthday: "During our studies, we could not have contact. [---] I have relatively few memories of Jürme's organ art. In Kaarli's church, the main emphasis was on improvisation played during the service. It had the same features as his written creations: a lot of natural minor, a little Estonian folk tune and the rich dynamics of the organ. [---] As a composer, Jürme has left quite a long line of spiritual and some secular choral songs. Among them, the new chorales created by him, which the Church Music Secretariat began to expect and order in the 1930s, attract attention. [---] Written by a real choirmaster, his songs are relatively easy to sing despite their difficulty. [--- ] Due to the cost of printing, his songs have been preserved in manuscript reproduction - most of them in the archive of Tallinn Kaarli parish. As a result, some songs that deserve wider recognition have remained little known. [---] In 1951, organist and choir director Arnold Allvee, who led the musical life of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Tallinn, approached me: could I restore the choral parts of the cantata "Memento mori" and write the missing arias and recitatives for the soloists. Since I had heard the performance of the cantata in 1943 and had some vague memory, I dared to "jump into the air" and did this work in the summer of 1952. The program was written only for the organ, which I played myself at a recital on the Day of the Dead in 1952 in the Church of the Holy Spirit." Lepnurm has written that the cantata was performed in this way a couple of times later with Rolf Uusvälja on the organ.

Lepnurm has accidentally lost the year: in 1943 he was in the rear of the Soviet Union. It is also unlikely that a mixed choir of the required size could have accumulated during the war years. In 1938, during the presentation, he was not in Tallinn, because he went to Paris in September to improve himself. Consequently, he heard the performance of the great work in 1933 or 1934, which means that, apart from the preserved choral parts, the accompanying parts and solos have been restored to the impression of 17-18 years ago! I think we should write about Lepnurme as a co-author of an existing work! The 2007 "Biographical Lexicon of Estonian Music" (EMBL) also refers to this. The recitativeness and storytelling described above is well captured and also characteristic of Lepnurme's own work.

On October 30, 1983, the first part of the work was performed in the cathedral. Lepnurm gradually restored the orchestra parts, the choir of the cathedral and the study choir of the Institute of Religious Studies sang. Cathedral organist Jaanus Romandi led, Hugo Lepnurm played the organ. The cantata was performed in its entirety in the cathedral on November 25, 1984 and March 27, 1988 with the same composition. Lepnurm wrote: "The organist of the Cathedral, Johannes Kappel, had organized an orchestra for the church, which we also decided to use on this occasion. [---] I orchestrated the first and last choruses, the aria of the rich man and the poor Lazarus, the other parts were left to the organ. For the 50th anniversary of Jürme's death in 1993, I decided to orchestrate the piece as a whole - although for a much smaller composition than the composer himself wanted - considering the future possibilities of our churches! In this form, the work was acquired by the Estonian Cultural Foundation this year." The orchestra parts could not be found during the preparation of this year's performance. Meelis Vahar set the piece to strings, using the piano and the notes there.

I would like to praise the level of the performance, the choir sounded very professional and the level of professional instrumentalists and soloists was impeccable. The large form was designed as a whole by the precise hand of the conductor Veljo Reier. The expressive performance of well-known singers Aare Saal and Olari Viikholm was a success in every way. Choral artist of the Estonian National Opera, tenor Rafael Dicenta, who was born in Madrid, has only been performing here since 2020. From 2012 to 2020, he lived in Vienna. His list of roles and major forms performed is impressive, as is the demanding part he performed in the Jürme cantata.

According to the information center of Estonian music, composer, choir director and music teacher Juhan Jürme studied music under the guidance of Anton Kasemets and Peeter Süda, graduated from the Tallinn Conservatory in 1925 majoring in organ in August Topman's class and in 1927 in composition majoring in Artur Kapi's class. In 1926-1927, he was a scholarship holder of the capital named after Konstantin Türnpu.

Jürme was the organist and choir director of the EELK Tallinn Toompea Kaarli congregation (1924–1940), a music teacher at the Tallinn Girls' Commercial High School and the Tallinn Boys' Trade School (1929–1942), and a lecturer at the Tallinn Conservatory (1942–1943). In addition, he worked as a pianist in cinemas. Jürme's activity with the Kaarli Luluseltsi choir was active: under his direction, the choir gave concerts in the Börsi Hall and the Estonia Concert Hall, performed at open-air concerts, took part in the county song days and the XI General Song Festival (1938). Since 1939, the choir of the singing society was called the choir of the Kaarli Oratory.

In 1940, the work in Kaarli was interrupted. In his letter to the board of the Kaarli parish on January 13, 1942, Jürme asks to be reinstated as organist and writes how on December 1, 1940, the People's Commissariat of Education approached him with a proposal to give up either the church or the school teacher position, because in a communist country it is not allowed to serve in both positions at the same time. He also describes how, a few months after starting school work, he was invited to the People's Commissariat of Education to give an answer as to why the students "participate so sluggishly in studying "International". A few days later he was arrested by an NKVD agent and a two-hour interrogation followed for the same reason.

In the summer of 1941, he hid in the countryside from the mobilization of the Russians. His last concert was on March 21, 1943 in Rakvere Church with baritone Evald Oja.

According to EMBL (2007) and the Estonian Music Information Center, Juhan Jürme has created around 400 works, including 100 choral songs, solo songs and organ music. The major part of Jürme's work is vocal symphonic works with biblical themes: the cantatas "After the Holy Supper" and "Memento mori" and the oratorio "Nebuchadnezzar". Most of Jürme's choral compositions are spiritual. The public is more familiar with the choral song "The Corncrake" ("Rukkirääk") composed to the words of Marie Under, which has been arranged by Jürme himself and other musicians for other ensembles. "The Corncrake" ("Rukkirääk") for brass band was included in the program at the 1938 general song party.

The vast amount contained in the letter - 400 works - is still waiting to be discovered. The number of works is not indicated in the 1990 biographical lexicon. On the website of the information center, I found a total of 127 works, including several different arrangements of "The Corncrake" ("Rukkirääk"). Much may have been destroyed, but the said large number still raises doubts - where does it come from? Juhan Jürme managed to be a professional musician for less than 20 years, because unfortunately this talented musician was killed in the bombing of Tallinn on March 25, 1943, and all the sheet music at home was also destroyed in the fire.

[Christopher]

His piece Rukkirääk ("The Corncrake") is rather fun - 4 minutes long with quite a few recordings on youtube, here's one (though for wind-band, I couldn't find one for full orchestra) - https://youtu.be/_DZHKqJb4Q0