Launis (real name, Lindberg), Armas (Emanuel)

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Launis (real name, Lindberg), Armas (Emanuel)

Launis (real name, Lindberg), Armas (Emanuel), Finnish composer; b. Hameenlinna, April 22, 1884; d. Nice, Aug. 7, 1959. He studied cello and composition at the orch. school of the Helsinki Phil. Soc. (1901–07). After training with Klatte at the Berlin Stern Cons. (1907–08) and with Bauszern in Weimar (1909), he completed his studies with I. Krohn at the Univ. of Helsinki (Ph.D., 1913, with the diss. Über Art, Entstehung und Verbreitung der Estnisch-Finnischen Runenmelodien-, publ. in Helsinki, 1913). In 1930 he settled in Nice.

Works

dramatic: Opera: Seitsemän veljestäf (The 7 Brothers; Helsinki, April 11, 1913); Kullervo (Helsinki, Feb. 28, 1917); Aslak Hetta (Helsinki, 1922); Noidan laulu (The Sorcerer’s Song; 1932); Lumottu silkkihuivi (The Magic Silk Kerchief; 1937); Jehudith (1940). orch.:Andante religioso for Violin and Orch. (1932); Northern Suite for Violin and Orch. (1950); Karelian Suite (1952). chamber: Piano Quintet; piano pieces. vocal: 2 cantatas (1906, 1910); songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire