Erik Tulindberg was the first known Finnish composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 of classical music.

Life

Tulindberg was born in Vähäkyrö

Vähäkyrö

Vähäkyrö is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....

 in Western Finland

Western Finland

Western Finland was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2010. It bordered the provinces of Oulu, Eastern Finland and Southern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Bothnia towards Åland.- History :...

. He studied in Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

 and then worked as a civil servant in Oulu

Oulu

Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....

 from 1784 to 1809 and thereafter in Turku. He played the violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 and cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 and was appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music

Royal Swedish Academy of Music

The Royal Swedish Academy of Music or Kungl. Musikaliska Akademien, founded in 1771 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies in Sweden...

 in 1797. He died in Turku at the age of 53.

Music

From his compositions only a violin concerto

Violin concerto

A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...

 in B-flat major and six string quartets remain. He wrote the violin concerto before 1784 during his youth in Turku. The work shows "simplicity and occasional clumsiness"http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&C6E1800737A5F419C22567750033C7F5 and the influences of Mozart, Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

 and the Mannheim School

Mannheim school

Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century as well as the group of composers who wrote such music for the orchestra of Mannheim and others.-History:...

 of music.

His string quartets are more mature works and are better known today than the violin concerto. The string quartets are in the tradition of Haydn. Interestingly, a copy of Haydn's string quartets was found among Tulindberg's possessions after his death.

Perspective

Tulindberg was a contemporary of Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 and, like Mozart, he was part of the Classical era

Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...

 in music. His importance stems largely from his pioneering position in the music of Finland. No Finnish composer is known from the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 or Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 eras.http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&C6E1800737A5F419C22567750033C7F5 The compositions of Tulindberg were not rediscovered until 100 years after his death.

External links

• Finnish music information site (in English)
• About Tulindberg and the String Quartets, entry on Rantatie Quartet site
• Steglein Database entry to the string quartets of Tulindberg
• Erik Tulindberg, entry in the German Wikipedia (in German)