Uuno Klami: Kalevala Suite
Vesa Matteo Piludu
Kalevala Suite
Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Arts
Musicology
University of Helsinki
Uuno Klami (1900-1961)
Klami’s
Karelian market place
 Funny, boisterous, polyphonic
 We have the impression to be in that market
 Stravinsky's Petrouska
Klami and Kalevala
 Klami discovered the Kalevala in the same manner as Sibelius
 Studying abroad
 Remembering his years in Paris, (1924-25), Klami stated:
 “The Russian Modernists, such as Prokoviev and Stravinsky, and the
new Spanish music shook me up like nothing ever had. That was the
basis for my Karelian Rhapsody. It was at that time that I went to the
Sorbonne library and checked out the Kalevala.”
 Klami: Kalevala close to Modernism
 Klami and Sibelius shared the interest for the primitive and archaic
aspects of Kalevala
 Different musical language: original approach
 Teachers in Paris: Ravel and and Florent Schmitt
 Teacher in Vienna (1928-29): Hans Gál
Klami
 Composed numerous small pieces for Finnish Radio Orchestra
 His works were conducted by Stokowski, Doráti, Wolff, Cameron,
Dixon, Johnson (Thor).
Uuno Klami
Kalevala Suite (1930-33/1943)
 Kalevala was a life-project for Klami
 Klami worked on the Suite more or less 20 years
 First version premiered in 1933
 The suite was ready only in 1943, when Klami composed the
virtuoso “scherzo” Terhenniemi
 Styile: Modernist, rhythmic, with dissonances
 Completely different from Romantics
Uuno Klami
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Influences
Ravel and Stravinski
Neoclassicism
Jazz
Spanish Music
Joseph Alanen
Ilmatar and the origins of the world
Kalevala Suite
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1. Maan synty: L’origine del Mondo
Natural force, immense, growing
Sizzling primordial darkness from where the theme emerges
Strong climax like the Rite of Sping
 2. Kevään oras – The sprout of spring
 Calm, fabulous, warm mood (closely to Firebird)
 UUNO KLAMI_Kalevala Suite-1 and 2.wmv
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnSvW2H0Wxk&feature=related
 3. Terhenniemi
 Delicate and lucid Scherzo
 UUNO KLAMI Kalevala Suite-3.wmv
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9WYaehs8G4
RUNE IX.
ORIGIN OF IRON.
 Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Made this answer to the gray-beard:
"Know I well the source of metals,
Know the origin of iron;
I can tell bow steel is fashioned.
Of the mothers air is oldest,
Water is the oldest brother,
And the fire is second brother,
And the youngest brother, iron;
 Ukko is the first creator.
Ukko, maker of the heavens,
Cut apart the air and water,
Ere was born the metal, iron.
Ukko, maker of the heavens,
Firmly rubbed his hands together,
Firmly pressed them on his knee-cap,
RUNE IX.
ORIGIN OF IRON II
 Then arose three lovely maidens,
Three most beautiful of daughters;
These were mothers of the iron,
And of steel of bright-blue color.
Tremblingly they walked the heavens,
Walked the clouds with silver linings,
With their bosoms overflowing
With the milk of future iron,
Flowing on and flowing ever,
From the bright rims of the cloudlets
To the earth, the valleys filling,
To the slumber-calling waters.
Louhi: a daughter for the sampo
 Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Toothless dame of Sariola,
Straightway rushes to her dwelling,
These the words that Louhi utters:
"Come, thou youngest of my daughters,
Come, thou fairest of my maidens,
Dress thyself in finest raiment,
Deck thy hair with rarest jewels,
Pearls upon thy swelling bosom,
On thy neck, a golden necklace,
Bind thy head with silken ribbons,
Make thy cheeks look fresh and ruddy,
And thy visage fair and winsome,
Since the artist, Ilmarinen,
Hither comes from Kalevala,
Here to forge for us the Sampo,
Hammer us the lid in colors."
RUNE X.
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO.
 Many tentatives:
 Ilmarinen, metal artist,
Is not pleased with this creation,
Breaks the skiff in many fragments,
Throws them back within the furnace,
Keeps the workmen at the bellows,
Thus to forge the magic Sampo.
RUNE X.
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO
 Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Thus addresses Ilmarinen:
"O my brother, metal-artist,
Thou eternal wonder-worker,
Didst thou forge the magic Sampo,
Forge the lid in many colors?“
 Spake the brother, Ilmarinen,
These the words the master uttered:
"Yea, I forged the magic Sampo,
Forged the lid in many colors;
To and fro the lid in rocking
Grinds one measure at the day-dawn,
Grinds a measure fit for eating,
Grinds a second for the market,
Grinds a third one for the store-house.
Kalevala Suite
 4. Kehtolaulu Lemminkäiselle – Craddle song for Lemminkäinen
 Slow
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5. Sammon taonta
Primitive force, Rite of Sping
Central theme reminiscent of an ancient runo chant
Primitivistic frenzy
 UUNO KLAMI
 Kalevala Suite-4 and 5.wmv
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gOVFXcu1C8&feature=related
What’s the sampo?
Don Rosa’s sampo
Gallen-Kallela
The defence of the Sampo
Don Rosa’s sampo
The image of the sampo
Smötkyn Riiko alias Riiko Kallio 1921
(Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja 12, 1932)
today …
Sampo today ….
Sampo and agriculture
It has more goods than the land. Old Väinämöinen only managed to bring
us the plowing, the sowing, and the growth of all kinds.
Jyrki Malinen 1871(SKVR I184)
Sampo’s fertility
according to Ontrei Malinen
Here the plowing,
here the sowing,
here the crops of all kinds
to the poor lands of the North,
to the great farms of Finland.
Here the moons, here the suns!
Ontrei Malinen 1833 (SKVR I179a)
Sampo and salt
It remained grinding in the sea forever, there in the White Sea; last it
ground salt, and there it is, grinding salt in the sea. One cannot drink
the water, the sea is so salty.
Moarie Tenesseff 1872 (SKVR I173)
Klami’s Kalevala
 No more nationalims
 Pantheism and Primitivism
 Influence of Stravinsky
 More joyful and positive interpretation of paganism
 In Klami’s Kalevala Suite there is no human sacrifice
 The epic is interesting for mystical and telluric forces
 Relevance for the future generations of composers
Words in the sampo
It means Väinämöinen’s sampo. Väinämöinen went to the dark North to fetch
the sampo. It was something akin to a millstone. There are lots of words in the
sampo.
Anni Lehtonen 1915 (KRA Paulaharju 9765–9769)
I open the chest of words,
spread the many-colored lid
across my knees.
The sampo lacks no words,
Lemminkäinen, no charms.
Arhippa Perttunen 1834 (SKVR I31278)
Lemminkäinen’s Island Adventures (1934)
 Very rhythmic
 Sensual energy of the Finnish Don Juan
 Prémiere in Sortavaala (nowadays Russia) in 1935
 100 years of Old Kalevala
 The piece “gaven much enjoyment” to the audience
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Previously part of one version of Kalevala Suite
Problem: different style
No influence from Stravinsky’s Rite
Some influence from Sibelius (trumepet theme, Fifth Symphony)
Boisterous and colourful athmosphere: Klami
The travel inside the body of Vipunen
 1938. Baritone, male chorus and orchestra
 Original theme: the “shamanic travel” of Väinämöinen in the body of
the dead old tietäjä Vipunen in order to find some magic word
 The theme anticipated the shamanic interpretations of the ’70 and
‘80
RUNE XVII.
WAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST-WORD
 WAINAMOINEN, old and truthful,
Did not learn the words of magic
In Tuoni's gloomy regions,
In the kingdom of Manala.
Thereupon he long debated,
Well considered, long reflected,
Where to find the magic sayings;
When a shepherd came to meet him,
Speaking thus to Wainamoinen:
"Thou canst find of words a hundred,
Find a thousand wisdom-sayings,
In the mouth of wise Wipunen,
In the body of the hero;
To the spot I know the foot-path,
To his tomb the magic highway,
Trodden by a host of heroes;
Long the distance thou must travel,
On the sharpened points of needles;
Then a long way thou must journey
On the edges of the broadswords;
Thirdly thou must travel farther
On the edges of the hatchets."
Antero Vipunen: gigantic
dead tietäjä, fused with nauture and threes
Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen
 Väinämöinen
 "Ilmarinen, worthy blacksmith,
Make a shoe for me of iron,
Forge me gloves of burnished copper,
Mold a staff of strongest metal,
Lay the steel upon the inside,
Forge within the might of magic;
I am going on a journey
To procure the magic sayings,
Find the lost-words of the Master,
From the mouth of the magician,
From the tongue of wise Wipunen.“
 (…)
 Wise Wipunen, full of song-charms,
Opens wide his mouth and swallows
Wainamoinen and his magic,
Shoes, and staff, and iron armor.
Väinämöinen’s spell
 Väinämöinen:
 "Rise, thou master of magicians,
From the sleep of Tuonela,
From thine everlasting slumber!“
Väinämöinen and Vipunen
Väinämöinen in Vipunen’s belly
Väinämöinen torturing Vipunen
 Väinämöinen
 "I shall set my forge and bellows
Deeper, deeper in thy vitals;
I shall swing my heavy hammer,
Swing it with a greater power
On thy heart, and lungs, and liver;
I shall never, never leave thee
Till I learn thine incantations,
Learn thy many wisdom-sayings,
Learn the lost-words of the Master;
Never must these words be bidden,
Earth must never lose this wisdom,
Though the wisdom-singers perish."
The secret words of Vipunen
 Old Wipunen, wise magician,
Ancient prophet, filled with power,
Opens fall his store of knowledge,
Lifts the covers from his cases,
Filled with old-time incantations,
Filled with songs of times primeval,
Filled with ancient wit and wisdom;
Sings the very oldest folk-songs,
Sings the origin of witchcraft,
Sings of Earth and its beginning
Sings the first of all creations,
Sings the source of good and evil
Sung alas! by youth no longer,
Only sung in part by heroes
In these days of sin and sorrow.
Evil days our land befallen.
Cheremissian Fantasy
 Uuno Klami - Cheremissian Fantasy, Part 1
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJzPO_4nQ0w
 Cheremisses (Mari) are one Finno-Ugrian people
 Uuno Klami - Cheremissian Fantasy, Part 2
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHu3UdJpF8E&feature=related
Uuno Klami - Revontulet (Aurore Boréale)
 Uuno Klami - Revontulet (Aurore Boréale)
op. 38 Fantaisie pour orchestre [1946]
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShEoY4XgSNg