Presenting information heretofore difficult or impossible to find in English, this work opens a window on the colorful panorama of Finnish music. The 500-plus entries present historical and modern composers, the accomplishments of hundreds of internationally acclaimed performing artists, as well as more general articles on folk music, early manuscripts and publications, cantors and hymnals, early Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Lutheran music, leading orchestras and choral groups, festivals, and much more. No other such extensive and comprehensive work on Finnish music exists in any language other than Finnish and Swedish. This English-language dictionary makes the subject available to readers throughout the world.
In addition to the entries, chronologies of Finnish history and Finnish music, as well as a map of Finland, correlate history and locations with the entries. A general bibliography and entry-specific bibliographies offer further resources. The Dictionary interprets a sometimes limited amount of available information, describing forms and styles of compositions, operatic roles performed, the content of scholarly work, and significant and unusual events in the lives of the musicians.
About the Author: RUTH-ESTHER HILLILA, a third-generation Finnish-American musicologist and music educator, has devoted her life to the study and promotion of the music of Finland. She lived in Finland for several years, studying at the Sibelius Academy and privately with well-known musicians. Both her master's thesis and doctoral dissertation dealt with Finnish music. She was also a founder of the music department at Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she was Professor of Music for ten years.
BARBARA BLANCHARD HONG, a musicologist, teaches music history and non-western music at Western Michigan University. She was a Fulbright Scholar to Finland, where she studied analysis with composer Kalervo Tuukkanen and did research on the life and works of composer-pianist Selim Palmgren for her master's thesis and doctoral dissertation.
