Symphonic Explorations in Finnish Music during the 1960s: Arabescata by Einojuhani Rautavaara and Henrik Otto Donner’s First Symphony
Abstract
Abstract. The article is devoted to the 1960s, a time of mastery of newest techniques of musical
composition in Finland, when many composers aspired to reintonate with their means the genre of the
symphony – one of the most important genres for Finnish music history. The directions of its transformation
are demonstrated by the example of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Fourth Symphony Arabescata (1962) and
Henrik Otto Donner’s First Symphony (1964). Rautavaara’s Symphony is the only Finnish orchestral
composition which is entirely serial in its technique. During the process of analysis, the peculiarities
of structural organization are shown and the features which designate the work as a symphony are
highlighted. The fate of Arabescata is connected with the change of status for the genre: the composer
included it into the symphonic massif twenty-four years after having composed it. At the same time, the
composition initially comprised a hierarchically constructed cycle in which the semantic invariant of the
genre (to use Mark Aranovsky’s term) is guessed rightly. Donner’s Symphony, on the other hand, having
preserved its traditional indication, swayed to a considerable degree from the typical content. Presenting
in itself a collage formed by twenty quotations from classical music, pop music and jazz, it forestalled
a few years before the appearance of the landmark examples of collage polystylistics – Luciano Berio’s
Sinfonia (1968) and Alfred Schnittke’s First Symphony (1972). Donner’s solution was natural for him
and absorbed into itself his experience of working in electronic studios: the symphony demonstrates a
view of the musical material as an acoustic object and a reliance on the collage principles of composition.
The two examined works, following the traditions of the history of the Finnish symphony in different
ways, have fulfilled analogous functions: having surpassed the limitations of Sibelius’ influence, they
have shown new horizons of interpretation of the genre.
Keywords: Finnish symphonies from the 1960s, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Henrik Otto Donner,
serialism, stylistic pluralism, the semantic invariant of the symphony
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.33779/2782-3598.2021.4.034-051
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