Finnish Music in Canada

History of Finnish Immigration to Canada

The first Finnish immigrants to Canada arrived via the United States and Alaska during the mid-19th century. Many worked in construction, on such projects as the Welland Canal and the Canadian Pacific Railway. More substantial waves of immigration occurred during the 1920s (following the establishment of a Finnish republic in 1917) and the 1950s. In 1986 there were more than 90,000 people of Finnish descent in Canada and more than half were Finnish-speaking. The majority lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Vancouver. Among Finnish Canadians, Lutheran is the most common religious denomination. Finnish newspapers were established in Sudbury in 1917, Thunder Bay in 1915, and Toronto in 1931, and schools were set up to teach the Finnish language.

Development of Finnish Music in Canada

Until the late 19th century Finnish folksongs usually were performed to the accompaniment of the violin, the clarinet, or the kantele, the last of which resembles an autoharp and is considered the national instrument of Finland. By this time, however, choirs and brass bands had superseded earlier traditions in popularity.

In Canada, Finnish cultural associations have sponsored visits by Finnish groups and provided support for performances by local choirs. A Finnish-Canadian choir of 24 appeared 1 July 1938 at the Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto, in a folk festival sponsored by the Native Sons and Daughters of Canada society. Finnish Canadian choirs of the 1970s included the Sault Finnish Choir, the Kaleva Men's Choir of Sault Ste. Marie, the Sudbury Finnish Male Chorus, the Otava Male Choir of Thunder Bay, and the Toronto Finnish Male Chorus. While male choirs have predominated in the Finnish tradition, female and mixed choirs started to become more common in the 1970s.

Frequently performed repertoire included the choral arrangement of the chorale from Jean Sibelius' Finlandia, “Terre Suomeni Maa” (a patriotic song), and “Poika Ajo Punaruunilla” (a folksong). Central to Finnish vocal and choral music, and an inspiration for instrumental composition, is the national epic poem Kalevala, a 19th-century compilation of ancient folk lyrics which has been translated into 30 languages.

Works by Finland's most famous composer, Jean Sibelius, were played in Canada as early as 1909 when the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO), led by Frank Welsman, performed Finlandia. That work soon became a staple of the orchestra's repertoire. Under Sir Ernest MacMillan, the TSO gave the Canadian premiere of Symphony No. 2 in 1932 and presented an all-Sibelius program in 1935. The Montreal Orchestra (1930–41) gave the Montreal premieres of four major works of Sibelius: Symphony No. 1, En Saga, Tapiola, and Pohjola's Daughter. By the 1970s most major Canadian orchestras had performed at least Symphony No. 2 and the Violin Concerto; Valse Triste and The Swan of Tuonela were pop-concert items and community-orchestra favourites; and the other symphonies had occasional performances. In 1977 Franz-Paul Decker conducted the complete Four Legends from the Kalevala for the Grands Concerts series of Radio-Canada, the CBC’s French network. Monuments to Sibelius have been erected on St. Helen's Island, Montreal, and in Jean Sibelius Park on Kendal Avenue in Toronto. In December 1965, at a concert sponsored by the Toronto Finnish Advancement Society to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth, the Finnish ambassador to Canada presented the scores of 230 Sibelius compositions to the University of Toronto music library on behalf of Canadians of Finnish origin.

Notable Musicians

Finnish-born musicians who have been active in Canada include Matti Holli (1916–77), the founder and until his death the conductor of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (WSO), and Whitey Glann, one-time drummer with the rock group Mandala. Composer Jan Jarvlepp is of Finish descent.

Finnish visitors to Canada have included Tauno Hannikainen (who appeared as guest conductor of the Promenade Symphony Concerts in 1952), the soprano Anita Valkki (who sang with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in 1963 and again at an Expo 67 Scandinavian Gala, where she was heard in Jean Sibelius' rarely performed Luonnotar, Opus 70), the baritone Kalle Ruusunen, the Helsinki University Chorus, which was heard in Toronto in 1938 and 1953, and the baritone Jorma Hynninen, who appeared in an all-Sibelius program with the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra in 1991.

In 1960 Olavi Pesonen represented Finland at the International Conference of Composers in Stratford, Ontario; in 1975 Pekka Gronow presented a paper at World Music Week, held in Canada under the auspices of the International Music Council. The Tapiola Choir and its conductor Erkki Pohjola were participants in the 1989 International Choral Festival.

The violinist and conductor Lasse B. Pohjola (born in 1922 in Kotka, Finland; died in 1975 in Windsor, ON), who came to Canada as an infant, was concertmaster of the WSO from its inception until his death, and also conducted the Essex County Concert Orchestra and the Windsor Regimental Band. His son Larry (bassist, born 24 March 1946 in Windsor, ON; died 6 August 2018), was principal bass of the WSO in the 1960s, of the National Youth Orchestra (1962–66), and played with the TSO (1966–67) before turning to popular music.

Canadians who have visited Finland include the soprano Bertha Crawford, who sang in Helsinki in 1917, and the pianist Jacinthe Couture, who taught at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy in 1976.

In July 1977 the 38th annual Finnish Canadian Grand Festival took place in Sudbury, Ontario. Events included dances, sports activities, gymnastics, a play, and performances by several choirs.

By 1975 the archives of the Canadian Museum of Civilization held 138 Finnish songs and 150 instrumental works, collected by Helen Creighton in New Brunswick, Kenneth Peacock in Ontario, and Burt Feintuch in British Columbia.