Toivo Ilmari Hannikainen (19 October 1892 – 25 July 1955) was a Finnish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

. Hannikainen was born in

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately , while the Jyväskylä sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately ...

, the son of

Pekka Juhani Hannikainen Pekka Juhani "P. J." Hannikainen (December 9, 1854 – September 13, 1924) was a Finnish composer and the head of the musical branch of the prominent Hannikainen family. His uncle was the writer and journalist Pietari Hannikainen. Hannikainen was ...

and the brother of

Väinö Hannikainen Väinö is a masculine given name, likely a short form of Väinämöinen from Finnish myth. https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Väinö The name is commonly found in Finland and Estonia. It may refer to: *Väinö Auer (1895–1981), Finnish geolog ...

, both of whom were composers and of

Tauno Hannikainen Tauno Heikki Hannikainen (February 26, 1896 – October 12, 1968) was a Finnish cellist and conductor. Born in Jyväskylä, he was the son of the composer Pekka Juhani Hannikainen. The pianist Ilmari Hannikainen and the harpist Väinö Hanni ...

who was a

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

. After studying at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

(1911–14), he became a pupil of

Franz Schreker Franz Schreker (originally ''Schrecker''; 23 March 1878 – 21 March 1934) was an Austrian composer, conductor, librettist, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, Schreker developed a style characterized by aesthetic pluralit ...

at the Musikakademie in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and continued his studies with

Alexander Siloti Alexander Ilyich Siloti (also Ziloti; Russian: Александр Ильич Зилоти; 9 October 18638 December 1945) was a Russian virtuoso pianist, conductor, and composer. Biography Alexander Siloti was born on his father's estate n ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(1915–17) and with

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(1919). Returning to Finland, he taught

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

at the

Helsinki Conservatory The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

and later gained a Professorship at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

. Hannikainen steered Finnish classical music from late Romanticism towards

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. In addition to his piano miniatures, which best illustrated this development, he composed one

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

, one

piano concerto A piano concerto, a type of concerto, is a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for piano accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuosic showpieces which require an advance ...

, one

piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er, and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s (notably, the 1934

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

film '' Sången om den eldröda blomman''). Hannikainen drowned during a sailing trip in

Kuhmoinen Kuhmoinen () is a municipality of Finland, in Pirkanmaa region, but until 2021, it was part of the Central Finland region. The municipality is home to inhabitants. Neighbour municipalities are Jämsä, Kangasala, Luhanka, Orivesi, Padasjoki a ...

in 1955. Some musical colleagues, like

Aarre Merikanto Aarre Merikanto (29 June 1893 – 28 September 1958) was a Finnish composer. He was born in Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, the son of Elise "Liisa" Häyrynen (1869–1949) and the famous romantic composer, professor Oskar Merikanto (186 ...

, considered his death a

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. He is buried in the

Hietaniemi Cemetery The Hietaniemi cemetery (, ) is located mainly in the Lapinlahti quarter and partly in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is the location for Finnish state funeral services and is owned by the Evangelical Luthe ...

in Helsinki. In the 1970s, the Ilmari Hannikainen Pianokilpailu (Ilmari Hannikainen Piano Competition) was created dedicated to Hannikainen. In 2020, the competition renewed its format style. (Translated: Ilmari Hannikainen Piano music Competition - Kesmes.com)

Notes

References

Biography from Kimmo Korhonen's ''Inventing Finnish Music: Contemporary Composers from Medieval to Modern'', Finnish Music Information Centre (2003)

External links

* *
Songs by Ilmari Hannikainen on The Art Song Project
1892 births 1955 deaths People from Jyväskylä People from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Romantic composers 20th-century Finnish classical composers Finnish film score composers Finnish male film score composers Finnish classical pianists Deaths by drowning 20th-century classical pianists Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery Finnish male classical pianists 20th-century Finnish male musicians

Ilmari Ilmari is a Finnish male given name. It is a short form of Ilmarinen, a mythological smith in the Kalevala. Notable people with the name include: * Ilmari Aalto (1891–1934), Finnish painter * Ilmari Auer (1879–1965), Finnish politician * Ilm ...

{{classical-pianist-stub