Kilpinen, Yrjo (1892-1959) | University of Illinois Archives

Yrjö Kilpinen (1892-1959) was a Finnish composer. Kilpinen was born in Helsinki and began his studies at the Helsinki Music Institute, taking composition lessons with Erik Gustaf Furuhjelm. He later studied in Vienna and Berlin. Kilpinen began teaching composition in 1942 and was elected to the Finnish Academy in 1948. He was the founder of the Finnish Society of Friends of the Solo Song, which became the Kilpinen Society after his death.

As a composer Kilpinen was known most for his work on lieder, having composed 790 lieds. Well-known singers such as Gerhard Hüsch and Astra Desmond promoted his work abroad. In Nazi Germany during the 1930s, Kilpinen was praised for his contributions to the German lied. While in Germany, he set more than 75 songs by Christian Morgenstern. Following World War II, Kilpinen was rejected by many of his former colleagues in Finland and was labeled a Nazi sympathizer by Urho Kekkonen, the speaker of the Finnish parliament in 1948. Attempting to return to grace in the music community, Kilpinen began to explore Finnish texts like the Katri Vala and the Kalevala in the late 1940s.

Erkki Salmenhaara. "Kilpinen, Yrjo." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 19 Dec. 2011 <http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/15006>.

Jeffrey Sandborg, "The lost Legacy of Yrjö Kilpinen, 1892-1959," Journal of Singing, Vol. 67, iss. 4 (March 2011): 387-395.