Edward Elgar had not yet achieved major success as a composer in the 1890s. However, alongside teaching and conducting amateur orchestras, he composed works such as Serenade for Strings E minor Op. 20, which he completed in March 1892 as a gift for his wife on their third wedding anniversary. An early version of the serenade was probably performed as early as 1888 under the title Three Sketches for Strings. An early version of the serenade was probably performed as early as 1888 under the title Three Sketches for Strings. Its movements were Spring Song, Elegy, and Finale, but the manuscript has since been lost.

Serenade for string orchestra was not performed publicly until 1896 in Belgium and had its British premiere in 1899. Since then, it has gradually become one of the composer’s most beloved works. The three-part, 12-minute work flows captivatingly and effortlessly.

In the first movement, Allegro piacevole (Pleasantly fast), one can imagine spring bursting into bloom to the fresh rhythm of 6/8. The slower Larghetto movement offers one of Elgar’s finest melodies, as the violins burst into bloom after a short introduction. The finale swings cheerfully and returns to the theme of the first movement before gently closing. The composer was clearly pleased with his work and wrote in a letter about its three harmonious movements: “I like ’em (the first thing I ever did)”.

 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart often made his music sound effortless and light, but he admired the contrapuntal skills of old masters such as J.S. Bach. A fugue for two pianos in the passionate Sturm und Drang style has survived from 1783, which Mozart arranged for strings five years later and added a dramatic slow introduction to. The work has no known commissioner, but music publisher F.A. Hoffmeister published the score immediately.

Adagio and Fugue C minor (K. 546) does not immediately sound like a typical Mozart work, but his interest in composing polyphonic musical lines was evident in many of his works from that period. The fugue theme with its variations and multiple overlaps represents a technique that Mozart honed to perfection, culminating in the famous finale of the Jupiter Symphony.

Just as Mozart took inspiration from previous generations, so too did future generations take inspiration from him. Ludwig van Beethoven’s estate contains a carefully copied version of Mozart’s fugue in C minor, whose virtuosity he clearly admired and carried forward into his own great fugues.

 

Samuel Barber composed his only string quartet in 1935–36. He immediately sensed the potential of the slow movement, which steadily ascends with calm steps, and arranged it for string orchestra under the title Adagio for Strings. Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere in 1938, after which it established itself as a classic of American art music.

Adagio has been played at the funerals of both Albert Einstein and Grace Kelly, and it has become established as funeral music after events that have shocked the world. Three decades after the composition was written, in 1967 Barber added lyrics from the Latin Agnus Dei mass text and arranged it for mixed choir. In September 2021, in memory of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center two decades ago, the closing concert of the London Proms festival also featured an arrangement combining the original string orchestra work Agnus Dei with lyrics.

Adagio builds slowly, weaving its simple melody line like a prayer rope. The weight of emotion builds to a climactic chord in the upper register, with the final chords settling into silence as the opening is repeated. The limitations of musical resources become a strength, channeling powerful emotions in a universal, human way that transcends cultural boundaries.

Lauri Mäntysaari

 

Church music has been a central part of my work as a composer since the beginning of my career. As a choir singer, I am familiar with the classical repertoire and believe that the tradition should continue with new works. The requiem, or mass for the dead, is one of the most popular forms of church music, but it also lends itself to new interpretations, such as the magnificent works by composers like Benjamin Britten, Joonas Kokkonen, and Krzysztof Penderecki. These have also become audience favorites, almost on a par with the requiems of Mozart and Fauré.

Composers of requiems have often been quite creative in their choice of text: the Catholic requiem text may have been used only in part, or lyrics may have been inserted between passages, as in Britten’s War Requiem, for example. Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem is a special case because of both its performance language and its text based on biblical passages.

I myself ended up composing exclusively to the traditional Latin text. However, I use it on a broad scale, from semantic and interpretative precision to the level of phonemes, or timbre. In this way, the text influences the work both in terms of content and as part of its musical material, which I believe offers the listener the opportunity to understand and experience the message of the requiem both intellectually and emotionally.

My requiem is scored for two soloists (high female and low male voices), mixed choir, and a sinfonietta-type orchestra. The eleven movements of the work form, I hope, a clearly progressing musical narrative that inspires the listener.

I have dedicated the work to the memory of my departed loved ones.

Olli Kortekangas

I Introitus & Kyrie

Lord, grant them eternal rest,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
We praise you, God, in Zion.
We will fulfill the promises
we made to you,
for you hear our prayers.
All people come to you.
Lord, grant them eternal rest,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

II Dies irae

The day of wrath is frightening,
foretold by prophets,
it will destroy the world.

The soul trembles, astonished
and frightened:
The Judge is approaching.

The trumpet is mighty,
resounding even in the graves,
gathering all together.

Even death, in its terror,
sees how the people rise from their graves
to face judgment.

The great book is brought forth,
all eyes are fixed upon it,
secrets are revealed.

Sins committed, planned,
spoken and thought,
all are made public.

How can I face the judge?
I can only be ashamed.
Even the righteous cannot endure it.
My King, do not take revenge!
In your mercy, lift me up
from my pain, from my judgment!

Remember how you suffered
for me, Jesus, my death.
Have mercy now, my God!

The cross brings salvation,
in that alone I will trust.
Did you die in vain, Lord?

In this time of mercy,
let my sins be laid on the cross.
Carry me to the shelter of your blood.

I repent of my evil life.
My head is bowed in shame.
Let me hear the voice of mercy!

You forgave the sinful woman
and the repentant thief.
I hope for the same!

I beg before you, undeserving:
Remember your goodness,
withdraw your hand of vengeance!

Let me join your flock
on your right hand side
because of your great mercy.

Accompany the lost,
those condemned to the lake of fire,
and lift them up among the blessed.

Before you, Lord, I sigh,
crushed into dust and ashes:
Take me home, to safety.

III Lacrimosa

After a day of weeping and lamentation,
after the resurrection,
we will stand before our judge.
Have mercy on us, our Master!
Lord Jesus, bring us help,
grant rest to those who have departed.

IV Offertorium

Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the torments of hell and the depths of the underworld. Deliver them from the snare of the devil, let not the underworld swallow them up, lest they fall into darkness, but may the standard-bearer Saint Michael lead them into the light that you once promised to Abraham and his descendants.

We bring you, Lord, our thanksgiving and prayers; accept them on behalf of the souls whose memory we celebrate today. Grant, Lord, that they may pass from death to the life you promised to Abraham and his descendants.

V Sanctus & Benedictus

Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty.
The heavens and the earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

VI Pie Jesu

Lord Jesus, merciful,
grant them rest.

Lord Jesus, merciful,
grant them eternal rest.

VII Agnus Dei

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
grant them eternal rest.

(VIII Meditatio)

IX Lux aeterna

Lord, may eternal light shine upon them
in the company of your saints forever,
for you are merciful.
Lord, grant them eternal rest,
and may eternal light shine upon them
in the company of your saints forever,
for you are merciful.

X Libera me

Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that dreadful day when the heavens and the earth will be shaken as you come to judge the world with fire. I tremble and fear as the day of reckoning and threatening wrath approaches, when the heavens and the earth will be shaken. That day is a day of wrath, a day of terror and sorrow, a great and very bitter day. When you come to judge the world with fire.

Lord, grant them eternal rest,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

May they rest in peace.

XI In paradisum

May the angels escort you to paradise. May the martyrs welcome you and take you to the holy city of Jerusalem. May the choir of angels receive you, and may you rest in peace with poor Lazarus. Amen.

Sources: Roman Missal, People’s Missal 1961, Catholic funeral liturgy

Olli Kortekangas (b. in Turku in 1955) studied composition under Einojuhani Rautavaara and Eero Hämeenniemi at the Sibelius Academy from 1974 to 1981 and continued his studies under Dieter Schnebel in West Berlin. In the fall of 1985, he studied under Roger Reynolds in San Diego. Kortekangas has worked as a teacher at the Espoo Music Institute, the Sibelius Academy, and the Theater Academy, as well as in master classes in Finland and abroad. From 1997 to 2007, Kortekangas served as the Oulu Symphony Orchestra’s composer-in-residence.

Olli Kortekangas’ catalog of works includes approximately 160 compositions, ranging from miniatures to orchestral works and operas. He has always been particularly interested in the human voice, vocal music, and musical theater. His major works include numerous choral works and fourteen operas, such as Grand Hotel (1985), Messenius and Lucia (2005), Isän tyttö (2007), Oma vika (2015), Veljeni vartija (2017), Ende und Beginn (2021), and Isfåglarna (2023). Kortekangas’ career also includes a wealth of instrumental music, including concertos, chamber music and solo works, and his most recent interest is in compositions for period instruments.

Kortekangas has composed commissioned works for many European countries as well as the United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia. The most significant foreign premieres in recent years have been the oratorio Seven Songs for Planet Earth (2011), premiered in Washington, Migrations for mezzo-soprano, male choir and orchestra (2014), commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Estonian-Finnish collaboration Piir (2024). Notable Finnish premieres include the Clarinet Concerto (2014), commissioned by the Oulu Symphony Orchestra, the song cycle Songs of Meena (2020), commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Guitar Concerto (2024), commissioned by the Saimaa Sinfonietta. Kortekangas is currently working on an international dance theater production on the Etruscans, which will premiere in Oslo in 2027.

Olli Kortekangas has an extensive output of organ music, including a concerto, four sonatas, and numerous smaller works for both church and concert use. He has also composed several large-scale sacred works. De virtute in virtutem – Songs of a Pilgrim was premiered at the Naantali Music Festival in 2011, and the large-scale VIA oratorio in 2017. In the summer of 2019, the church opera Elämänkuvat (Images of Life) premiered in the old church of Isokyrö. The church opera Ende und Beginn, which premiered in Uusikaupunki in 2021, has since been performed in various parts of Finland, and in the summer of 2024 it premiered in Tallinn, Estonia. “Unacknowledged Vesper Music” Vähän ennen yötä for three voices and organ was premiered in 2023, and a version for large choir and organ in 2025.

Olli Kortekangas has received, among other things, the Prix Italia special prize, the Salzburg City Opera Prize, the Teosto Prize, the Lutheran Culture Foundation Recognition Prize, and the 2015 Art Music Composer Prize awarded by the Finnish Music Publishers Association. Other honors include the Espoo Medal and the selection as the Official Unikeko of the Kingdom in Naantali in 2011. In 2022, the opera Ende und Beginn was awarded the Arkkipooki Certificate of Honor by the Archdiocese of Turku.

Kortekangas is a founding member of the renowned contemporary music association Korvat auki ry. His numerous organizational and expert roles over the years include membership in the boards of the Finnish Composers’ Association, the Association of Church Music Composers, and Teosto, the board of the Paulo Foundation, the State Music Committee, and the Finnish-language supplement working group for the hymnal. From 2023 to 2025, Kortekangas served as an expert for the Nordic Culture Fund.

Olli Kortekangas lives and works in Helsinki and Rymättylä, Naantali.