Juha (Madetoja)

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Juha
Opera by Leevi Madetoja
The composer (c. 1937)
LibrettistLeevi Madetoja & Aino Ackté
LanguageFinnish
Based onJuha
by Juhani Aho
Premiere
17 February 1935 (1935-02-17)
Finnish National Opera, Helsinki

Juha, Op. 74, is a verismo opera in three acts—comprising six tableaux—written from 1931 to 1934 by the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja. The libretto, a collaboration between Madetoja and the Finnish soprano Aino Ackté, is based on Juhani Aho's 1911 novel by the same name. The story takes place on the border between West Karelia (Finno-Swedish territory) and East Karelia (Russian territory), and features as its central conflict a love triangle between the farmer Juha, his young wife Marja, and a Karelian merchant, Shemeikka. Disillusioned with rural life and seduced by promises of material comfort and romance, Marja runs away with Shemeikka; Juha, who maintains his wife has been abducted, eventually discovers her betrayal and commits suicide by jumping into the rapids.

On 17 February 1935, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the work at the Finnish National Opera under the baton of Armas Järnefelt. Although a success at its premiere, Juha failed to match the popularity of Madetoja's first opera, The Ostrobothnians; enthusiasm quickly faded and the inaugural production fizzled in February 1938, for a total of just 13 performances. Despite two mini-revivals in Madetoja's lifetime, he considered it the greatest disappointment of his career. Today, the opera is rarely performed and has been supplanted in the operatic repertoire by Aarre Merikanto's modernist 1922 version (first performed in 1963), which is based upon the same libretto.

History[edit]

An advertisement promoting the 17 February 1935 premiere of Madetoja's Juha; Armas Järnefelt conducted the premiere.

For Madetoja, the 1930s brought hardship and disappointment. During this time, he was at work on two new major projects: a second opera, Juha, and a fourth symphony, each to be his final labor in their respective genres. The former, with a libretto by the famous Finnish soprano, Aino Ackté (adapted from the 1911 novel by writer Juhani Aho),[1] had fallen to Madetoja after a series of events: first, Sibelius—ever the believer in "absolute music"—had refused the project in 1914;[2][a] and, second, in 1922, the Finnish National Opera had rejected a first attempt by Aarre Merikanto as "too Modernist" and "too demanding on the orchestra", leading the composer to withdraw the score.[4][b] Two failures in, Ackté thus turned to Madetoja, the successful The Ostrobothnians of whom was firmly ensconced in the repertoire, to produce a safer, more palatable version of the opera.[4]

The death of Madetoja's mother, Anna, on 26 March 1934, interrupted his work on the opera; the loss so devastated Madetoja that he fell ill and could not travel to Oulu for the funeral.[6][7][c] Madetoja completed work on the opera by the end of 1934 and it premiered to considerable fanfare at the Finnish National Opera on 17 February 1935, the composer's forty-eighth birthday. The critics hailed it as a "brilliant success", an "undisputed masterpiece of Madetoja and Finnish opera literature".[6] Nevertheless, the "euphoria" of the initial performance eventually wore off and, to the composer's disappointment, Juha did not equal the popularity of The Ostrobothnians. Indeed, today Juha is most associated with Merikanto, whose modernist Juha (which the Finnish National Opera performed on 19 October 1967) is the more enduringly popular of the two; having been displaced by Merikanto's, Madetoja's Juha is rarely performed.[6][4]

Roles[edit]

Juha comprises a cast of eleven roles, of which five are for male and six are for female voice types; tableaux 4–6 also include mixed choir. The principal characters are Juha (baritone), his wife Marja (soprano), and her seducer Shemeikka (tenor).

Roles, character descriptions, voice types, premiere performers
Roles Character description Appearances Voice type Premiere cast
17 February 1935
Juha A backwoods Finnish farmer and the husband of Marja Tableaux 1, 3, 6 baritone Toivo Louko [fi]
Marja Juha's young wife Tableaux 1–2, 4, 6 soprano Irja Aholainen [fi]
Shemeikka of Uhtua A proposperous Karelian peddler Tableaux 1–2, 4–6 tenor Alfons Almi
The Mother-in-law (Anoppi) Juha's mother Tableaux 1, 3 contralto Lahja Linko [fi]
Kaisa A servant girl on Juha's farm soprano Karin Ehder [fi]
The Vicar (Rovasti) The parish clergyman who married Juha and Marja Tableau 3 bass Bruno Jorma [fi]
Anja A former summer sweetheart of Shemeikka's Tableaux 4, 6 soprano Mary Hannikainen [fi]
First girl (Ensimäinen tyttö) Tableau 4 Airi Osa
Second girl (Toinen tyttö) contralto Martta Seppälä
First man (Ensimäinen mies) A companion in Shemeikka's entourage Tableaux 4–6 tenor Emil Mantila [fi]
Second man (Toinen mies) bass Erkki Eklund [fi]
Chorus Men and women in Shemeikka's entourage SATB ?

Synopsis[edit]

Juha and Marja's homeland is the historical Finnish province of Karelia (in blue), then under Swedish rule. Shemeikka's Russian Karelia (not pictured) borders to the east.
Rapids are a recurring plot point in Juha: over them, Marja escapes with Shemeikka; and in them, a ruined Juha downs himself.

Act 1[edit]

Tableau 1

Juha's cottage in Finnish Karelia, near the border

  • Juha and Marja are arguing once again; the Marja is unhappy living with the old Juha
  • She threatens to throw herself into the rapids
  • Shemeikka, the Karelian peddler, arrives at Juha's cottage asking if Juha has rye to sell
  • As Juha goes to the storehouse, Shemeikka flirts with the beautiful Marja
  • He assumes she is Juha's daughter or maid, and is shocked to discover she is his wife
  • Shemeikka earns Juha's trust by accepting a good price for the rye; he is offered lodging for the night
  • Shemeikka sells Juha a silk scarf and golden broach to give to Marja; he accepts far below the market price
  • Secretly, Shemeikka finds Marja and steals a kiss; he asks he to come with him to Karelia
  • Marja refuses, but when she encounters her Mother-in-law, they argue; Marja threatens to leave with the handsome merchant
  • Marja runs down to the rapids, which Shemeikka is departing and climbs "gladly" into his boat
  • Kaisa, Juha's maid, runs to her master, screaming that Marja has been abducted
Tableau 2

Shemeikka's fishing cottage, on an island in the rapids

Act 2[edit]

Tableau 3

Juha's cottage

Tableau 4

Shemeikka's fishing cottage

Act 3[edit]

Tableau 5

Shemeikka's house in Russian Karelia

  • Serves as a short divertissement in which the men and women of Shemeikka's household sing and dance.
  • A feast is prepared in honor of Shemeikka's return.
Tableau 6

Shemeikka's house

  • Marja feeling sad, rues her fate
  • Anja tells her to put on her best clothes for the feast
  • Marja refuses and decides she is going to return to Juha
  • Juha arrive at Shemeikka's household and finds Marja
  • He confronts Shemeikka for abducting Marja and murders him in revenge
  • Anja, devastated, screams that Marja "went gladly", which Marja confirms to Juha
  • Juha accuses Marja of having made him a murder with her lies
  • Without any reason now to live, he throws himself into the rapids

Recordings[edit]

Full opera

Only one commercial recording is available of Madetoja's Juha. It is by the Finnish conductor Jussi Jalas and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, having been produced in 1977 by the Finnish Broadcasting Company for Yle TV1. In 1998, Ondine released this performance as a CD.

Conductor Orchestra Marja Shemeikka Juha Choir Rec.[d] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
Jussi Jalas Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra Maija Lokka [fi] Eero Erkkilä [fi] Jorma Hynninen Finnish Radio Youth Choir 1977 98:59 Kulttuuritalo Ondine
[e]
Derivative works

In 1934, Madetoja excerpted from Juha two numbers for orchestra: Tragic Episode (Traagillinen episodi) and Rapids Shooting (Koskenlasku). The first number is derived from the opera's overture, whereas the second number is drawn from the orchestra music that occurs between Tableaux 1 and 2. In 1998, Arvo Volmer and the Oulu Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere recordings of Tragic Episode and Rapids Shooting.

Conductor Orchestra Rec.[d] Time Recording venue Label Ref.
Arvo Volmer Oulu Symphony Orchestra 1998 11:34 Oulu Music Center [fi] Alba [fi]
[f]

Writing for MusicWeb International, Rob Barnett argues that the two Juha excerpts—with their "overhung tragedy and whiplash attack"—are "seriously attractive pieces of music". He concludes that two pieces likely will make their listener "want to catch" Juha in its entirety.[8] A similarly positive review ran in the American Record Guide, with Tom Godell describing Tragic Episode and Rapids Shooting as "remarkable interludes ... [that] powerfully convey the complex, seething emotions of the central characters".[9]

Notes, references, and sources[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ According to Tawaststjerna, Ackté and Aho had first offered the libretto to Sibelius in November 1912, as Ackté had "felt confident that he [Sibelius] would produce something that was both powerful and refined".[3] Interested but noncommittal, Sibelius promised a firm answer within two years. To Ackté's disappointment, Sibelius declined the project in October 1914, finding its "rural verismo uncongenial"[3] and wishing to focus on his Fifth Symphony.[2]
  2. ^ According to Korhonen, while the 1920s featured the rise of Modernism in Finnish music, the national Romanticism was "still alive and well. Sibelius, Melartin, and Madetoja were at the height of their creative powers, and they were admired by the public at large". As such, many Modernist compositions were criticized by critics and a "hostile ... suspicious" public. Many others, were not even performed, "hidden in desk drawers".[5] Merikanto, an emerging modernist composer, likely received the Juha libretto from Ackté around 1920 and, after a "high state of inspiration", completed his score in the winter of 1921. After making revisions to the score in January 1922, Merikanto submitted the work to the board of the Finnish National Opera in the spring. Their rebuke stung Merikanto, and his Juha remained unperformed until 1963 in Lahti, five years after his death.[4]
  3. ^ In 1939, Madetoja published his Second Symphony (1918) using the inheritance money from his mother's death to cover the printing costs; as a tribute, he retroactively dedicated the work to her.[6][7]
  4. ^ a b Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  5. ^ J. Jalas–Ondine (ODE 714–2) 1998
  6. ^ A. Volmer–Alba (ABCD 132) 2000
References
  1. ^ Pulliainen 2000, p. 5.
  2. ^ a b Tawaststjerna 1997, p. 2.
  3. ^ a b Tawaststjerna 1986, p. 236.
  4. ^ a b c d Korhonen 2007, p. 70.
  5. ^ Korhonen 2007, p. 63.
  6. ^ a b c d Pulliainen 2001, p. 4.
  7. ^ a b Salmenhaara 1987, p. 279.
  8. ^ Barnett 2000.
  9. ^ Godell 2001, pp. 126–127.
Sources
  • Barnett, Rob (2000). "Leevi Madetoja: Vol. 1 complete orchestral works". musicweb-international.com. MusicWeb International. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  • Godell, Tom (2001). "Madetoja: Symphony 1; Concert Overture; Pastoral Suite; Rustic Scenes (Alba 144) / Symphony 2; Ostrobothnians Suite; Juha (excerpts) (Alba 132)". American Record Guide. 64 (2). Record Guide Publications: 126–127. (subscription required)
  • Korhonen, Kimmo (2007). Inventing Finnish Music: Contemporary Composers from Medieval to Modern. Finnish Music Information Center (FIMIC). ISBN 978-952-5076-61-5.
  • Pulliainen, Riitta (2000). Madetoja Orchestral Works 1: I Have Fought My Battle (booklet). Arvo Volmer & Oulu Symphony Orchestra. Tampere, Finland: Alba. p. 4–6. ABCD 132.
  • Pulliainen, Riitta (2001). Madetoja Orchestral Works 4: Laurel Wreaths (booklet). Arvo Volmer & Oulu Symphony Orchestra. Tampere, Finland: Alba. p. 4–8. ABCD 162.
  • Salmenhaara, Erkki (1987). Leevi Madetoja (in Finnish). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-30-6725-4.
  • Tawaststjerna, Erik (1986). Sibelius: Volume 2, 1904–1914. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber.
  • Tawaststjerna, Erik (1997). Sibelius: Volume 3, 1914–1957. (Robert Layton, English translation). London: Faber and Faber.
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