The story of Villa Kokkonen

Located on the shores of Lake Tuusula, Villa Kokkonen is a rare example among Alvar Aalto’s works: a home designed for a composer. But who was its resident, Joonas Kokkonen?

Situated in Vanhankylänniemi, Järvenpää, Villa Kokkonen is a modernist, wood-constructed house with ample natural light. It was specifically designed as the home and workspace for composer Kokkonen. Such an atelier home for an artist is an international rarity, as it is one of the few buildings designed by Alvar Aalto as a private home for a specific client in mind.

The municipality of Järvenpää was established in 1951 and became a city in 1967, the same year architect Alvar Aalto drew the first sketch of the artist’s home Kokkonen. Joonas Kokkonen had moved to Järvenpää at the age of five and lived in Villa Kokkonen for 27 years.

One can conceive the building as a fanlike shape, that wraps around the grand piano of the soundproofed studio room. The furniture consists of pieces produced by Artek and some unique fittings designed by Alvar Aalto specifically for Villa Kokkonen. The furnishings also include certain pieces by sculptor Mauno Hartman (1930-2017), including a stage prop for Joonas Kokkonen’s most famous work, the opera The Last Temptations.

Who was Joonas Kokkonen?

Joonas Kokkonen (1921-1996) was one of the most respected and influential composers in Finland during the second half of the 20th century. Joonas lived in Villa Kokkonen from 1969 until his death in 1996. The city of Järvenpää bought Villa Kokkonen from his estate 1998.

Academician, Professor Joonas Kokkonen at his home in Helsinki on April 18, 1963. Photo: Finnish Heritage Agency.

Childhood in Savo and Järvenpää

A Childhood in Savonia and Järvenpää

Joonas Kokkonen was born in Iisalmi on November 13, 1921. His father, Heikki, was a merchant and self-taught musician who assisted as a church organist in religious meetings and sang in choirs. His mother Maria’s two brothers were well-known folk musicians and violinists. Music was a hobby at home.

Joonas had four older brothers, the youngest of whom was nine years older than him. His parents and older brothers treated little Joonas very protectively. His parents valued schooling and higher education. Heikki’s father had the opportunity to buy shares in the general store Järvenpään Kauppa Oy, and later during the depression of the 1930’s, he bought the entire shareholding. Thus, the Kokkosens moved to Järvenpää, close to Helsinki, with their sons’ education in mind.

Studies

Joonas Kokkonen started his education at Tuomaala school, later moved to Kilpinen school, and then to the brand new Harjula School. Kokkonen’s hobbies as a schoolboy were diverse. He engaged in sports like his older brothers. Kokkonen studied piano by himself and started violin lessons in 1937. At school, he actively participated in cultural activities and founded the music club of the Järvenpää Co-educational School, where he gave presentations on, among other things, Sibelius’s symphonies. In 1939, Kokkonen represented his school in a recitation competition organized by the students’ temperance union, winning his category. Joonas earned his high school diploma without matriculation exams in in 1940, as non were held due to the Winter War.

Joonas Kokkonen had perfect pitch and an excellent musical memory. As a boy, he became aware of his musical talent and calling. Kokkonen’s earliest surviving composition is from 1936, Etude in Classical Style for Piano. The most significant work he wrote before starting his composition studies in earnest is the Pielavesi Suite for piano, composed in 1939. Even before his academic studies, Kokkonen could read scores and hear the orchestra in his mind without needing to hear the music performed.

In 1940, Kokkonen began his studies at both the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy. At the university, he studied ethnology, Finnish literature, and musicology as his major. Kokkonen graduated with a Master of Philosophy degree in 1948. At the Sibelius Academy, Kokkonen studied the theory and history of music, composition, and piano playing. His composition professor was Selim Palmgren, and his piano teacher was Ilmari Hannikainen, whom Kokkonen considered his most important musical mentor.

On the Battlefield and in the Field of Music

From the summer of 1941, Kokkonen served in the Continuation War as a signalman and clerk, as well as a pianist in entertainment troops. The war years made his studies intermittent and adversely affected his development as pianist. Also, his composition studies remained very fragmented during this time; he never had a permanent teacher in composition, nor did he complete a diploma in composition. After being discharged in October 1944, he continued his studies at the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy. In 1946, Kokkonen won the academic piano championship and placed fourth in the Maj Lind Piano Competition, as he did again in 1947. Kokkonen completed his piano diploma in 1949. The following year, he gave a successful debut concert.

Joonas Kokkonen worked as a music critic for Ilta-Sanomat from 1947 to 1957, for Kauppalehti from 1948 to 1951, and for Uusi Suomi from 1957 to 1963. He founded Uusi Musiikkkilehti (“The New Music Magazine), serving as its editor-in-chief from 1954 to 1956. Kokkonen also earned additional income as a restaurant musician. At the Sibelius Academy, Kokkonen was first a part-time teacher and then a lecturer in music theory and history from 1948 to 1959. Meanwhile, he composed mainly small-scale works such as chamber music and piano pieces. His larger breakthrough work, Music for String Orchestra, received an excellent reception at its premiere in 1957. Despite his limited published compositions, Kokkonen was appointed professor of composition at the Sibelius Academy in 1959. He resigned from the position upon being elected a member of the Finnish Academy in 1963. Even after this, he continued to teach composition.

It was somewhat sarcastically said that Kokkonen could commission, compose, perform, and even review the composition himself.

Kokkonen was involved in many different national music organizations and committees. The most important of these include chairmanships in the Finnish Composers, the Finnish Music Council, the Finnish Symphony Orchestras Association, and  the Finnish performance rights organization Teosto. He also was an influential member in the leadership bodies of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the State Art Committee. Thus, Kokkonen was perhaps the most influential figure in Finnish classical musical life of his time. As his biographer Pekka Hako has summarized, he had become ”the Kekkonen of Finnish Music.” Kokkonen’s literary output is extensive; he published musicological studies and writings, as well as essays reflecting upon music and art. He was also a sought-after and respected lecturer and speaker.

Kokkonen also belonged to the Freemasons, but he was not known to be very active in the organization. However, he was given the title of Grand Organist, and Tauno Äikää premiered Kokkonen’s organ piece Lux Aeterna at the 50th anniversary of the Finnish Freemasons in the fall of 1974.

Composer of Four Symphonies and the opera The Last Temptations

 The core of Kokkonen’s compositional output consists of four symphonies from 1960, 1961, 1967, and 1971, the chamber orchestra piece Sinfonia da camera from 1962, three string quartets, a cello concerto, …durch einen Spiegel… for string orchestra, and Requiem for orchestra, choir, and vocal soloists from 1981. The premiere of the first symphony in 1960 was a great success. The Third symphony can be considered a turning point in Kokkonen’s musical career. Here he transitioned from the twelve-tone technique towards a neotonal approach. It remains the most performed of Kokkonen’s symphonies. It is known that Kokkonen struggled with his fifth symphony for years, from the late seventies up to his passing. The piece was never completed and nodrafts of it remain. Kokkonen was considered the most significant symphonist of his generation, a successor to the tradition set out by Sibelius.

Kokkonen’s most famous work is the opera The Last Temptations (Viimeiset Kiusaukset, 1975) which tells the story of the last moments of the life of the revivalist leader Paavo Ruotsalainen. It is based on the play of the same name by his second cousin Lauri Kokkonen. It premiered at the Finnish National Opera in 1975. The Last Temptations is the second most performed Finnish opera (after Leevi Madetoja’s Pohjalaisia), with hundreds of performances so far. It has also been performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival and at many regional opera houses. The Finnish National Opera performed The Last Temptations on several of its international tours, including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1983.