Armas Järnefelt

Edvard Armas Järnefelt was born on August 14, 1869, in Vyborg into one of Finland's most culturally prominent families; his sister Aino married Jean Sibelius. He studied composition at the Helsinki Music Institute under Martin Wegelius and in Berlin and Paris under Jules Massenet.

Järnefelt was a pioneer who introduced Richard Wagner's music dramas to Finland and Sweden, conducting complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen. From 1911 to 1936, he served as First Royal Court Kapellmeister in Stockholm. His exquisite orchestral miniatures Berceuse and Praeludium (1900) achieved worldwide popularity, and in 1919 he composed the first original Finnish score for a feature film, Mauritz Stiller's Song of the Scarlet Flower.