Veljo Tormis

Estonian composer (1930-2017)

Veljo Tormis (7 August 1930 in Kuusalu - 21 January 2017) was an Estonian composer. He was called as one of the greatest living choral composers[1][2] and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia.[3]

Veljo Tormis in 2004.

Internationally, he is known from his extensive body of choral music, which passes 500 individual choral songs, most of it a cappella. The great majority of these pieces are based on traditional ancient Estonian folksongs (regilaulud), either textually, melodically, or merely stylistically.

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  1. "Veljo Tormis at Oregon Bach Festival". Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  2. "Veljo Tormis at the Pacific Youth Choir". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2017-01-22.
  3. Daitz, Mimi. Ancient Song Recovered: The Life and Music of Veljo Tormis. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2004. ISBN 1-57647-009-1.
    The first and only major writing on Tormis in English as of 2006. Includes discussion of many of Tormis’s compositions, Estonian history, and regilaul (the Baltic-Finnic runic song upon which much of Tormis’s music is based), translations of several important articles and interviews, analysis of several representative major choral works, and copious biographical information. Also includes a glossary, annotated discography, bibliography, a complete alphabetized list of works (found nowhere else in English), and a CD with several pertinent musical examples.

Other websites change