Selim Palmgren

Who was Selim Palmgren?

Selim Gustaf Adolf Palmgren, dubbed "The Finnish Chopin", was a Finnish composer, pianist, and conductor. Palmgren was born in Pori, Finland, February 16, 1878. He studied at the Conservatory in Helsinki from 1895 to 1899, then continued his piano studies in Berlin with Ansorge, Berger and Busoni. He conducted choral and orchestral societies in his own country and made several very successful concert tours as a pianist in the principal cities of Finland and Scandinavia, appearing also as a visiting conductor. In 1921, he went to the United States, where he taught composition at the Eastman School of Music, later returning to Finland.

He wrote music in larger forms such as Piano Concertos, a Sonata in D minor, symphonic works, and operas. It was in his shorter piano pieces, and his songs, however - as an inimitable miniaturist - that he achieved his best. He knew how to present a mood or a picture with the minimum of means and the maximum of effect. His "May Night" is a little masterpiece of impressionism, his "Guilty Conscience" an amazing study in musical psychology.