The Most Famous
COMPOSERS from Estonia
This page contains a list of the greatest Estonian Composers. The pantheon dataset contains 1,451 Composers, 16 of which were born in Estonia. This makes Estonia the birth place of the 15th most number of Composers behind Japan, and Switzerland.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Estonian Composers of all time. This list of famous Estonian Composers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Estonian Composers.
1. Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
With an HPI of 68.79, Arvo Pärt is the most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 54 different languages on wikipedia.
Arvo Pärt (Estonian pronunciation: [ˈɑrʋo ˈpært]; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. His most performed works include Fratres (1977), Spiegel im Spiegel (1978), and Für Alina (1976). From 2011 to 2018, and again in 2022, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019, after John Williams. The Arvo Pärt Centre, in Laulasmaa, was opened to the public in 2018.
2. Evald Aav (1900 - 1939)
With an HPI of 60.15, Evald Aav is the 2nd most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Evald Aav (7 March [O.S. 22 February] 1900 – 21 March 1939) was an Estonian composer born in Tallinn, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire. He studied music composition there with Artur Kapp and wrote primarily vocal music to words in the Estonian language. In 1928 he composed the first national Estonian opera, Vikerlased (The Vikings). The opera premiered in Tallinn on 8 September 1928. He modelled his style of composition after Tchaikovsky. Aav was married to opera singer Ida Loo-Talvari from 1926 until 1937 when the couple divorced.
3. Veljo Tormis (1930 - 2017)
With an HPI of 55.54, Veljo Tormis is the 3rd most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.
Veljo Tormis (7 August 1930 – 21 January 2017) was an Estonian composer, regarded as one of the great contemporary choral composers and one of the most important composers of the 20th century in Estonia. Internationally, his fame arises chiefly from his extensive body of choral music, which exceeds 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. His composition most often performed outside Estonia, Curse Upon Iron (Raua needmine) (1972), invokes ancient Shamanistic traditions to construct an allegory about the evils of war. Some of his works were banned by the Soviet government, but because folk music was fundamental to his style most of his compositions were accepted by the censors. More recently, Tormis' works have been performed and recorded by Tõnu Kaljuste with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and others. In the 1990s, Tormis began to receive commissions from some a cappella groups as the King's Singers and the Hilliard Ensemble. Tormis famously said of his settings of traditional melodies and verse: "It is not I who makes use of folk music, it is folk music that makes use of me." His work demonstrates his conviction that traditional Estonian and other Balto-Finnic music represents a treasure which must be guarded and nourished, and that culture may be kept alive through the medium of song.
4. Eduard Tubin (1905 - 1982)
With an HPI of 54.23, Eduard Tubin is the 4th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.
Eduard Tubin (18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1905 – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer.
5. Heino Eller (1887 - 1970)
With an HPI of 52.59, Heino Eller is the 5th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Heino Eller (7 March 1887 – 16 June 1970) was an Estonian composer and pedagogue, known as the founder of contemporary Estonian symphonic music.
6. Käbi Laretei (1922 - 2014)
With an HPI of 52.48, Käbi Laretei is the 6th most famous Estonian Composer. Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Käbi Alma Laretei (14 July 1922 – 31 October 2014) was an Estonian-Swedish concert pianist. Her father Heinrich Laretei was a diplomat in the service of the Republic of Estonia as ambassador to Sweden; when the Soviet Union occupied Estonia in 1940, the family did not return to Estonia. Her piano teacher was Maria-Luisa Strub-Moresco, who had an indirect influence on the artistic choices of Laretei's later husband, Ingmar Bergman. Laretei had a long and distinguished career as a pianist, and in the 1960s she played to packed halls in the United Kingdom, Sweden, West Germany, and the United States, including Carnegie Hall. From 1950 to 1959, Laretei was married to Gunnar Staern, with whom she had a daughter, Linda (born 1955). Laretei is also known for her marriage to and professional collaborations with film director Ingmar Bergman; Laretei was his fourth wife. They met in the late 1950s, and were married in 1959. She introduced Bergman to a variety of music, some of which he would use in film scores. They divorced in 1969, though the marriage was effectively over by 1966. His 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly is dedicated to Laretei. They had a son, Daniel Bergman (born 1962), who is also a film director. Laretei worked with Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith. She continued to play in concert and give musical consultations on the set of some of her former husband's films and even appears playing the piano in a scene of Fanny and Alexander. She recorded piano passages that appear diegetically in Bergman's films, such as Autumn Sonata and The Magic Flute. She took an early interest in the TV medium, hosted many programmes on literature and music on Swedish TV and, starting with En bit jord (1976; "A lump of earth"), published a number of books on life and music, the last being Såsom i en översättning (2004; "As in a translation", the title being a paraphrase on "Through a Glass Darkly" (Såsom i en spegel)). Moreover, she has been the subject of numerous television and film documentaries. She was awarded Estonia's Order of the National Coat of Arms, 3rd Class in 1998. She died on 31 October 2014 at the age of 92.
7. Juhan Aavik (1884 - 1982)
With an HPI of 51.09, Juhan Aavik is the 7th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Juhan Aavik (29 January 1884, in Holstre, Kreis Fellin, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 26 November 1982, in Stockholm, Sweden) was an Estonian composer. Aavik studied music composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He later served as a conductor in Tartu, Governorate of Livonia (1911–1925), a musical conservatory professor and director in Tallinn (1928–1944), and an Estonian song festival conductor in Sweden (1948–1961) (after arriving there in 1944). He wrote nearly 200 Opus numbers, among them two symphonies; a Cello concerto (1949); a Double bass Concerto (1950); a Piano trio (1957); a Requiem (1959); and various choral works, songs and chamber music. In Stockholm at age 81 (1965–1969), he published a history of Estonian music in four volumes.
8. Alexei Lvov (1798 - 1870)
With an HPI of 51.07, Alexei Lvov is the 8th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Alexei Fyodorovich Lvov (Russian: Алексей Фёдорович Львов) (5 June [O.S. 25 May] 1798 – 28 December [O.S. 16 December] 1870) was a Russian composer. He is known for his work — the composition of the Imperial Russian National Anthem Bozhe, tsarya khrani (also known as God Save the Tsar). He wrote the opera Undine in 1846. He was entombed in the Pažaislis Monastery, Kaunas (Lithuania).
9. Artur Kapp (1878 - 1952)
With an HPI of 50.54, Artur Kapp is the 9th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Artur Kapp (28 February 1878 – 14 January 1952) was an Estonian composer. Born in Suure-Jaani, Estonia, then part of the Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire, he was the son of Joosep Kapp, who was also a classically trained musician. Kapp began his musical career studying organ at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory as a student of both Louis Homilius and composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1891. Kapp graduated from the Conservatory in 1900 as a composer and from 1904 until 1920 worked as a music director in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan, then returning to Estonia as a professor and conductor at the Tallinn Conservatory where he counted among his students such future notable Estonian composers as Evald Aav, Edgar Arro, Gustav Ernesaks, Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Riho Päts and Enn Võrk. He is, along with Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918), generally considered to be one of the founders of Estonian symphonic music. Kapp's son Eugen (1908–1996) and nephew Villem (1913–1964) became notable composers as well, having studied at the Tallinn Conservatory under direction of the elder Kapp. Some of Kapp's most enduring works are the 1899 overture Don Carlos and the 1900 cantata Paradiis ja Peri ("Paradise and Peri"), both of which are large scale works that prominently feature the organ. He is possibly best recalled for his oratorio Hiiob ("Job") and Metsateel ("On A Road Through The Woods"), a piece for solo voice. Kapp's work is abundant and diverse and covers many classical genres. He wrote five symphonies, five concertos, overtures, four orchestral suites, in addition to the above. After the Soviet invasion of Estonia during World War II, Kapp was forced to resign his position as a composer and retired to Suure-Jaani. He died there in 1952 at the age of 73. His professional career spanned more than five decades. His last two major works were the overture "To the Party" (1947), the Symphony No. 4 (dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Soviet Young Communist League, 1948), and the Symphony (Cantata-Symphony) No. 5 (Peace Symphony). In 1998, the annual Suure-Jaani Music Days festival was founded to celebrate Artur Kapp's musical legacy, as well as that of his sons and fellow composer Mart Saar (1882-1963), who was also from the area. The Festival is organized by the Eesti Kontsert in conjunction with the town of Suure-Jaani and the International Artur Kapp Society. The venues for performances include Lutheran and Orthodox churches, the Kapp Museum, and the song festival stage.
10. Rudolf Tobias (1873 - 1918)
With an HPI of 48.93, Rudolf Tobias is the 10th most famous Estonian Composer. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Rudolf Tobias (29 May [O.S. 17 May] 1873 – 29 October 1918) was the first Estonian professional composer, as well as a professional organist. He studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. His compositions include among others piano works, string quartets and an oratorio, Des Jona Sendung (Jonah's Mission) (1908, revised and premiered 1909, later reconstructed by Vardo Rumessen).
People
Pantheon has 18 people classified as Estonian composers born between 1798 and 1959. Of these 18, 2 (11.11%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Estonian composers include Arvo Pärt, and Erkki-Sven Tüür. The most famous deceased Estonian composers include Evald Aav, Veljo Tormis, and Eduard Tubin. As of April 2024, 1 new Estonian composers have been added to Pantheon including Gustav Ernesaks.
Living Estonian Composers
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Deceased Estonian Composers
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Evald Aav
1900 - 1939
HPI: 60.15
Veljo Tormis
1930 - 2017
HPI: 55.54
Eduard Tubin
1905 - 1982
HPI: 54.23
Heino Eller
1887 - 1970
HPI: 52.59
Käbi Laretei
1922 - 2014
HPI: 52.48
Juhan Aavik
1884 - 1982
HPI: 51.09
Alexei Lvov
1798 - 1870
HPI: 51.07
Artur Kapp
1878 - 1952
HPI: 50.54
Rudolf Tobias
1873 - 1918
HPI: 48.93
Ester Mägi
1922 - 2021
HPI: 48.30
Knudåge Riisager
1897 - 1974
HPI: 47.56
Gustav Ernesaks
1908 - 1993
HPI: 47.52
Newly Added Estonian Composers (2024)
Go to all RankingsOverlapping Lives
Which Composers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 15 most globally memorable Composers since 1700.
