Historical Notes
Military Music in Finland
by Juicka Vuolio
Reprinted with permission of the Band International Journal of the International
Military Music Society March 1994
1.
The origins of military music in Finland, as in many countries, are found in the
primitive horn. When attacks and incursions were a recurring feature of life, Finnish
shepherds gave warning by blowing their horns. There was intercommunication between
villages by this method and the approach of an enemy could be warned from afar.
By the 12th Century the small population of Finland had divided itself into three major
groups, each having its own life style and leaders. Inter-tribal hostility inhibited the
formation of any national state until conversion to Christianity by the Swedish crusaders.
As was usual in Europe the castles of the Swedish overlords were guarded by mercenaries,
including drummers, pipers and horn players who were usually foreigners.
Gradually Swedish influence spread but it was not until the early 16th Century, in the
reign of Gustavus Wasa (1496-1560) that permanent government was established and Finland
had become an integral part of the Swedish kingdom. King Gustavus also organized the
infantry and cavalry into tactical units and in September 1555 ordered that drummers and
pipers would learn the signals (calls) needed in warfare whose clarity and understanding
could be decisive in the outcome of a battle. The country faced war with Russia. There
were four Finnish units each having a minimum of 2 pipers and 2 drummers, as signals also
had to be played on "Swiss fifes" and shawms. Finland had been raised to the
status of a grand duchy whose duke was John, the son of Gustavus Wasa. When he arrived in
Turku, in 1556, he brought with him his own court band whose leader was the Dutchman Joren
van Heiden; Finnish musicians became students also. It was the duty of the band
to play military music.
In 1620 Gustavus Adoiphus (1594-1632), grandson of Gustavus Wasa, re-rorganized the
Finnish-Swedish Army by changing the infantry and cavalry into provincial regiments. In
this new military organisation, at the time considered the most efficient in Europe, the
infantry pipers and drummers now played in companies; and cavalry trumpeters and kettle
drummers in squadrons. The so called Delitzsch signals originate from the Thirty Years'
War. Once a Swedish bugler played calls and scared off an enemy detachment intent upon
capturing the town of Delitcsch, then occupied only by 5 Swedish cavalrymen. As late as
the 1930's the same signals were played in the Hame Cavalry Regiment. The "March of the
Finnish Cavalry" in the Thirty Years' War is regarded as one of the oldest marches in its
current form and also originated in the 17th Century.
By the end of that century military music had become permanent in the Army
organization. Sweden-Finland was a Great Power at this time and its army had proved Itself
to be one of the best in the world and a pattern to others. Regiments now began to recruit
players capable of playing harmonic music, principally to play current march music but
also to meet regimental ceremonial and entertainment needs.
2.
Each regimental headquarters was responsible for the administration of the band, their
establishment being confirmed in the Diet of 1662 and each headquarter having 4 shawm
players. In addition there were in a regiment 8 pipers and 16 drummers, making a
regimental strength of 28 musicians. The instrumentation of the bands remained until the
power of Sweden began to decline after 1714, this began the period known as the Great
Wrath, when Russian forces moved into Finland to occupy it until 1721.
After the Great Wrath the former excellence of music in the Swedish-Finnish Army
lessened. The amount and quality of music in a regiment depended on the commanding
officer's interest in music. It was not until the 1750's that regiments began to stir
themselves to engage musicians. There were music funds for maintaining the bands but it
was not uncommon for the engagements to be left to the regimental clerks
It was not until the accession of Gustavus III in 1772 that there was a real
renaissance in military music. Interest in all forms of art won unprecedented
popularity during his reign (which lasted 20 years before he was shot following a
conspiracy of nobles who blamed him for an ineffective war against Russia). The directors
of the bands were chiefly foreigners and the musical influence came directly from Central
Europe through the musicians themselves and also through the officers, who traveled
constantly. The military bands were changed to "Janissary bands" according to
European fashion. In 1786 Bernhard Henrik Crusell became a music student in this kind of
band. He is known as the Father of Finnish Military Music, and he became an international
clarinet virtuoso. First a student in the band of the Queen Dowager's life Regiment
stationed in the Fortress of Sveaborg, he made himself a musical career in Stockholm. One
of Crusell's marches is still today the traditional march of Finnish military bands. It
must be said that the general performance of Finnish music during the late 18th and early
19th Centuries depended on the military bands. In that period they were the only
professional orchestras in Finland.
Finnish Military Music During the Period of Autonomy
The military music organization that had prevailed under Swedish rule ended after the
Russo -Swedish War of 1806-09 (the Finnish War). In the Grand Duchy of Finland there were
three national armed forces systems. In 1812, 6 enlisted battalions were formed and the
strength of the players in each battalion was 8 musicians and 8 drummers. Gradually the number of
musicians increased and numbered 20 in each battalion. In the 1820's the normative
composition of Finnish military bands was 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 1 Eb clarinet, 2 B
clarinets, 1 basset-horn in F, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 Es trumpets, 2 trombones, 1
tambourin, 1 triangle, 1 side drum and 1 bass drum. The composition is typical of a
Janissary Band.
Music books of the enlisted Army period have been preserved from the Heinola Battalion
and their contents prove that popular European music, both dance and entertainment, was
performed in Finland in the 1820's but in 1830 enlisted Finnish battalions were
disbanded. During the years 1812-1830 there had been a total of 500 musicians in these
battalions. Only one Finnish battalion was retained. This was the Guards Finnish Rifle
Battalion, generally known as the Finnish Guards Band, it is the oldest with uninterrupted
service since 1819 and its present name is the Guards band.
During the period of autonomy the Crimean War broke out in 1854. This brought about
the formation of Finnish armed forces under a military tenure establishment which
comprised 9 battalions. Each had a battalion signaler and 16 company signalers. These
provided the bands; the bandmasters being engaged from civilian sources. The Finnish
Guards Band had become all brass and the bands adopted the same instrumentation. Some of
these bands also operated as municipal bands where they were stationed when their
performances were financed by the towns. The military tenure system was disestablished in
1868.
In 1881 battalions were raised for National Service. Initially, in addition to the
Finnish Guards, there were 8 conscript battalions. The bands comprised 1 battalion
signaler, 20 company signalers and 8 reserve signalers, for each battalion. In 1890 a
mounted regiment was formed, the Finnish Dragoon Regiment. Its strength was the same as
that of an infantry regiment. Therefore, at the end of the 19th century, over 300 military
musicians were serving at the same time. The Finnish Guards Band remained the only
government financed military band. The other bands received government aid for their music
funds but additional funding came from providing music services to towns and corporations
on repayment. The instrumentation was all brass, based on that of the Finnish Guards Band
as stipulated in the Imperial Decree of 1880.
The closing decades of the 19th Century were the golden age of brass music in Finland.
After completing their military service the discharged conscript musicians played in the
various civilian bands, as popular education was thriving with the establishment of various
bodies for universal benefit. At the turn of the century a typical Finnish brass unit was
the brass music septet. It provided all the popular music in later years to be furnished
by the gramophone and radio. The Finish 'pure' brass septet (Es cornet, 2 Bb cornets,
alto-horn, tenor-horn and Eb tuba) was also used by civilian amateur bands, which seldom
numbered more than ten
Adolf Leander, the first Finnish bandmaster of the Finish Guards, developed the brass
septet. This musician, named as the father of Finnish brass music, was also well known
beyond the borders of Finland. Among others, Edvard Grieg was happy for Leander to
arrange his music for brass band. The Tsar Alexander III, a keen friend of brass music who
played the baritone, thought highly of Leander, whose book on instrumentation was studied
by pupils of the French and Swedish military music schools. Leander directed the Finnish
Guards Band until his death in 1899.
In 1902 the conscript Finnish battalions were disbanded and in 1905 the Finnish Guards
suffered the same fate. This was the end of Finnish military music during the period of
autonomy. Musical activity as such however, did not stop as several towns established
brass bands from the former armed forces bands after the abolition of the Army. Among
others the Finnish Guards Band performed under the name of the Helsinki Brass Band until
it became the band of the newly established Finnish White Guards after Finland had
declared its independence from Russia in 1917.
At this point reference must be made to events which had occurred after the period of
the Great Wrath. The increasing attention from Russia and the decline Of Sweden's military
power had caused the latter's complete withdrawal from Finnish provinces by 1809.
Finland's constitution was then guaranteed by the Tsar Alexander I, who became its Grand
Duke. Successive tsars respected the right of Finland to settle its own affairs but after
the mid-century Russian oppression and interference began to develop. The outbreak of war
in 1914 saw increased coercion, but after the Russian Revolution of 1917 Finland declared
her independence.
Thus the great upheavals which took place did not affect the services of the Guards
Band. The White Guards Regiment of independent Finland inherited the traditions Of the
Finnish Guards of the autonomy period; but the band was the only living part of the old
Guards in the young White Guards.
Historical contents.