Indholdsfortegnelse

Summary
Eduard Tubin (1905-1982) is one of the greatest composers of Estonia. In 1944 he left
his homeland in fear of the Stalinist regime and lived the rest of his life in exile in Sweden.
Among Tubins numerous and various compositions are the ten symphonies. He
returned to this genre throughout his lifetime and the symphonies are a very important part of his
work. The first four of the symphonies are composed in Estonia and the rest of them in Sweden.
While growing up, Tubin had few possibilities to hear symphonic music, but he
studied every score he could borrow. Later on he studied composition by Heino Eller who
demanded his students to learn the classical techniques and develop their own style. Tubin also
learned and listened a lot on his various trips in Europe. Through his life he was interested in old
and new European music and well-informed in the newest musical ideas.
Tubin was also very interested in Estonian folk music. He did so of two reasons:
obviously his home culture meant a lot to him, but he also found the tunes very original.
In this work I have been interested in Eduard Tubins symphonic style with focus on
the thematic material, its development and the form structure. In order to be able to go to the details
with those aspects, I have chosen not to focus on the harmonic element. In this work there are two
large chapters which include the analyses of Tubins 2 nd and 5 th Symphony. In comparison with each
other and by listening to and reading about the other symphonies, I have made my conclusions.
In his symphonies Tubin mixes features from old classical compositions, Estonian
folk music and newer European music, especially the avant-garde and expressionism of 1920´s and
1930´s. His music is influenced by composers such as Haydn, Brahms, Rimsky-Korsakov
(orchestration), Stravinsky (rhythms), Kodalý, and Bartok. Out of all these different inputs the
composer manages to create his own original works with thoroughly organic development.
The most important element in Tubins music is the original idea or ideas. This theme
or sometimes also rhythm makes the composer to choose the ways how to develop the thematic
material and the form structure of the work. Tubins symphonies are often based on one or a couple
of themes and the rest of the themes have their roots in those. In the thematic development the
polyphonic techniques are preferred – Tubin was very fond of contrapuntal development,
imitational and fugal-technique. There is a great coherence of thematic material in his works.
The form structure of Tubins symphonies has its roots grounded in the classical
symphony with its four movements. But also in this case he makes his choices depending on themes
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