This historical outline is a somewhat shortened version of Susanne Westerlund's thesis
written in autumn,1999 within the educational program of church music at the Sibelius
Academy. Click the links to see reviews and cuttings from the concerts.
The Psallite Choir, later called the Psallite Chamber Choir, was started in 1976, but it had
existed as the Youth Choir of the parish of Korsholm within the music school of this parish
as early as 1966. The reason for the change of name was the fact that many of the choir
singers qualified as students in spring 1975 and moved away to other places to start
studying at universities and schools, and the Youth Choir then finished its activity. After
one winter's break the earlier choir singers felt that they missed singing in the choir and so
it was decided in 1976 to start a new choir, the Psallite Choir (from latin, psallite: sing, be
happy). During the next years it developed in such a way that it seemed natural to change
the name into the Psallite Chamber Choir. Up to the autumn of 1981 the choir rehearsed
only once a month because the choir singers were living in different places all over the
Swedish speaking part of Finland. After that period the choir rehearsed once a week.
The Youth Choir started in 1966. Several new choir singers then moved over from the
Children's Choir to the Youth Choir of the parish. During the ten years that the choir
existed as a youth choir it took part in the activity of the Music School. It gave concerts
together with the instrument players of the Music School and with the Children's Choir and
the Church Choir of the parish on several occasions. In addition to the concerts performed
in the home parish, it also made repeated concert tours.
The Youth Choir gave concerts mostly in the home district and around in Ostrobothnia.
Most concerts were given during the great church festivals such as Christmas and Easter.
At Christmas the choir took part in the Christmas music in the church of Korsholm, often
together with the Children's Choir and the Church Choir of the parish. In these concerts
traditional Christmas songs were sung. Before Easter 1969, the choir started to rehearse
chosen parts of the Messiah by G. F. Handel. The music was performed for the first time
in 1969 and the performance of Messiah in the church of Korsholm quickly developed into
an Easter tradition of the parish
In 1972 the choir rehearsed a lot for the Easter concert together with the Church Choir
and the orchestra of the parish of Pedersöre. 115 persons sang and played in the
performance of 29 movements from Messiah. The number of movements performed
gradually increased until at last the work was performed in its entirety. The choir also
performed some other great musical works, such as the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart together with the Vasa Motet Choir and the cantata Saul by Egil Hovland.
The Youth Choir existed for almost ten years and during that time it sang in a church
service recorded for the Finnish television in 1973 and released two records, one in 1968
and the other in 1974.
The repertoire of the choir mostly consisted of classical a cappella songs and negro
spirituals arranged by Jester Hairston and in addition the earlier mentioned musical works
such as Messiah by G.F. Handel and Requiem by W.A Mozart. Already at that time the
choir aimed at a variety which inspired the choir members as well as the listeners. ”It grew
into a good choir, in fact a very good choir”, says Holmgård himself, the conductor of the
choir, about the Youth Choir which changed into the Psallite Choir and eventually into the
Psallite Chamber Choir.
The choir has always aimed at a broad, meaningful repertoire with challenging music. On
its agenda sacred and secular music as well as simple a cappella songs and big works for
choir and orchestra can be found. Music from the most various epocs is sung,
everything from music from the Middle Ages to modern music and recently composed
music. Thus the choir fulfils its aim to introduce music for every different taste. Holmgård
thinks that it is of great importance to choose a broad line: ”It stimulates the choir singers
to continous interest in singing.
From the very beginning the choir has played an active part in the parish of Korsholm. Its
traditions and work together with the parish have continued in different ways. But one can
notice a slight change when the Psallite Choir started. Then the choir did not always take
part in the work of the other choirs but more independently aimed at a repertoire of its own.
Gradually The Psallite Choir has made itself known as an independent choir. This has lead
to the fact that the choir today mostly takes part in the work of the parish with concerts of
its own.
The emphasis of the performances of the choir has still been laid on the big church
festivals. At Easter the choir has usually rehearsed works as Messiah by G. F. Handel,
and St Matthew's passion by J. S. Bach. During the last two years St John's passion by
Bach has been performed. The Christmas Day concert by Psallite can now be counted
upon as a continuous tradition in the parish of Korsholm. In the summer months there
have been performances at different musical evening events.
It can be stated that Messiah belongs to the standard repertoire of the Psallite Chamber
Choir. Up to 1998 the choir has performed the work 22 times.Two years after Psallite had been started, i.e. in 1978, the choir took part in the performance of Messiah for the first time. For the music school and the church choir this meant a tenth performance. There was a big choir, an orchestra whose members were picked especially for this event and there were four solo singers.
Psallite performed Messiah twice in 1983, the first time at Easter together with the choir
Gaude from Helsinki. In December the same year Psallite again performed the first and
the third movements from the work. This time Psallite sang the chorus parts, helped by
only a few more singers. This was the sixteenth time Rainer Holmgård rehearsed the work
with his choirs, now in its original language, English. Some of the choir singers had
performed Messiah on all the earlier fifteen occasions. The concert was given in
”Trefaldighetskyrkan” in Vasa together with the city orchestra of Vasa. Messiah was
conducted by Petri Sakari, the conductor of the city orchestra. ” The vocal balance was as
near the ideal as you can come”, the musical reviewer Gunnar Ahlskog wrote. The soloists
were Anneli Malkki, Monica Groop, Erkki Mendelin and Petteri Salomaa. After this
performance Messiah was left aside for some time.
During the following performance in 1988 Psallite alone sang the choruses and the
orchestra consisted of fifteen persons. The soloists were professional singers : Outi
Kähkönen, Monica Groop, Anssi Hirvonen and Petteri Salomaa.
When the work was performed again the next year an arrangement was again made with
professional musicians. The choir was as small as the year before but at the same time it
was perfectly rehearsed.
In 1992 Messiah was performed together with one of the best chamber orchestras in
northern latitudes, the Linnanmuusikud from Tallinn, Estonia. Soloists were the soprano
Outi Kähkönen, the counter tenor Marcin Pornos from Poland, the tenor Tom Nyman and
the basso Pekka Kähkönen. One concert was given in the church called ”Lakeuden Risti”
in Seinäjoki, the second one in the church of Pedersöre and the third one in the church of
Korsholm. The choir was favourably reviewed in the press after these performances.
When it was decided to perform St Matthew's passion by J. S. Bach, it was a great event
which made a deep mark on the musical life of the parish of Korsholm. Holmgård tells us:
”One can easily believe that there would be no strength left for anything else for those
persons who start working on St Matthew's passion, but this work has given new energy
to everyone involved for other things as well”. According to the musical reviewer Gunnar
Ahlskog this big undertaking was very successful. Considering the short rehearsing time
with soloists, choir and orchestra – one year – it could be understood that all the details did
not work up to one hundred per cent. The choir movements were performed by an oratory
choir in which Psallite took part. Altogether 120 persons took part in the performance.
After this concert St Matthew's passion was performed every year up to 1987, except for
1983. After the concert in 1980 the reviewers praised Holmgård and his achievements. Ole
Jakobsson writes: ” Most of all we admire Rainer Holmgård who with unerring vitality
conducts the performance of this extremely rich work”.
In April 1982 this work was recorded for the wireless with Outi Aho, Monica Groop, Viking
Smeds, Olof Holmgård, Fride Häggblom and Paul Forsgård as soloists. Rainer Holmgård
experienced this recording as some kind of milestone in the work that the choirs of the
parish had started sixteen years earlier. The work had been rehearsed and above all
perfected and the performance was more impressive than ever.
One more recording of the work was made in 1986, this time for the wireless as well as for
the television. Not the whole work in its entirety was performed, and thus it was shortened
into one hour and twenty minutes. The choruses were sung by an oratorio choir
in which Psallite took part.
After the concert in 1987 the work was put aside for four years. Then it was performed
again every year from 1992 to 1996.
In 1996 the choir put a lot of effort into St Matthew's passion. The aim was to try to perform
the work as close to the original work as possible. Thus the choir sang the work in its
original language, German, for the first time since the tradition had begun in 1979. The
orchestra Linnanmuusikud played instruments typical of the time when the work was
composed. As a result of this the tonality sounded slightly lower than it does in our days.
This year Psallite alone sang the choruses. Soloists were Heikki Rainio, Camilla Ahlroos,
Wivan Nygård-Fagerudd, Sören Lillkung and Peter Nordman.
In 1979 Psallite gave its first secular musical recital. It was called ” The Summer of the
Heart” and its theme was love. On the program there was choir music and flute music.
Nils-Oskar Franz played the flute, Monica Groop was soloist and Östen Engström recited
poems. The program consisted almost exclusively of Finland - Swedish romantic choir
music. Many of these songs were quite simple melodies but they were quite difficult to
interpret. It can be said that the choir had found a new niche.
In 1982 the choir gave a concert called ”Life”. The concert was in fact the secular part of
the tenth anniversary concert of the choir in spite of a certain element of sacred music in
the same program. It consisted of a lot of songs, poems, and prose texts. Per Östern
played the piano. Karin Hannus and Brita Smeds played the flute and Bertil Blom played
the bass. Ylva Edlund and Paul Eiwerts recited some poems. Gretel Beijar experienced
the program as ”a nice mixture which gave something to everyone”. The choir sang
everything from children's songs to jazz, something that gave the choir the possibility to
show its broad musical line. The concert was so well liked that it was performed again next
year.On that occasion also a recording was made.
In February 1984 the theme of the choir was ”Around the world”, with songs from the
whole world. Obviuosly the concert ”Life” had inspired the choir to choose this theme. The
soloist of ”Around the world” was Erkki Mendelin and Per Östern played the piano. The
concert was given in the Town Hall of Vasa.
In March 1987 the fifty minutes long Requiem by Kaj Chydenius was performed, the text
written by Lars Huldén and Sofokles.The text is rather secular than a traditional requiem
text, and that's why one can call it a secular requiem.
Karl-Johan Hansson also praised the tone of the choir in November the same year in a
concert together with ”Blåsarkvintetten Framtoningen” from Sweden. The choir sang
Finnish as well as Swedish lyrical songs . In winter 1993 a concert called”Lyrical music”
was given in the Town Hall of Vasa. Stina Riska and Östen Engström recited some
poems. The next year the choir participated in the Vasa Choir Festival. It then performed
musical works by Martin Wegelius on the 6th of May.
Psallite has given four first performances. During the Church Music Festival in summer
1985 in Vasa-Korsholm the choir participated in the first performance of the first Finland-
Swedish oratorio, the Thomas Oratorio, the music written by Kaj-Erik Gustafsson and the
text written by Lars Huldén. The oratorio is written for two choirs, four soloists, two text
parts and one orchestra consisting of strings, flutes and brass instruments. Psallite
participated in choir one together with the Cecilia choir and the Vasa Motet Choir.
Choir two was made up of church choir singers från different parishes in the district of
Korsholm.
In 1988 Psallite took part in the first performance in Finland of Lloyd Webber's Requiem.
The performance was given by 65 singers and musicians who had been rehearsing the
work for one year. The soloists were Outi Aho-Kähkönen, Erkki Mendelin and the boy
soprano Patrik Hagman. Two concerts had to be given because there was a big audience
and only 600 persons were allowed per concert because of acoustic reasons.
In 1998 the municipality of Korsholm celebrated its 650th anniversary. It was paid attention
to for Psallite's part with two ”festival cantatas”. The first one was a cantata written by Sulo
Salonen to celebrate the 600th anniversary of the parish of Korsholm and the second one
was called ”the Keys of Heaven”. It was ordered for the occasion, the music composed by
Rainer Holmgård and the text written by Christer Laurén.
In the following part I will mention Psallite's 10th and 20th anniversary concerts and also
the music school's 25th anniversary concert and Holmgård's 50th anniversary concert.
In 1986 it was advertised in the local papers that Psallite would reach its 10th anniversary
and was going to celebrate the event with two concerts, one secular and one sacred.
The sacred concert consisted of J. S. Bach's Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden, W. A. Mozart's
Mass in C and also J.S.Bach's Brandenburg Concerto performed by the chamber
orchestra of the parish. The secular concert was performed by the name of ”Life”. Psallite
celebrated its tenth anniversary in 1986 with a concert with traditional lyrical songs in the
Town Hall of Vasa, and a church concert on Easter Day.
The program in the Town Hall consisted of an old and a new repertoire. It was picked from
the Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian choir tradition with e.g. Nils-Erik Fougstedt's
Sommarsvit and Heikki Klemetti's Sinikellot, Oskar Lindberg's Pingst,
and Edvard Grieg's Ave Maris Stella. The concert began with older music like Orlando di
Lasso's Echo. Seppo Lemponen writes as a summary of the concert: ”It is difficult to
compare different types of choirs, but if you consider the components which have an
influence on the result, the 27 Psallite choir singers who gave the concert in the Town Hall
last Sunday, are number one in the district of Vasa”.
During the church concert Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass was performed
and J. S. Bach's motet for chorus and continuo Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden.
The chamber orchestra of the parish of Korsholm played J. S. Bach's Brandenburger
Concert number 5.
”An achievement in Korsholm” can be read in Vasabladet, the local paper, on the 18th
of April 1990 about the performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in H-minor (High Mass) on
Easter Day when the Music School of the parish celebrated its 25th anniversary. The mass
was also performed during the Church Music Festival the same year in Turku. This work is
the most challenging that the choir has ever worked on, and there was one year of work
before the concert. The choir singers were first a bit hesitative about the work because of
the degree of difficulty, but Holmgård was rehearsing the work with strength and optimism.
Young talented soloists had been chosen such as Kerstin Weckström, Camilla Holmgård,
Wivan Nygård, Tom Nyman, Hans Lydman, and Peter Nordman.
The work was performed once again on December 3rd in 1994. Ever since the music
school had been started in 1965 Holmgård had dreamt of performing the work on his
fiftieth birthday. This time the soloists were Johanna Grape, Monica Groop, Anssi Hirvonen
and Petteri Salomaa.
The choir could experience new challenges in connection with its 20th anniversary
celebration in 1996, which was celebrated with two concerts. In the first anniversary
concert Arvo Pärt's Berliner Messe and W. A. Mozart's C- minor mass were performed.
The other concert consisted of two parts. In the first part of the concert the jubilee choir
sang, with both the active chorists and the earlier ones. In the latter part the active choir
performed Mässa för en sårad jord, the music composed by Ketil Björnstad and the text
by Erik Hillestad. The accompaniment of the mass consisted of the piano, the synth, the
guitar and the viola. The mass roughly describes the fight between the destructive and the
good life of man.
In addition to the earlier mentioned concerts Psallite has worked with a number of other
bigger projects. At Christmas in 1978 Psallite performed its first project as an independent
choir, Gaudete by Anders Öhrwall, which is made up of ten Christmas melodies from Piae
Cantiones with seven recital texts. Two flutes and a bass-viol accompanied. The audience
was so impressed by the concert that the choir decided to perform the work also the next
year.
A concert of less importance, but still worthy of mentioning was the first one in a series of
concerts to be performed on a tour to Turku in Finland, Lund in Sweden, Middelfart in
Denmark and Kiel in Germany in August 1980. From this time on the choir matured
notably, in interpretation as well as in sound.
In 1981 Ariel Ramirez's Christmas mass (Missa Criolla) , which contains elements of Latin
American folk music was a new challenge. This Christmas concert combining both
Spanish and Finland-Swedish music was a very interesting cultural experience and
attracted a lot of people.
In March 1983 a concert together with the Gaude Choir– the Swedish oratory choir from
Helsinki conducted by Matti Järvinen- was arranged. Two concerts were given, the first
one in the church of Korsholm, and the second one in Johanneskyrkan in Helsinki. These
two choirs together performed two motets by Heinrich Schütz and two psalms by F.
Mendelsson. The collaboration between the two choirs still continued at Easter with G. F.
Handel's Messiah which was performed in the church of Korsholm.
In its traditional Christmas concert Psallite performed Camille Saint-Saëns's Christmas
oratorio in the church of Korsholm. This fact gives us a concept of the inspiration and
progress of the choir. Only some days earlier the choir had performed movements number
one and three from G. F. Handel's Messiah. It is very challenging for both the choir and the
conductor to perform two so different and important concerts with only a few days' interval.
In summer 1985 Psallite gave a concert with J. S. Bach's Magnificat. The choir performed
the work two times more during the autumn, at first in Närpes and then in the church of
Pedersöre. The work was also on the repertoire of the choir in 1993 and 1996. In January
the C-major mass of Johann Ludvig von Beethoven was rehearsed. The choruses were
sung by an oratorio choir assisted by Psallite. The choir performed this work once again, in
1989.
In 1991 two major works by W. A. Mozart were on the repertoire, the C-minor mass and
the Requiem. The first mentioned work was performed together with the Sonando Choir.
The Requiem was performed also in 1997 on All Saints' Day.
At Easter the same year a new big work was actualized, i. e. St John's Passion by J. S.
Bach. The work was also performed at Easter in 1998. According to the musical reviewer
Per-Håkan Jansson the choir had matured in its performance during one year from the first
to the second performance. Obviously the choir had accepted the criticism given earlier
and had made progress. The pronunciation of words was more distinct and there were
more male singers in the basso.
At Christmas 1998 once again something new was introduced. The guitar player Janne
Schaffer had been invited and the choir and Schaffer performed Shaffer's music and some
musical arrangements made by J:son Lind and Leif Strand. The latter has arranged some
traditional Christmas songs such as Stilla Natt, Härlig är jorden, and Av himlens höjd.
At the end of the 1970s and in the middle of the 1980s the choir made some concert tours
once a year. From 1990 to 1998 the choir has only made one tour.
In August 1978 the choir went for its first tour, which lasted one week. Concerts were given
in Västerås in Sweden and in Oslo, Röros and Trondheim in Norway. In summer 1980 the
choir had planned a tour to Iceland, but this could not be carried out because of lack of
money. It was instead decided to go for a tour of ten days to Sweden, Denmark, Germany
and the Netherlands.
In May 1985 the choir made a tour to Sundsvall. Concerts were given in the cathedral of
Härnösand and the church of Bosvedjan. The Next year the choir participated in
Mittnordisk Choir festival in Östersund.
In summer 1987 Psallite went to Germany. Two concert programs were performed, one
secular and one sacred. The programs consisted of several smaller compositions.
Concerts were given in Schwalheim, Bad Nauheim, Bad Ems and Waldenbach.
In summer 1995 the choir made a tour to Junsele in Sweden.
Psallite has made many recordings for the radio. In October 1979 the choir took part in the
program Grannland. In April the next year the choir recorded the program Allsång
according to the Anglican tradition. The same year the choir also recorded parts of its new
repertoire. Catarina Stenius at the musical magazine Resonans ordered the tape intending
to use it for the Finnish wireless.
In 1982 the choir took part in a recording where music composed by Georg Pellas from
Singsby, Korsholm, was performed. This was modern and exciting music from the home
district. In April the same year the choir was part of a real challenge because it assisted a
bigger choir in the recording of J. S. Bach's St Matthew's Passion.
Recordings for the television
Psallite has made many different kinds of recordings for the television, everything from
children's programs to church services. In 1979 Christmas music was recorded from the
church of Korsholm. In this concert all the choirs and musicians of the parish of Korsholm
took part. The program consisted mainly of the traditional Christmas songs.
”At the request of the public” was the name of the program in which Psallite participated in
1981. The music life in the Parish of Korsholm had now become so rich and acknowledged
that a musical evening was arranged in the church where the audience could wish for
different songs. Once again all the choirs and musicians participated in this event.
In May 1984 once more a concert of this kind was recorded.
During the church services from May 1983, in 1984 and from October 1992, the choir sang
both together with the church choir and separately.
In 1987 Psallite made two recordings for the television. In the first one songs by Alice
Tegner were sung in the children's program ”The Surprise Party”. At Christmas the choir
sang at the beginning of the Advent period in the program ”Songs in Advent”.
The choir made another recording in March 1993. This recording was made in the church
of Kronoby. The program consisted of a number of chorals by J. S. Bach. Stefan Lönnqvist
played the organ.
The TV – recording of Mässa för en sårad jord was performed by the choir in connection
with its tenth anniversary celebration.
Psallite has released five records. The first one was released as early as 1977. The title of
the record is ”The secret of love, music from the church of Korsholm”. The second record
is called ”A life to live” and it was released in 1982. All the choirs and instrumentalists took
part in these two recordings.
”The Psallite Chamber Choir” is the title of the first record made by Psallite alone. It was
recorded in 1985. The repertoire is chosen according to two lines: one popular and the
other classic combined with a certain amount of modernism.
Psallite has released two Christmas records. The first one with the title ”Christmas Time”
was released in 1991. The record contains Christmas songs which are more or less
known. Among the more generally known songs are Emmy Köhler's Nu tändas tusen
juleljus in an arrangement made by Per-Håkan Jansson, the German folk song Härlig är
jorden, and Adolphe Adam's O Helga Natt with Hans Lydman as soloist.
The other record ”Winter's Night a long time ago” was released at Christmas 1998. The
soprano Camilla Nylund is the solist and Markus Wargh plays the organ. They both assist
the choir and also have their own separate solos.
Abbreviated and adapted by Helena Norrena
Translated into English by Birgitta Lawast