Symphony No. 1 (Madetoja)

Symphony No. 1
by Leevi Madetoja
The composer, c. 1920s
Key	F major
Catalogue	Op. 29
Composed	1914 (1914)–16
Dedication	Robert Kajanus
Duration	Approx. 22 minutes
Movements	3
Premiere
Date	10 February 1916 (1916-02-10)
Location	Helsinki, Finland
Conductor	Leevi Madetoja
Performers	Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

The Symphony No. 1 in F major, Op. 29, is a three-movement orchestral composition by the Finnish composer Leevi Madetoja, who wrote the piece from 1914–16 at the dawn of his professional career. Although late-Romantic in style, the symphony carefully eschews the extravagance and overindulgence typical of debut efforts, placing it among the most "mature" and restrained of first symphonies. Accordingly, the First is the shortest and most concentrated of Madetoja's three essays in the form and is the only one of his symphonies not to adhere to the traditional four-movement symphonic template.

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the work in Helsinki, Finland on 10 February 1916 under the composer's baton. The critics received the premiere warmly, concluding that an important symphonic talent had arrived on the Finnish music scene, the new work's echoes of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky notwithstanding.

Despite the ongoing hostilities of World War I, Madetoja traveled to Russia in September 1914 to take up the conductorship of the Viipuri Orchestra (1914–16). Madetoja found the orchestra in a state of relative devastation: he was able to piece together 19 musicians, a reality that forced him to spend much of his time finding and arranging material for such an undersized ensemble. And yet, he somehow found the time to begin the biggest project of his young career: a symphony. During the composition process, which Madetoja's conducting duties repeatedly disturbed (for example, he completed the finale just before the scheduled premiere), Madetoja received a letter of encouragement from Jean Sibelius, Finland's greatest symphonist (as well as Madetoja's former teacher):

What you wrote about your symphonic business delights me exceedingly. I feel that you will achieve your greatest triumphs in that genre, for I consider that you have precisely the properties that make a symphonic composer. This is my firm belief.

Madetoja officially joined the ranks of symphonic composers on 10 February 1916; the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra premiered the new work under the composer's own baton (Robert Kajanus, the founder and chief conductor of the orchestra, was the dedicatee). Sibelius's "firm belief" indeed proved prescient, as the critics received the new work warmly; the general impression was that an important new symphonic talent had arrived. For example, the Finnish critic Evert Katila () praised Madetoja's symphony in Uusi Suometar, writing, "The symphony appeals through the logic of its construction and the translucent brightness of its orchestration."