Artur Kapp

Artur Kapp was born in Suure-Jaani on February 28, 1878. Graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1900 under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Kapp served as director of the Imperial Music College in Astrakhan for sixteen years before returning to newborn independent Estonia in 1920.

Professor of Composition at the Tallinn Conservatory, Kapp trained leading composers including Evald Aav, Riho Päts, and his nephew Eugen Kapp. His heroic cantata Päikesele and masterly contrapuntal fugues synthesized German classical polyphony with solemn Nordic emotional depth.