Like Toivo Kuula, Leevi Madetoja hailed from Ostrobothnia. He was born in 1887 in Oulu, where he completed his early studies in 1906. He continued his education at Helsinki University and as a pupil of Sibelius at the Helsinki Music Institute. Further study followed in 1910 with Vincent dIndy in Paris, and the following year with Robert Fuchs in Vienna, and in Berlin. In 1912 he became conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Society Orchestra, and from 1914 to 1916 of the orchestra in Viipuri, where he also taught at the orchestra school. In 1916 he began a 23-year period on the teaching staff of the Music Institute, and wrote for many years as a music critic for the Helsingin sanomat. He remained a significant figure in national romantic music, after Sibelius. He also, like Kuula, drew on Ostrobothnian folk-music, but was more influenced by contemporary French music.
