Simon Parmet

{{Infobox person

| name = Simon Parmet

| image = File:SimonParmet.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = 26 October 1897

| birth_place = Helsinki, Finland

| death_date = 20 July 1969

| death_place = Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland

| occupation = Composer, conductor

| spouse = Vera Smolensky

}}

Simon Parmet (né Pergament) (Hebrew: שמעון בן יהדוה פּארמעת) (26 October 1897 – 20 July 1969) was a Finnish conductor, composer, and pianist who studied under famous composer Jean Sibelius.{{Cite book |last=Ala-Könni |first=Erkki |title=Otavan Iso Musiikkitietosanakirja |last2=Kaurinkoski |first2=Tuula |last3=Granholm |first3=Heidi |publisher=Sohlmans musiklexikon |year=1978 |isbn=9789511047636 |location=Helsinki |language=fi}}

Education and career

= Education and formative years =

Parmet began his career as a musician at the age of 15, when he was a dedicated pianist for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra,{{Cite news |date=11 Jan 1948 |title=MUSIC: The Problems of the Louisville Philharmonic are Far from Unique |pages=35 |work=The Courier-Journal |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/108407946 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} although he would later study under Alexander Glazunov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory,{{Cite web |title=Jewish Music and Theatre - Simon Parmet |url=https://jewishmusicandtheatre.org/people/4 |access-date=27 Apr 2023 |website=Jewish Music and Theatre Online}} and later at the Helsinki Music Institute and the Berlin Conservatory following the Russian Revolution. His teachers in Helsinki were {{Ill|Erik Furuhjelm|fi}} and Erkki Melartin. He spent many of his early years in Finland studying under composer Jean Sibelius.{{Cite news |date=5 Jun 1950 |title=Guest Conductor |pages=12 |work=El Paso Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/433251194}}{{Cite news |date=12 Jul 1959 |title='Music Under the Stars' Becomes EP Tradition |pages=24 |work=El Paso Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/430118446 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} Parmet was heavily influenced by his teacher, and would conduct many of Sibelius's works throughout his career, such as the American premiere of Luonnotar in 1952.{{Cite news |date=7 Sep 1952 |title=Finn's Music to Be Played on CBS Today |pages=26 |work=The Press of Atlantic City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/919177577 |url-access=subscription |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}

= Opera =

Earlier in his career, Parmet worked as an opera conductor in Germany, for the Finnish National Opera, and as conductor of the Finnish Symphony Radio Orchestra.{{Cite news |date=6 Sep 1952 |title=From Finland |pages=24 |work=Montreal Gazette |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/419513662 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} He also co-founded the {{Ill|Akateeminen Laulu|fi}}, of which he was the first director from 1953 to 1954. During his period in America, he was a director for the Finnish Male Chorus of New York City.{{Cite news |date=3 Jun 1949 |title=Finnish Chorus Concert Sunday |pages=2 |work=Sentinel & Enterprise |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/45311978 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}

= Conducting =

In 1938, Parmet was invited by Polish violinist Bronisław Huberman to conduct the Palestine Symphony Orchestra.{{Cite news |date=22 Apr 1938 |title=Swedish Conductor Invited to Palestine |pages=4 |work=Buffalo Jewish Review |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/907617061 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}{{Cite web |title=Swedish Conductor Invited to Palestine |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/swedish-conductor-invited-to-palestine |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}} Parmet conducted many orchestras throughout the United States during the 1940s, such as repeat conducting of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall,{{Cite news |date=5 Sep 1945 |title=Parmet Debut |pages=490 |work=New York Daily News |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/443900693 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}{{Cite news |date=12 May 1946 |title=Carnegie 'Pops' in Lively Week |pages=29 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/53660725 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} the El Paso Symphony Orchestra,{{Cite news |date=28 Jul 1950 |title=Orchestra Gives Splendid Performance |pages=1 |work=El Paso Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/433259167 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}{{Cite news |date=7 Jul 1950 |title=Finnish Conductor to Feature 'Finlandia' in First Concert |pages=1 |work=El Paso Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/433257051 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} and the Louisville Philharmonic. In addition to presenting Sibelius's works to America, he often shared many works by Finnish artists that were culturally obscure to Americans, such as his 1952 Philadelphia conducting of Symphonic Sketches by {{Ill|Ahti Sonninen|fi}}.{{Cite news |date=7 Sep 1952 |title=Finnish Epic Told in Radio Music Sunday |pages=50 |work=Wichita Falls Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/774594873 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}

= Composing =

One notable debut of Parmet's was a 1952 performance by Abraham Chavez, who performed an unpublished impromptu by Sibelius that Parmet had transcribed to ensure it would not be lost.{{Cite news |date=7 Dec 1952 |title=Sibelius Number Set for Concert |pages=30 |work=El Paso Times |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/429672864 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}

= Recording and writing =

File:Brooklyn Eagle Mon Nov 19 1945 fix.jpg

Parmet recorded his first compositions and conductions in Berlin in 1929. Recordings made under his direction can be found in the Yle recording archive, including Einar Englund's Symphony No. 2 (1951), {{Ill|Bengt Johansson (composer)|lt=Bengt Johansson's|fi|Bengt Johansson}} Expressions for Orchestra (1953), and Toivo Kuula's Stabat mater (1953). In 1962, he composed film music for Little Presents with the {{Ill|Radio Entertainment Orchestra|fi|Radion viihdeorkesteri}}.{{Cite web |last=Sirén |first=Vesa |date=2008-12-24 |title=Juutalaisvastaisuus eli myösmusiikkielämässä |url=https://www.hs.fi/kulttuuri/art-2000004621895.html |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=Helsingin Sanomat |language=fi}} He also composed film music for the film {{Ill|The Doll Merchant|fi|Nukkekauppias ja kaunis Lilith}} (1955), directed by Jack Witikka. Parmet additionally published many musical and music theory books in Swedish.

= Education =

During his time in the United States, Parmet worked as the music department head at the Margaret Hall School in Versailles, Kentucky.{{Cite news |date=1 Sep 1946 |title=Margaret Hall Opens Sept. 10 |pages=6 |work=Lexington Herald-Leader |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/681618876 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}

Personal life and family

In the 1940s, Parmet temporarily moved from Finland to Elmira, New York{{Cite news |date=24 Sep 1945 |title=Parmet Chosen to Conduct Symphony |pages=7 |work=Star-Gazette |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/276826032 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}} and Washington, D.C. while conducting orchestras in the United States. Although he did not live out the rest of his life in the United States, he became a naturalized citizen in 1942 with his wife Vera.The National Archives at Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA; NAI Title: Declarations of Intention For Citizenship, 1/19/1842 - 10/29/1959; NAI Number: 4713410; Record Group Title: Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009; Record Group Number: 21

His brother was Moses Pergament,{{Cite web |title=Moses Pergament: un compositor judío nacido en Finlandia {{!}} Radio Sefarad |url=https://www.radiosefarad.com/moses-pergament-un-compositor-judio-nacido-en-finlandia/ |access-date=2023-04-28 |language=es}} a Finnish-Swedish composer and music critic. He is also the uncle of Swedish pianist Erna Tauro through her father, Isak Pergament.

Parmet died on 20 July 1969, and is buried in the New Jewish Cemetery in Helsinki.{{Cite web |title=JOWBR - New Jewish Cemetery, Helsinki: Simon Parmet |url=https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/jowbr.php?rec=J_FINLAND_0000483 |access-date=27 Apr 2023 |website=JewishGen}}

Bibliography

Sibelius symfonier: en studie i musikförståelse (1959) (The symphonies of Sibelius: a study in musical appreciation){{Cite book |last=Parmet |first=Simon |url=https://oula.finna.fi/oamk/Record/oy.991874343906252?sid=2948507763 |title=The symphonies of Sibelius: a study in musical appreciation |last2=Hart |first2=Kingsley A. |last3=Hart |first3=Kingsley |date=1959 |publisher=Cassel |location=London}}{{Cite book |last=Parmet |first=Simon |url=https://oula.finna.fi/oamk/Record/oy.994724643906252?sid=2948507763 |title=Sibeliuksen sinfoniat: ajatuksia musiikin tulkinnasta |last2=Jalas |first2=Margareta |date=1955 |publisher=Otava |location=Helsinki}}{{Cite news |last=Cooper |first=Martin |date=30 Apr 1960 |title=The World of Music: The Riddle of Sibelius |pages=11 |work=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/829409697 |access-date=27 Apr 2023}}
Con amor om musik och mästare (1960) (With love: on music and teachers){{Cite book |last=Parmet |first=Simon |url=https://oula.finna.fi/oamk/Record/oy.996270213906252?sid=2948507763 |title=Con amore: essäer om musik och mästare |date=1960 |publisher=Söderström |location=Helsingfors}}
Sävelestä sanaan: esseitä (1962) (From verse to word: essays){{Cite book |last=Parmet |first=Simon |url=https://oula.finna.fi/oamk/Record/oy.991874333906252?sid=2948507763 |title=Sävelestä sanaan: esseitä |last2=Snellman-Borenius |first2=Clara |date=1962 |publisher=WSOY |location=Helsinki}}
Genom fönsterrutan: essäer om konst och musik och andra uppsatser (1964) (From the looking glass: essays on art and music){{Cite book |last=Parmet |first=Simon |url=https://oula.finna.fi/oamk/Record/oy.99280783906252?sid=2948507763 |title=Genom fönsterrutan: essäer om konst och musik och andra uppsatser |date=1964 |publisher=Söderström |location=Helsingfors}}