Rudolf Tobias

Rudolf Tobias (1873–1918) was the first Estonian composer to have obtained a degree in composing. In 1893, he entered St Petersburg Conservatoire where he initially studied organ with Professor Louis Homilius, and then composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Tobias graduated from St Petersburg Conservatoire in 1897 with degrees in both organ and composition, with his cantata John of Damascus serving as his diploma work. From 1898 to 1904 he worked as an organist and choirmaster of the Estonian congregation of St. John’s in St. Petersburg, before moving to Tartu in 1904, to work as a music teacher and private tutor. At the start of 1908 Tobias left Tartu and travelled to Western Europe, staying in Paris, Munich, Dresden, Prague and the resort town of Dubí (then Eichwald) near Teplice. At the end of that year, he and his family moved to Leipzig, which is where most of his oratorio Jonah was written. In 1910 Tobias moved on to Berlin, giving private lessons, as well as working as an organist and journalist, and acting as a member of the evaluation committee at the Consortium of German Composers. In the spring of 1912, he took up a temporary lecturing position at the Royal Music Institute of Berlin, teaching theoretical subjects, until two years later, in 1914, his acquisition of German nationality allowed him to become a full-time professor at the same school. Tobias thus worked in Estonia only for four years (1904–1907) of his life, but his contribution to enliven our music scene was colossal even during the years he lived abroad. While his predecessors had mostly composed only choral music, Tobias, by significantly expanding the genre boundaries of Estonian music, laid down the foundations of Estonian instrumental music: he composed Estonia’s first overture (Julius Caesar), first string quartet (No. 1), first piano concerto, first piano sonata, first organ fugue (in D minor), the first piece of programmatic work (The Walpurgis Burlesque) and the first oratorio (Jonah).