Martin Wegelius had acquired a profound knowledge about music since his school years. He was first taught by a private instructor in his home country but made a long study trip to German-speaking areas after graduating from the University in 1868. Wegelius began planning a music college in Helsinki with the top names of the Finnish music scene at the turn of the 1880s. The project was privately funded and started to progress smoothly. By the spring of 1882, Wegelius was invited to be the institution’s first director. Teaching began the following autumn.

Wegelius’ had an immense role in the early stages of the music college’s development, taking on a range of responsibilities. He made the teaching plans and decided on the course requirements. Wegelius also had a strong influence on the recruitment of teaching staff, and managed to persuade many talented and renowned musicians to become teachers at the college.

Unlike his contemporary Robert Kajanus, who around the same time had founded the Helsinki Association of Orchestras, Wegelius believed that all real musicians must also have a theoretical understanding of music. The teaching plan at the college of music contained plenty of studies in the history and theory of music. Wegelius, who was often characterised as a strong-minded, even patriarchal director, also taught at the college in addition to his other duties.

The kinds of music textbooks Wegelius needed were not easily available at that time, especially not in Swedish. Wegelius resorted to remediate the situation. He wrote, among other works, the textbook on the history of music Hufvuddragen af den västerländska musikens historia (1891 - 1893) (’The main points in the history of western music’), which is already outdated in our time. However, his textbook on figured bass and harmony, Kurs i homofon sats (harmonilära) 1. Generalbas (1897) (‘Course of homophonic theory (study of harmony) 1. Generalbas, (‘Primer in basso continuo’, 1897) has been used in modern editions until the present day.

The importance of music pedagogy for Wegelius is well illustrated by his frequent meetings and teaching during even the summer months. When the college was having its summer break in teaching, he arranged meetings at his summer villa in Pohja.  Wegelius worked as the director of the Helsinki college of music for over twenty years, until his death. It is unquestioned that his influence on the following generation of Finnish composers is immense.

The Helsinki college of music attracted many young talents already in its early years. Some of Wegelius’ most famous students include Erkki Melartin and Armas Järnefelt. In 1939 the college was renamed after one particularly notable student of Wegelius and became the Sibelius Academy.

References

• Lena von Bonsdorff & Tove Djupsjöbacka, Musik i ingenmansland. Martin Wegelius-institutet 1956–2006, (’Music in no man’s land. Martin Wegelius institute 1956-2006’). Esbo 2006.
• Jukka Sarjala, ‘Wegelius, Martin’, National Biography of Finland online. Accessed May 5, 2015. available via NELLI. (In Finnish.)
• Matti Huttunen, Martin Wegelius: Founder of The First Wagner Society in Finland (1846-1906). A Summary of Prof. Matti Huttunen's Lecture during The Finnish Wagner Society's Meeting 8th March 1995, translated by Uolevi Karrakoski, University of Turku online publication. Accessed May 5, 2015. http://users.utu.fi/hansalmi/sws/wegelius.html