Jaan Rääts facts for kids

Jaan Rääts (born October 15, 1932, died December 25, 2020) was a famous Estonian composer. He wrote a lot of music, especially for Estonian movies in the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in Tartu, a city in Estonia. In 1957, he became a member of the Estonian Composers' Union, which is a group for professional music writers.

What Kind of Music Did He Write?

Jaan Rääts composed many different types of music. He wrote pieces for solo instruments, small groups of instruments, and even full orchestras. He also created music for ballets and movies.

Piano Music

Rääts loved writing for the piano. He composed ten different piano sonatas, which are long pieces usually with several movements. One of his sonatas, Sonata No. 4, was even called "Quasi Beatles," which means "like the Beatles." He also wrote many sets of preludes and bagatelles for the piano. These are shorter pieces, often used for practice or as small musical ideas.

Music for Two Pianos

He also wrote music specifically for two pianos playing together. This includes a sonata and a set of "marginalia," which are like musical notes or comments.

Chamber Music

Chamber music is written for a small group of instruments, usually one player per part. Rääts wrote many pieces for different combinations of instruments.

Small Groups of Instruments

He composed music for instruments like the violin, viola, recorder, flute, and guitar. For example, he wrote a "Meditation on a theme by Mozart" for solo violin. He also created pieces for a trio (three instruments) and a quartet (four instruments). He wrote six string quartets and three piano quintets (five instruments). He even wrote a nonet, which is for nine instruments!

Music for Orchestra

An orchestra is a large group of musicians playing various instruments like strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Jaan Rääts wrote eight symphonies, which are large-scale musical works for an orchestra. He also composed concertos.

Concertos

A concerto is a piece of music where one or more solo instruments play with an orchestra. Rääts wrote many concertos for different instruments:

• Violin Concertos: He wrote three concertos for the violin.
• Piano Concertos: He composed three concertos for the piano, plus a special one for two pianos and orchestra.
• Cello Concertos: He wrote three concertos for the cello.
• Other Instruments: He also wrote concertos for guitar, flute, trumpet, and even combinations like violin and guitar, or trumpet, piano, and string orchestra.

Ballet Music

Rääts also composed music for ballet, which is a type of dance performance. One of his ballet suites is called Virumaa, written for string orchestra and piano.

Vocal Music

He wrote music for voices and choirs, sometimes with an orchestra. This included an oratorio called Spring for children's choir and orchestra, and a "School Cantata" for children's choir and orchestra.

Music for Movies

Jaan Rääts was well-known for writing music for Estonian films in the 1960s and 1970s. His music helped set the mood and tell the story in these movies. Some of the films he scored include:

• Ohtlikud mängud (1974)
• Aeg elada, aeg armastada (1976)
• Väike reekviem suupillile (1972)
• Tuulevaikus (1971)
• Gladiaator (1969)
• Viini postmark (1967)
• Tütarlaps mustas (1966)
• Null kolm (1965)
• Supernoova (1965)
• Roosa kübar (1963)