Editing Gustav Ernesaks (section)

==Biography==
Gustav Ernesaks was born on 12 December 1908 in [[Perila]], [[Estonia]]. He was educated at the [[Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre]] where he was a pupil of [[Juhan Aavik]] and [[ Artur Kapp]]. After completing his education, he founded the first professional choir in the history of Estonia in 1944, the State Academic Men's Choir (now the [[Estonian National Male Choir]]).<ref name="GROVE">{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Urve Lippus|date=2002|entry=Ernesaks, Gustav|encyclopedia=Grove Music Online|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08946}}</ref> 

Ernesaks played an integral role in the [[Singing Revolution]] and was one of the father figures of the [[Estonian Song Festival]] tradition. One of his songs, a setting of [[Lydia Koidula]]'s poem ''[[Mu isamaa on minu arm]]'', became an unofficial [[national anthem]] during the years of [[Estonian SSR]]. His performance of the song at the XVII Estonian Song Festival was one of the inspirations for [[Dmitri Shostakovich]]'s 1970 a capella choral cycle, ''[[Loyalty (Shostakovich)|Loyalty]]''. He dedicated the score to Ernesaks, who also premiered it in Tallinn. He also composed the [[Anthem of Estonian SSR|Estonian SSR anthem]] used between 1945 and 1990.

In 1935, Ernesaks married Stella Merjam. They had three sons: Ott Ernesaks, Jüri Ernesaks and Peep Ernesaks. His wife died in 1973. Ernesaks died in [[Tallinn]] on 24 January 1993 aged 84.<ref name="GROVE"/> A statue of him was erected in 2004 on the [[Tallinn Song Festival Grounds]].

[[File:Ernesaksa haud.jpg|thumb|Ernesaks's grave at [[Metsakalmistu]] cemetery]]