Editing Gustav Ernesaks

{{Short description|Estonian composer and choir conductor}}
{{About|the composer and choir conductor|the weightlifter|Gustav Ernesaks (weightlifter)}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| image = [[File:Ernesaks G.G.jpg|200px]]
| caption = 
| imagesize = 200px
| name = Gustav Ernesaks
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|12|12|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Perila]], [[Harrien County]], [[Governorate of Estonia]], [[Russian Empire]]
| birthname = 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|1|24|1908|12|12|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Tallinn]], [[Estonia]]
| othername = 
| occupation = Composer, conductor
| yearsactive = 1930–1993
| spouse = Stella Merjam
}}

[[File:Üldlaulupidu 2014 - 19.JPG|thumb|A statue of Gustav Ernesaks during XXVI Estonian Song Celebration]]
'''Gustav Ernesaks''' (12 December 1908 – 24 January 1993) was an [[Estonia]]n composer and a choir [[conducting|conductor]].<ref>[http://arhiiv.err.ee/vaata/teletutvus-gustav-ernesaks Teletutvus: Gustav Ernesaks]</ref>

==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]]

==Honours and awards==
;Soviet Union
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1974)
* [[People's Artist of the USSR]] (1956)
* [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prizes]];
**2nd class (1947)
**3rd class (1951)&nbsp;– for the opera ''Tormide rand'' ("The Coast of Storms"; 1949)
* [[Lenin Prize]] (1970)
* [[Order of Lenin]], three times (1974, 1951, 1967)
* [[Order of the October Revolution]] (1978)
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]] (1946)
* [[Order of the Badge of Honour]], twice (1965, 1988)

;Estonia
* [[Order of the Estonian Red Cross]], 5th class (1938)
* {{ill|Honoured Artist of the Estonian SSR|et|Eesti NSV teeneline kunstitegelane}} (1942)
* [[People's Artist of the Estonian SSR]] (1947)
* [[State Prize of the Estonian SSR]] (1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1959, 1965)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernesaks, Gustav}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1993 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Raasiku Parish]]
[[Category:People from Kreis Harrien]]
[[Category:Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1955–1959]]
[[Category:Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1959–1963]]
[[Category:Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1963–1967]]
[[Category:Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1967–1971]]
[[Category:Soviet composers]]
[[Category:Soviet male composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian classical composers]]
[[Category:Estonian choral conductors]]
[[Category:Estonian opera composers]]
[[Category:Soviet opera composers]]
[[Category:Estonian male classical composers]]
[[Category:National anthem writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian composers]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian male musicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Estonian conductors (music)]]
[[Category:Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the USSR]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:Honoured Workers of the Arts Industry of the Estonian SSR]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Lenin Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Metsakalmistu]]