Among the most important Finnish Romantic composers of their time, Toivo Kuula and Leevi Madetoja were both pupils of Jean Sibelius. Toivo Kuula’s songs, which draw on the folk-music of his native Ostrobothnia, generally follow the German lied tradition, with piano accompaniment that is often reminiscent of Brahms. The songs of Leevi Madetoja are more complex and ambiguous, with a refined sensibility characteristic of the French composers he met during studies in Paris in 1910. Autumn, Madetoja’s last significant song cycle, sets poetry written by the composer’s wife, and is often intense and chromatic.