VALLENIUS, Thora

Thora Vallenius, born Carolina Viktoria Wahlström, was a Swedish-born Finnish composer, poet, and painter. A prominent cultural figure in 19th-century Finland, she was a founding member of the Vaasa Musical Society (Vaasan Soitannollinen Seura). During her years in Vaasa, Thora, among other things, collected lottery winnings for orchestra activities. In 1894, the bilingual song and music festival of the Finnish Enlightenment Society was held in Vaasa, which Thora was involved in organizing. Later she relocated to Kemin maalaiskunta with her husband, artist Otto Vladimir Vallenius.

The Sibelius Museum has preserved the manuscript of Thora Vallenius's song collection Männikkö mors visor from 1911, Blåklockan, Söker min barndomsfrid and Vårstämning, which she composed to her own texts. They are short mood pieces. The Åbo Akademi Library has Thora's poetry book from 1879-1907 among Otto Vallenius's notes.
It is likely that her compositions were not published, but they were performed among friends. Her husband Otto set some of Thora's poems to songs. They composed some songs together, gave concerts and performed recitals.