Juha is a three-act opera by Aarre Merikanto, with a Finnish libretto by Aino Ackté based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Juhani Aho.

[1] The story is a drama of a love triangle: the older husband Juha, his young wife Marja, and her seducer the merchant Shemeikka.

Set in the 1880s in Kainuu in northern Finland, the human tragedy is based around the harsh realities of a farming community and the clash of their lifestyle with the more worldly nomadic Karelians, represented by Shemeikka.

[5] After the Lahti première on 28 October 1963, Juha was accepted at the Finnish National Opera in 1967, leading to a recording for Finlandia, and a production at Savonlinna in 1971, revived the following year.

Instrumental characterization of the cast is also used: Juha with brass and low woodwind, while Shemeikka’s sound world is bright and at times veristic; Marja is often accompanied by solo violin or flute.

Shemeikka, a wealthy merchant, arrives at the village and flirts with Marja, giving her a gold buckle and silk shawl, which Juha insists on paying for.

Next day, while Juha has gone in his boat to fetch his mother for a visit, Shemeikka passes by again, mocking Marja’s older husband and urging her to come away with him.

The first scene of Act 2 is set in one of Shemeikka’s fishing cabins where Marja is excitedly awaiting his return after an absence of three weeks.