Nisonen, Martti (1891–1946)

Martti Johannes Nisonen (September 12, 1891 in Pori – December 5, 1946 in Hancock, Michigan, USA) was a Finnish composer, organist, music teacher and playwrighter.

As a young man, Martti Nisonen studied at the Helsinki College of Music and at the same time worked as a pianist in Helsinki cinemas. In the early 1910s, he attracted attention by writing musical plays and small-scale operettas, which he performed together with Pasi Jääskeläinen and J. Alfred Tanner between silent films. During 1913, Nisonen was a pianist on the “Finnish Operetta Tour” founded by Jääskeläinen.

Nisonen moved from Finland to the United States in 1922 and worked as a music teacher at Finland College in Hancock, Michigan.