The 1920s was an exceptionally rich period in Finnish music history: Sibelius composed his last two symphonies and Tapiola, Leevi Madetoja released his opera The Ostrobothnians and two symphonies, Uuno Klami produced orchestral suites, Yrjo Kilpinen continued to publish internationally-acclaimed Lieder collections, and Aarre Merikanto (1893-1958) wrote his opera Juha. The true worth and inner essentialness of Merikanto's ideas has only been recognized after the man's death. What was then seen as eccentricity or even a lack of craftsmanship turns out in fact to have been and honest and well-founded search for the new.

Merikanto spent the first two years of the 1920s composing Juha. The libretto was drafted by Aino Ackte, the leading Finnish operatic diva. Juha is a classic triangle drama featuring the elderly husband Juha, his young wife Marja, and the seducer Shemeikka. The depth of the tragedy is made still greater by the fact that of the three, the one driven to suicide is Juha, whose only sins appear to be those of lack of resolution and a certain simplicity. To be fair, Juha does give Shemeikka a bit of pasting, but he does not kill him, because he suddenly recognizes that after the betrayal that he has encountered "there is nothing left in life anymore".

Merikanto's opera was never performed during the composer's lifetime. However, the opera was performed at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1970 and 1971, and is now recognized as one of the most important and influential Finnish operas.