Jean Sibelius, March 2016 Meeting

Jean Sibelius, March 2016 Meeting

Jean Sibelius

From the start I want to make it clear that I am no expert about any aspect of music, especially Sibelius, but I chose this composer as a topic for this meeting because the music of Jean Sibelius has made a big impression on me. I also have no idea of how to pronounce any words in Finnish.

I thought I would start be telling you how I first came to the music of Sibelius. My father was musical, but not in the conventional way. He was the youngest of a family of six. Although the family had no piano, neighbours did and he taught himself to play the piano well enough to be able to play popular tunes in the local pub when he was fourteen. He could also play the ukulele and get a good tune out of a banjo. His idol was Larry Adler and he was really quite good on the harmonica. I never knew quite how he did it but he seemed to be able to play the melody on one side of his mouth and the rhythm on the other. He didn’t play much after the war as he worked long hours to develop his business and renovate our home. When I was a young teenager he developed an interest in Hi-Fi. Pride of place in our front room was an enormous radiogram. This was before the widespread use of transistors and there was always a delay as the valves warmed up before the amplifier worked properly. The gramophone part could play records using the latest technology, the long playing stereo record which rotated at only 33⅓ r.p.m.

My dad started to build a record collection and some evenings, when he had done his books and I had done my homework we would listen to some of his records. One I remember, in particular, was Finlandia by Jean Sibelius. I was to learn later that it was one of his “tone poems” but at the time it made me very much aware about how music can affect the emotions; it was so stirring! When we had listened to it I begged my father to play it again and he did. I went to bed with the music still playing in my brain and it’s been a favourite of mine ever since. For weeks after I first heard Finlandia if I was ever in the house on my own I would play Finlandia; usually rather loud!

I thought we would start by playing Finlandia.

(8 minutes 01 seconds.)

The Finns consider Finlanda to be a second Finnish National Anthem. Before the start of the Second World War the Russian Goverment banned the Finnish National Anthem so Finlandia was played at public performances instead. They then banned Finlandia. Later the Germans invaded and they also banned the playing of the National Anthem and Finlandia. It was only when the Germans were in retreat that Finlandia was played on Finnish Radio once again. The central “hymn” theme is often stated to be a folk melody the Sibelius incorporated into his music but this is not true. I understand that it is an original composition by Sibelius. It has been adopted in many countries as a hymn tune. In Scotland we tend to sing the words, “Be still my soul” to the tune.

Sibelius is usually considered to be Finnish but his nationality is not quite that straightforward. He was bornJohan Julius Christian Sibelius on the 8thDecember 1865inHämeenlinnain theGrand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous part of theRussian Empire. He was the son of theSwedish-speakingmedical doctor Christian Gustaf Sibelius and Maria Charlotta SibeliusnéeBorg.Sibelius's father died oftyphoidin July 1868, leaving substantial debts. As a result, his mother—who was again pregnant—had to sell their property and move the family into the home of Katarina Borg, her widowed mother, who also lived in Hämeenlinna.Sibelius was therefore brought up in a decidedly female environment, the only male influence coming from his uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, who was interested in music, especially the violin. It was he who gave the boy a violin when he was ten years old and later encouraged him to maintain his interest in composition.For Sibelius, Uncle Pehr not only took the place of a father but of a musical adviser.

From an early age, Sibelius showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside. His home, and where he went to school were inland but the family moved tothe coast for the summer months. In his own words: "For me, our holiday home represented sun, happiness, and freedom." When he was seven, his aunt Julia was brought in to give him piano lessons on the family's upright instrument, rapping him on the knuckles whenever he played a wrong note. He reacted by improvising on his own but nevertheless learned to read music.He later turned to the violin which he preferred. He participated in trios with his elder sister Linda, who played the piano, and his younger brother Christian on the cello.

As well as playing with his family Sibelius often played in quartets with neighbouring families, receiving a background in chamber music. Fragments survive of his early compositions of the period, a trio, a piano quartet and aSuite in D Minorfor violin and piano.Around 1881, he recorded on paper his shortpizzicatopieceVattendroppar(Water Drops) for violin and cello although it might just have been a musical exercise.The first reference he himself made to composing comes in a letter from August 1883 in which he reveals he had composed a trio and was working on another: "They are rather poor, but it is nice to have something to do on rainy days."In 1881, he started to take violin lessons from the local bandmaster, Gustaf Levander, immediately developing a particularly strong interest in the instrument.Setting his heart on a career as a great violin virtuoso, he soon succeeded in becoming quite an accomplished player, performingDavid's Concerto in E minor in 1886 and, the following year, the last two movements ofMendelssohn's Violin Concertoin Helsinki. Despite his success as an instrumentalist, he ultimately chose to become a composer.

Although his mother tongue was Swedish, in 1874 Sibelius attended Lucina Hagman's Finnish-speaking preparatory school. In 1876, he was then able to continue his education at the Finnish-languageHämeenlinna Normal Lyceumwhere, so I have read, he proved to be a rather absent-minded pupil although he did quite well in mathematics and botany.Despite having to repeat a year, (probably due to his inadequate Finnish),he succeeded in passing the school-leaving examination in 1885 which allowed him to study at university.As a boy he was known asJanne, a colloquial form of Johan. However, during his student years, he adopted the French formJean, inspired by the business card of his deceased seafaring uncle. Thereafter he became known as Jean Sibelius. As stated earlier, his nationality was not that straightforward.

One thing we can be sure of is that he grew to love the land where he was brought up. In his Finnish language education he learned a great deal about Finnish Folk Lore and legends and this, together with his love of the Finnish countryside, inspired much of his music.

Another of his much loved pieces is the Karelia Suite. It has three parts; the first and last of which are quite short. The second part, the Ballade, is well over eight minutes long and we will just play enough to give you a flavour of it.

The Karelia Suite, op 11.

lIntermezzo3.53

llBallade8.22

lllAlla marcia4.26

By now I hope you are starting to become a Sibelius enthusiast.

Like most major composers he wrote a number of symphonies. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, under their conductor Sir Simon Rattle, made good recordings of all seven symphonies. I have to say that all make for good listening on a winter’s evening when sitting in front of a real fire with a glass of malt whisky in one’s hand. Possibly the most accessible is Symphony No 5. The full performance takes 30½ minutes but we will be selective and play less than half of the complete work.

Most people find this symphony very accessible but some of his other work was, and perhaps still is, considered to be quite “modern” by some listeners. What I mean is that it is different from Mozart or Beethoven and might be more of an acquired taste; it is worth listening to carefully in order to acquire that taste.

Elgar was a master of stringed instruments and this is reflected in his compositions. I think a similar case can be made for Sibelius who was also a very accomplished violin player. His younger brother, Christian, played the cello so it does not seem unreasonable for us to expect that he had a really good appreciation of how to use these instruments to their best in an orchestra.

This symphony has three movements. In around 1881, at the age of about sixteen, he recorded on paper his shortpizzicatopieceVattendroppar(Water Drops) for violin and cello. The second movement perhaps contains something of the inspiration of this early work.

Symphony number 5 in E flat. op 82

lTempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato – Presto12:47

llAdante mosso, quasi allegretto8:21

lllAllegro molto – Un pochettino largamente9:15

While still on the subject of the special relationship Sibelius has with the violin he did compose a violin concerto. In the Deutsche Grammophon Recording we are going to listen to the German virtuoso Anne-Sophie Mutter plays with the Staatskapelle of Dresden conducted by André Previn. Again this is another performance that lasts over 30 minutes so we must be selective and play parts of the first and third movements.

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, op 47.

lAllegro moderato15:55

llAdagio di molto8:26

lllAllegro, ma non tanto 7:15

It was mentioned earlier that Finlandia was a tone poem. Sibelius wrote a number of “tone poems”. One well known tone poem is The Swan of Tuonelawhich he composed in 1895.Tuonela, by the way, is the realm of the dead. It is part of theLemminkäinen Suitebased on theKalevalaepicofFinnish mythology.

The tone poem is scored for a small orchestra ofcor anglais,oboe,bass clarinet, twobassoons, fourhorns, threetrombones,timpani,bass drum,harp, and dividedstrings. The cor anglais is the voice of the swan, and its solo is perhaps the best known cor anglais solo in the orchestral literature. The music paints a gossamer, transcendental, image of a mysticalswanswimming aroundTuonela, the realm of the dead.I am not really into Nordic mythology but Lemminkäinen, the hero of the epic, has been tasked with killing the sacred swan; but on the way, he is shot with a poisoned arrow and dies. His body is hacked to pieces by his enemies and thrown into a river that runs into the lake of Tuonela. The warrior’s mother collects all the body parts and sews them back together to make a complete body. In a later part of the story he is restored to life. It sounds like a great bed-time story to frighten Finnish children with. When listening to the music one senses the dark, brooding lake in the realm of the dead with a beautiful, majestic, swan swimming around in it. Google the picture by Akseli Gallen-Kallela painted in 1897which shows the mother with her slain, warrior son from the Swan of Tuonela story.

The Swan of Tuonela

from Four Legends from the Kalevala, Op. 22,7:20

Most of the Sibelius tone poems have to be played right through in order to appreciate the whole. Pohjola’s Daughter is another Norse Epic in which involves a magician and Pohjola’s beautiful daughter. The magician tries to win the hand of the fair maiden but fails miserably.

In this budget CD the orchestra is the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra who should have a feel for brooding Nordic Sagas.

Pohjola’s Daughter, Op 4914:10

Night Ride and Sunrise, Op 55 delivers what it says on the CD. It is said to be inspired by a night time ride on a horse-drawn sledge from Helsinki to Kervo. He experienced the sight of the sunrise on the way.

Night Ride and Sunrise, Op 5516:38

If time permits it is worth listening to Scene with Cranes, Op 44, No. 2.

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