Classical Music » Sibelius’s Symphony #2
Oct.22, 2011 in
Classical Music Playlists
Much of Finland’s history will be the story of dominance by simply one country or another, mainly Sweden and Russia. In fact Finland wasn’t a truly independent entity until eventually 1992, in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’utes collapse.
Russia controlled Finland for the better part of the 19th century, but also for most of that time they were a comparatively docile master. After the Finnish Diet approved Tsar Alexander’s authority, Russia of course Finland grand duchy status and promised to respect Finnish law.
Yet nationalism continued to grow in Finland, with the distributing conversion of the elementary training system to the Finnish language, and the publication of the Finnish national impressive, the Kalevala.
In 1899, Tsar Nicholas II made a decision he’d had enough of these kind of upstart Finns. He abrogated the earlier agreement in order to respect Finnish law and instituted new restrictions, notably upon freedom of the press.
Below composer Jean Sibelius enters the picture. Sibelius was asked to create incidental tunes for a historical tableau. Ostensibly the functionality of this pageant was to profit the press pension fund, but in reality it was economic and meaning support for the beleaguered newspapers and freedom of the push.
The finale was known as Finland Awakes, representing — well, exactly what you’n expect. This selection quickly grew to become a separate (and very popular) live performance work. The following year, Sibelius changed it and renamed that Finlandia.
Given Finland’s craving for self-reliance it’s no surprise that Finlandia grew to become something of a rallying cry, which Sibelius came to be considered a nationalist composer. This view was only reinforced whenever Sibelius was among the first to sign a petition protesting Russia’s want to dissolve the Finnish army.
Even now, as patriotic as he may have been, Sibelius wasn’t keen to have his or her music pigeonholed this way.
The year after Finland Awakes grew to become Finlandia, Sibelius, on holiday in Italy, commenced creating the musical ideas which would eventually become his subsequent symphony. He premiered the work within Helsenki on 8 March 1902 to be able to widespread acclaim. Sibelius’s Concert #2 quickly found conductors in various other nations who championed it, as well.
Conductor Robert Kajanus, for years one of Sibelius’s most ardent proponents, immediately suggested a fairly explicit nationalistic plan for the second symphony. To him, the andante section was obviously a “protest against all the injustice,In . the scherzo a “picture of stressful preparation,” and the finale “lighter and confident prospects for the future.” With Finlandia so fresh within the Finnish public’s mind, it’s not surprising that Kajanus’s idea sat rather well with them.
Sibelius would’ve none of it. He denied these associations. He wanted the symphony taken at face worth — as absolute music, with no meaning beyond the notes around the page and in the hearing.
And in fact there is nothing anywhere in your recorded history of Sibelius’s work on the second symphony that supports any of Kajanus’s ideas. Indeed you could make as much of a case — which would be to say, a weak one — to the second symphony representing Italy, thanks to Sibelius’s holiday there. What’s more, he reused some of the symphony’s musical materials from an abandoned tone poem inspired by Dante’azines Divine Comedy, which naturally has nothing to do with Finland’s freedom.
Sibelius’s international musical capital suffered something of a fall in the mid-20th century. This was many thanks in no small part to American composer Virgil Thomson’s bully pulpit, which he occupied on the New York Herald Tribune. It was Thomson who penned that famous, witheringly vituperative assessment brands the second symphony “vulgar, self-indulgent, and provincial.”
History doesn’t record Sibelius’azines opinions of Virgil Thomson’s audio. But from the perspective of the Twenty-first century’s first decade, the idea isn’t too tough to determine which of the two was the greater significant composer. Today the Concert #2 remains Sibelius’s best known concert, and indeed one of the 20th century’ersus most frequently programmed symphonies.
Russia controlled Finland for the better part of the 19th century, but also for most of that time they were a comparatively docile master. After the Finnish Diet approved Tsar Alexander’s authority, Russia of course Finland grand duchy status and promised to respect Finnish law.
Yet nationalism continued to grow in Finland, with the distributing conversion of the elementary training system to the Finnish language, and the publication of the Finnish national impressive, the Kalevala.
In 1899, Tsar Nicholas II made a decision he’d had enough of these kind of upstart Finns. He abrogated the earlier agreement in order to respect Finnish law and instituted new restrictions, notably upon freedom of the press.
Below composer Jean Sibelius enters the picture. Sibelius was asked to create incidental tunes for a historical tableau. Ostensibly the functionality of this pageant was to profit the press pension fund, but in reality it was economic and meaning support for the beleaguered newspapers and freedom of the push.
The finale was known as Finland Awakes, representing — well, exactly what you’n expect. This selection quickly grew to become a separate (and very popular) live performance work. The following year, Sibelius changed it and renamed that Finlandia.
Given Finland’s craving for self-reliance it’s no surprise that Finlandia grew to become something of a rallying cry, which Sibelius came to be considered a nationalist composer. This view was only reinforced whenever Sibelius was among the first to sign a petition protesting Russia’s want to dissolve the Finnish army.
Even now, as patriotic as he may have been, Sibelius wasn’t keen to have his or her music pigeonholed this way.
The year after Finland Awakes grew to become Finlandia, Sibelius, on holiday in Italy, commenced creating the musical ideas which would eventually become his subsequent symphony. He premiered the work within Helsenki on 8 March 1902 to be able to widespread acclaim. Sibelius’s Concert #2 quickly found conductors in various other nations who championed it, as well.
Conductor Robert Kajanus, for years one of Sibelius’s most ardent proponents, immediately suggested a fairly explicit nationalistic plan for the second symphony. To him, the andante section was obviously a “protest against all the injustice,In . the scherzo a “picture of stressful preparation,” and the finale “lighter and confident prospects for the future.” With Finlandia so fresh within the Finnish public’s mind, it’s not surprising that Kajanus’s idea sat rather well with them.
Sibelius would’ve none of it. He denied these associations. He wanted the symphony taken at face worth — as absolute music, with no meaning beyond the notes around the page and in the hearing.
And in fact there is nothing anywhere in your recorded history of Sibelius’s work on the second symphony that supports any of Kajanus’s ideas. Indeed you could make as much of a case — which would be to say, a weak one — to the second symphony representing Italy, thanks to Sibelius’s holiday there. What’s more, he reused some of the symphony’s musical materials from an abandoned tone poem inspired by Dante’azines Divine Comedy, which naturally has nothing to do with Finland’s freedom.
Sibelius’s international musical capital suffered something of a fall in the mid-20th century. This was many thanks in no small part to American composer Virgil Thomson’s bully pulpit, which he occupied on the New York Herald Tribune. It was Thomson who penned that famous, witheringly vituperative assessment brands the second symphony “vulgar, self-indulgent, and provincial.”
History doesn’t record Sibelius’azines opinions of Virgil Thomson’s audio. But from the perspective of the Twenty-first century’s first decade, the idea isn’t too tough to determine which of the two was the greater significant composer. Today the Concert #2 remains Sibelius’s best known concert, and indeed one of the 20th century’ersus most frequently programmed symphonies.
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