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Jean Sibelius

December 8, 1865 - September 20, 1957
born in Hämeenlinna, Finland, composed during the Modern period

Biography

Finland's Jean Sibelius is perhaps the most important composer associated with nationalism in music and one of the most influential in the development of the symphony and symphonic poem. Sibelius was born in southern Finland, the second of three children. His physician father left the family bankrupt, owing to his financial extravagance, a trait that, along with heavy drinking, he would pass on to Jean. Jean showed talent on the violin and at age nine composed his first work for it, Rain Drops. In 1895 Sibelius entered the University of Helsinki to study law, but after only a year found himself drawn back to music. He took up composition studies with Martin Wegelius and violin with Mitrofan Wasiliev, then Hermann Csillag. During this time he also became a close friend of Busoni. Though Sibelius auditioned for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, he would come to realize he was not suited to a career as a violinist.

In 1889 Sibelius traveled to Berlin to study counterpoint with Albert Becker, where he also was exposed to new music, particularly that of Richard Strauss. In Vienna he studied with Karl Goldmark and then Robert Fuchs, the latter said to be his most effective teacher. Now Sibelius began pondering the composition of the Kullervo Symphony, based on the Kalevala legends. Sibelius returned to Finland, taught music, and in June 1892, married Aino Järnefelt, daughter of General Alexander Järnefelt, head of one of the most influential families in Finland. The premiere of Kullervo in April 1893 created a veritable sensation, Sibelius thereafter being looked upon as the foremost Finnish composer. The Lemminkäinen suite, begun in 1895 and premiered on April 13, 1896, has come to be regarded as the most important music by Sibelius up to that time.

In 1897 the Finnish Senate voted to pay Sibelius a short-term pension, which some years later became a lifetime conferral. The honor was in lieu of his loss of an important professorship in composition at the music school, the position going to Robert Kajanus. The year 1899 saw the premiere of Sibelius' First Symphony, which was a tremendous success, to be sure, but not quite of the magnitude of that of Finlandia (1899; rev. 1900).

In the next decade Sibelius would become an international figure in the concert world. Kajanus introduced several of the composer's works abroad; Sibelius himself was invited to Heidelberg and Berlin to conduct his music. In March 1901, the Second Symphony was received as a statement of independence for Finland, although Sibelius always discouraged attaching programmatic ideas to his music. His only concerto, for violin, came in 1903. The next year Sibelius built a villa outside of Helsinki, named "Ainola" after his wife, where he would live for his remaining 53 years. After a 1908 operation to remove a throat tumor, Sibelius was implored to abstain from alcohol and tobacco, a sanction he followed until 1915. It is generally believed that the darkening of mood in his music during these years owes something to the health crisis.

Sibelius made frequent trips to England, having visited first in 1905 at the urging of Granville Bantock. In 1914 he traveled to Norfolk, CT, where he conducted his newest work The Oceanides. Sibelius spent the war years in Finland working on his Fifth Symphony. Sibelius traveled to England for the last time in 1921. Three years later he completed his Seventh Symphony, and his last work was the incidental music for The Tempest (1925). For his last 30 years Sibelius lived a mostly quiet life, working only on revisions and being generally regarded as the greatest living composer of symphonies. In 1955 his 90th birthday was widely celebrated throughout the world with many performances of his music. Sibelius died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1957. ~ Robert Cummings, All Music Guide

Continued…

Selected Discography

J. Sibelius: Piano Music Vol. 2

Sibelius: Complete String Quartets

Sibelius: Finlandia, Karelia Suite / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Sibelius: Lemminkäinen Suite: 4 Legends from the Kalevala Op2; Tapiola Op112

Sibelius: Piano Music

Sibelius: Songs, Vol. 3

Sibelius: The Seven Symphonies [Box Set]

elgrillo315 says:

08-01-2008

I was visiting Finland las week and attended a small concert of his music and I reallly love it! I will be hearing it from now on on. Often we feel the way
he probably did not want to transfer to his music,but it was inside him already. Beautiful music!!!!

topsoil says:

06-03-2008

.......with scruffy doo......... .

topsoil says:

06-01-2008

.........AND . . . . . . . w o u l d never have pictured sibelius in napoleonesqu e , hand-in-jack e t pose!!

topsoil says:

05-19-2008

.......Finla n d i a does it for me........br a s s musician.... . . . w h a t fun! ......with serious spiritual overtones... . . . l o v e it!!

rcrow12000 says:

02-19-2008

This symphony never fails to awaken in me a sense of northern climes, evergreen forests, lakes the whole Finland scene.

ariadna.celi s says:

02-03-2008

powerful and breathtaking . .