Great Composers: Jean Sibelius

A look at a legendary Finn.

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Classical Nerd is a weekly video series covering music history, theoretical concepts, and techniques, hosted by composer, pianist, and music history aficionado Thomas Little.

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Music:

- Thomas Little: Dance! #2 in E minor, Op. 1 No. 2, performed by Rachel Fellows, Michael King, and Bruce Tippette

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All images and audio in this video are for educational purposes only and are not intended as copyright infringement. If you have a copyright concern, please contact me using the above information.

[appleciderhorror]

"I'm so good of a composer I've to get drunk just so the orchestra can keep up with me"

[annakimborahpa]

17:55 - 18:03: "Many enterprising composers sought to emulate Sibelius in their own works, specifically British composers for reasons I am not entirely sure of."
Response: The 20th century British composers emulated Sibelius because he offered a way out of the Germanic impasse that had fixated their musical life up to Elgar: 1) His unique musical vocabulary reflected his Finnish tongue which was distinctly different from the Indo-European pool of languages, particularly by his employing native folk song as source material; 2) His firm commitment to tonality after the extremely dissonant and perplexing 4th Symphony reassured the Brits that they did not have to follow Teutonic atonality into the abyss; 3) Likewise his innovative use of elongated pedal points as a way of steering harmony and his immediate motive development of thematic material pointed out a different way to organize symphonic form that appealed to the British sense of slow harmonic rhythm combined with their 'get to the point' temperament. Two of the most notable examples of his influence on the British are William Walton's Symphony No. 1 in Bb Minor and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 5 in D Major, the latter being dedicated to Sibelius who greatly appreciated the gesture.

[JafuetTheSame]

I don't think he was limiting himself in his piano music, you just hear his glorious cold spring water in its bare watery nakedness.

[perlastella]

Sibelius's first symphony is the first musical work I listened to and approached through a medium extraordinarily close to my personal sensitivity, which offered me an understanding of it without effort and without "study", as in an absolutely natural and consequential act, an almost obvious and obligatory effect. Maestro Saraste leads me along the path of discovery, understanding and internalization of what he directs, almost as if it were already inside me and his gesture was limited to making it emerge to the surface of my soul. He makes me aware of what is already inside me, and shows me something that is, but whose existence I was unaware of. He reveals an ideal world to me, gives me certainties, confides in me hidden secrets to which he alone has the key. This revelation petrifies me, dismays me and binds me forever to his figure, just as life cannot ignore air.

[alexandresobreiramartins]

I love an anecdote about Sibelius (not saying it's true, just that I love it):
Walking in the streets with his daughter, they hear Shostakovich being played in the radio.
Daughter: Dad, do you like this Shostakovich guy?
Sibelius: Well, he's very talented, my darling.
Daughter: but he sounds like he's copying you...
Sibelius: Well, he IS very talented, my darling... :P

[lcronovt]

Man, you are my History Music Teacher. Thank you for this videos.

[MECowgo]

The content is excellent, the editing is exhausting.

[tyranonaut]

His Symphonies just get better and better with each listen. 3-6 I love.

[silencedogood]

Karelia suite is my favorite listen to it often!! thanks for posting I learned a lot here.

[WILFREDRUSSELL-hn]

For me, Sibelius is the great god of music. As the piano is my favourite instrument, I was disappointed that there was not one single Sibelius piano concerto. Then one day I discovered that he’d written many piano pieces; small, maybe inconsequential, but so touching, simple and Sibelian that it no longer matters about a concerto. I go back to them over and over again

[YMESYDT]

Just found this channel, absolutely love it!

[djdm]

The Dm violin concerto is my favourite piece of the era.

[alexandresobreiramartins]

Excellent video! Very informative and interesting, as usual! Thanks!

[luckylicks]

13:38 "Other Scandinavian countries".. besides Finland? Finland isn't a Scandinavian country. / 16:07 He was both, speaking both languages.

[Scriabin_fan]

Sibelius’s wife Aino was very beautiful (6:09)

[anthonyholroyd]

British composers falling in love with Sibelius is interesting. I dont know that I have to answer for you - but as a Scot there is something in his works that I just adore.

As a Scot with a certain constitutional view I have a particular soft spot for his more . . . Political . . . Works. The idea of a small, sparsely populated and deeply, naturally beautiful nation throwing off the shackles of its imperial master . . . I find an intense natural beauty and an intense freedom (or longing for it) in his works.

You can almost smell the pine trees and hear the raging torrent of a river emptying itself into a lake when you listen to his works.

You can breathe the crisp, frozen air and brilliant sunlight and feel the impending storm build across the landscape.

[normanmeharry]

Kullervo is a symphony. Back in the day, its form was daring and unusual. By today's symphonic structures, it is certainly a symphony.
Also. Sib regarded his 4 legends a symphony. Some fans and indeed critics, agree.

[ziegunerweiser]

it amazes me how he did not get serious about the violin until age 15 and went on to write a violin concerto like that

[normanmeharry]

The largest chunk of the 8th is quite likely Surusoitto, opus 113, a new piece of music he produced almost instantly after he said he couldn’t, for a friend's funeral. It is no lightweight, latent with symphonic possibility and Tapiola like in tone. There is good evidence that the 8th existed, at least 2 movements of it, and typically he rescored it with a choral ending. Anyway, it was consumed in the flames of that big room heater in Ainola and Aino fled the room distraught.

[SeadogDriftwood]

I'm so happy you included "Kullervo"! Sibelius kind of forbade performances of it after a certain point, which is a pity because while it's clearly not as taut as his symphonies, it's still a bold, memorable, and well-crafted work.
One thing, though: it's pronounced "COOL-lehr-vo" /kúllervo/. Finnish words are nearly always accented on the first syllable, and the two "l"s are pronounced like one long "l". Don't worry, I pronounced it almost the same as you did when I first found read the name.