Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 4 And 5

Description

Jean Sibelius(1865-1957)Symphony No. 4 in Aminor, Op. 63Symphony No. 5 in Eflat major, Op. 82The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius was born in 1865, the son of adoctor, in a small town in the south of Finland, the language and culture ofhis family being Swedish. It was at school that he was to learn Finnish andacquire his first interest in the early legends of a country that had become anautonomous grand-duchy under the Tsar of Russia, after the defeat of CharlesXII of Sweden. Throughout the later nineteenth century there were divisionsbetween the Swedish-speaking upper classes and the Finnish-speaking people, thecause of the latter embraced by influential nationalists and accentuated by therepressive measures introduced by Tsar Nicholas II, before the revolution of1905. In this society Sibelius was deeply influenced by his association withthe family of General Jarnefelt, whose daughter Aino became his wife.Nevertheless linguistically Swedish remained his mother tongue, in which heexpressed himself more fluently than he could in Finnish.The musical abilities of Sibelius were soon realised, although notdeveloped early enough to suggest music as a profession until he had entereduniversity in Helsinki as a law student. His first ambition had been to be aviolinist. It later became apparent that any ability he had in this directionwas outweighed by his gifts as a composer, developed first by study in Berlinand with Goldmark and, more effectively, Robert Fuchs in Vienna.In Finland once more, Sibeliuswon almost immediate success in 1892 with a symphonic poem, Kullervo, basedon an episode from the Finnish epic Kalevala. There followedcompositions of particular national appeal that further enhanced his reputationin Helsinki, including the incidental music to the patriotic student pageant Karelia,En Saga and the Lemminkainen Suite. During this period Sibeliussupported himself and his wife by teaching, as well as by composition and theperformance of his works, but it proved difficult for him to earn enough,given, as he was, to bouts of extravagance, continuing from his days as astudent. In 1896 he was voted the position of professor at the University ofHelsinki, but the committee's decision was overturned in favour of RobertKajanus, the experienced founder and conductor of the first professionalorchestra in Helsinki. As consolation for his disappointment Sibelius wasawarded a government stipend for ten years, and this was later changed into apension for life. The sum involved was never sufficient to meet his gift forimprovidence, inherited, perhaps, from his father, who at his death in 1868 hadleft his family in some difficulty.Sibelius continued his active career as a composer until 1926, his fameincreasing at home and abroad. The success of Symphony No. 1of 1898 wasfollowed by the still more successful Finlandia. Busoni had tried toarrange for the publication of his music by Belyayev, patron of the laternineteenth-century Russian nationalist composers, on th