Some of the compositions by Sibelius enjoying popularity as semi-classics are in the post-Romantic German style which he had assumed early in his career; only one or two are in the national idiom for which he is so famous.

In the former category belongs a slight, sentimental piece called Canzonetta, for string orchestra, op. 62a (1911). As its name implies it is a small and simple instrumental song for muted strings, deeply emotional in feeling, at times with deeply somber colorations.

Finlandia, for symphony orchestra, op. 26 (1900) is one of Sibelius’ earliest national compositions, and to this day it is the most famous. Both in and out of Finland this music is as much an eloquent voice for its country as its national anthem. One can go even further and say that more people in the world know the melodies of Finlandia than the Finnish anthem. So stirring are its themes, so identifiably Finnish in personality and color, that for a long time it was believed Sibelius had utilized national folk tunes; but the music is entirely Sibelius’. It opens with a proud exclamation in the brass. After this comes a sensitive melody for the woodwind, and a prayer-like song for the strings. The music now enters a dramatic phase with stormy passages. But there soon arrives the most famous melody in the entire work, a beautiful supplication sounded first by the woodwind and then by the strings. A forceful climax ensues with a strong statement which seems to be speaking in loud and ringing tones of the determination of the people to stay free.

Performances of Finlandia played a prominent role in the political history of Finland. When performed in its first version, in 1899, it was used to help raise funds for a Press Pension fight against the suppression of free speech and press by the Russians. Within the next two years (following a radical revision of the music in 1900) the work was given under various titles: In France it was first performed as Suomi and then as La Patrie; in Germany, as Vaterland. In Finland the music proved so inflammatory in arousing national ardor that Russia suppressed its performances in that country, while permitting it to be played in the Empire so long as the title Impromptu was used. When, in 1905, Russia made far-reaching political concessions to Finland, Sibelius’ tone poem was once again permitted performances. For the next twelve years it became the national expression of a people stubbornly fighting for its independence. Performances kept alive the national fire to such an extent that it has been said that they did more to promote the cause of Finland’s freedom than all the propaganda of speeches and pamphlets.

When the Soviets invaded Finland in the first stages of World War II, Finlandia once again acquired political importance. In the free world, particularly in the United States, the music was used to speak for the spirit of a people refusing to accept oppression and defeat.

Another piece of stirring national music that has become a lighter classic comes out of the Karelia Suite for orchestra, op. 11 (1893), the Alla Marcia section. This work was written for a historical pageant presented by the students of Viborg University and consists of an overture, two melodious sections (Intermezzo and Ballade) and the Alla marcia, march music of dramatic surge and sweep, in which effective use is made of abrupt key changes.

Sibelius wrote several delightful Romances in the German-Romantic idiom of his early Canzonetta. One of these was originally for solo piano, in D-flat major, op. 24, no. 9 (1903); another for violin and piano, F major, op. 78, no. 2 (1915). The former has become popular in transcriptions for salon orchestra; the latter, for violin and orchestra, and cello and piano. Perhaps the most famous of Sibelius’ Romances is that in C major, for string orchestra, Op. 42 (1903). It begins with an unorthodox opening, unusual in harmonic structure and varied in inflections, but its principal melody—a soulful song—is in the traditional idiom of an uninhibited Romanticist.

The best known of Sibelius’ Romantic compositions, a universal favorite with salon orchestras, is the Valse Triste, for orchestra, op. 44 (1903). This is a section from the incidental music for Kuolema, a play by Sibelius’ brother-in-law, Arvid Jaernefelt; but it is the only one from this score to get published. This slow and lugubrious melody, bathed in sentimentality, is a literal musical interpretation of the following program, translated by Rosa Newmarch: “It is night. The son who has been watching by the bedside of his sick mother has fallen asleep from sheer weariness. Gradually a ruddy light is reflected through the room; there is a sound of distant music; the glow and the music steal nearer until the strains of a valse melody float distinctly to our ears. The sleeping mother awakens, rises from her bed, and, in her long white garment which takes the semblance of a ball dress, begins to move slowly and silently to and fro. She waves her hands and beckons in time to the music, as though she were summoning a crowd of invisible guests. And now they appear, these strange visionary couples, turning and gliding to an unearthly valse rhythm. The dying woman mingles with the dancers, she strives to make them look into her eyes, but the shadowy guests one and all avoid her glance. Then she seems to sink exhausted on her couch, and the music breaks off. But presently she gathers all her strength and invokes the dance once again with more energetic gestures than before. Back come the shadowy dancers, gyrating in a wild, mad rhythm. The weird gaiety reaches a climax; there is a knock at the door, which flies wide open; the mother utters a despairing cry; the spectral guests vanish; the music dies away. Death stands on the threshold.”

Christian Sinding

Christian Sinding was born in Kongsberg, Norway, on January 11, 1856. After attending the Leipzig Conservatory from 1877 to 1881 he settled in Oslo as a teacher of the piano. His first published composition was a piano quintet in 1884, and in 1885 he directed a concert of his own music in Oslo. Though he wrote in large forms, including symphonies, concertos, suites, tone poems and various chamber-music compositions, he is best known for his smaller pieces for the piano. In 1890 he received an annual subsidy from his government to enable him to devote himself completely to composition. One of Norway’s most significant composers, he was given a handsome life pension in 1915, and in 1916 an additional government gift of 30,000 crowns. In 1921-1922 he visited the United States when he served for one season as a member of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. He died in Oslo on December 3, 1941.