Sweden
The first of the romantic writers in Sweden is Anders Hallen (1846). His music was massive and Wagnerian in effect, showing the somberness of the influence of his native province Bohuslän. He had a great sense of melody and his marches and dances in his native style are happy and delightful. Emil Sjögren (1853–1918) was called “The Schumann of the North,” for he wrote mostly piano pieces, a beautiful violin sonata and vocal solos and showed a great deal of charm and warmth of feeling. We might add to this list Wilhelm Stenhammar, who wrote operas and choral works, and Hugo Alfven.
Music in the Country of Lakes—Finland
Finland, “the land of a thousand lakes,” and of virgin forests and meadows, has always been a country of great beauty and sadness.
Of all her composers, Jan Sibelius is the greatest (1865). He was educated as a lawyer but being a violinist, he decided to pursue a musical career. He is remarkable as a writer of symphonic poems, and sings with compelling beauty the legends of his country taken from The Kalevala, the epic poem which ranks with the greatest legendary poems of all times. Besides The Kalevala are the short lyrics or Kanteletar, sung to the lute of steel strings, which is called The Kantele. These legends and songs are always a source of great joy to the Finns and were first arranged by Elias Lönnrot in the early part of the 19th century. The symphonic poems of Sibelius are Karelia, The Swan of Tuonela and Lemminkäinen from The Kalevala. He wrote other compositions, of course, including cantatas and ballads and string quartets and choruses. His Finlandia is a true picture of the Finnish people and country, and his Fourth Symphony is one of the 20th century’s monumental works.
It is interesting to note in his Finnish songs a peculiar five-four rhythm which is haunting and fascinating. He was recognized as a great musician, for he is the only one of this time who drew a government pension. In 1914, Sibelius was in America for the Norfolk Festival for which he had written a special work, a symphonic poem, Aalottaret (Daughter of the Ocean). At the same time Yale University conferred a degree upon him. He lives far north in Finland away from cities, surrounded for many months of the year by great snow fields.
Selim Palmgren is a writer of charming piano pieces who, in 1924, was teacher at the Eastman Conservatory in Rochester, New York.
Other composers in Finland were Bernard Crusell (1775–1838), and Frederick Pacius (who was born in Hamburg in 1809 and died in Helsingfors in 1891), the Father of Finnish Music and the author of the National Hymn Wartland and Suomis Song (Suomi means Finland). He was a violinist, a follower of Spohr and composed a great many musical works.
Among others is Armas Järnefelt (1864), an orchestral conductor and composer living in Stockholm.