Download With the composition of his tone poem Finlandia

With the composition of his tone poem Finlandia, Jean Sibelius firmly secured his
reputation as the musical voice of Finnish nationalism. The composer harbored strong
patriotic sentiments, and he had expressed these in several compositions of the 1890s.
None were created with such a sense of urgency as Finlandia, however, and none struck
such a responsive chord with the public.
This work was prompted by a historical event. Early in 1899, the government of Czar
Nicholas II issued the infamous February Manifesto, severely curtailing liberties in
Finland, which was then under Russian domination. Censorship was tightened, and the
authority of the Finnish Parliament significantly limited. The move sparked a wave of
protest and, from Sibelius, an outpouring of music. After dashing off a choral song with
veiled but unmistakable nationalist meaning, the composer set to work on an orchestral
suite written to an allegory of Finnish history. This work was performed to great acclaim
in Helsinki late in 1899, but Sibelius evidently understood that its success stemmed more
from its patriotic overtones than its musical coherence. Accordingly, he reworked
portions of the suite early the next year. Among other things, the composer divorced its
final movement from the larger work, changing its title from Finland Awakes to simply
Finlandia. This piece was performed for the first time in July 1900 and quickly became
Sibelius’s most familiar composition.
Finlandia unfolds in three episodes, each distinct in character. The somber first section
juxtaposes dramatic music for brass and timpani with a plaintive chorale-like strain
introduced by the woodwinds and strings. Suddenly, sharp figures given out by the brass
usher in a more impassioned central section, in which not only the piercing brass chords
but the furious passagework of the strings and a stirring march theme suggest strife and
patriotic ardor. It is not difficult to perceive in all this a musical metaphor for oppression
and resistance. Soon, however, the tumult subsides, and the woodwinds quietly announce
a hymn-like theme, the most famous melody Sibelius ever wrote. The new subject is
taken up by the strings and, after a brief return to the more energetic vein of the central
episode, affirmed by the brass in the work’s triumphant closing measures.
Like other composers who happened to create an extremely popular short piece –
Rachmaninov with his C-sharp minor Prelude, for example, or Ravel with his Boléro –
Sibelius came to have misgivings about this composition. He regarded it as a relatively
minor work and resented the attention it drew from what he considered his more
important music. Still, he understood its appeal. A dozen years after Finlandia was first
performed, he wrote in his diary: “Why does this tone poem enthrall the public so much?
I suppose because of its naturalness. The melodies on which it rests came to me directly.
Pure inspiration.”
What to Listen For
The initial sections of Finlandia convey dejection and struggle. But it is the final part of
the work, with its famous hymn-like melody, that made this piece an emblem of Finnish
patriotism.
© 2015 Paul Schiavo