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133-578: The International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition , named after Finnish composer Jean Sibelius , is a competition for violinists up to age 30. It is held every five years in Helsinki . The first competition took place in year 1965, eight years after the death of the composer to mark the centenary of the composer's birth. The competition is arranged by the Sibelius Society of Finland and

266-475: A "scattered ... architecture" and predicted that, while excerpts from Kullervo would be suitable for the concert repertoire, the piece "in its entirety will not become living art". Two additional productions of Kullervo are also of historical significance. First, the world premiere of Kullervo outside of Finland was on 19 November 1970 in Bournemouth , England, with Paavo Berglund conducting

399-664: A "symphony" (" symfoni ") in letters to Aino Järnefelt, Kajanus, and Wegelius, before settling on "symphonic poem" (" symfonisk dikt ") for the April premiere—a title that newspaper advertisements and program shared. Sibelius likely "shrank" from the former classification due both to Kullervo 's programmatic nature, as well as its deployment of a hybrid structure in which a " quasi-operatic ... scena " essentially 'interrupts' an up-to-that-point 'normal' work for orchestra. Nevertheless, in retirement while reflecting on his career, Sibelius returned to describing Kullervo as

532-415: A "wholly mystif[ied]" Kajanus began to worry that "some crazy manuscript collector [might] have purloined the score". His patience exhausted, Sibelius in his diary entertained the possibility of conspiracy: "Letter from [Kajanus]. He has not taken the slightest care of Kullervo or—this is more likely—one of the orchestral staff who belongs to the clique around him has burnt it". In December, Kajanus located

665-542: A 'Kullervo' among his compositions; having likely forgotten that Kajanus indeed had written a piece called Kullervo's Funeral March in 1880, a paranoid Sibelius "jumped to the conclusion" that Kajanus had appropriated Kullervo as his own. Stunningly, Kajanus had mislaid the score following the 1905 concert, and a "nerve-wracking" hunt ensued. When searches of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Institute libraries proved unsuccessful,

798-525: A London performance in 1933 under Basil Cameron was even advertised to the public. The only concrete evidence of the symphony's existence on paper is a 1933 bill for a fair copy of the first movement and short draft fragments first published and played in 2011. Sibelius had always been quite self-critical; he remarked to his close friends, "If I cannot write a better symphony than my Seventh, then it shall be my last." Since no manuscript survives, sources consider it likely that Sibelius destroyed most traces of

931-413: A Swedish translation) from The Kalevala for Movements III and V, as well as a motto that helped it to contextualize the instrumental Movement IV. Notably, this was the first time in history that a concert audience had been given a Finnish-language text. Although the orchestra overpowered Ojanperä and Achté, the performance was a success: enthusiastic applause erupted after each movement and, at

1064-399: A banker and Heidi Blomstedt was a designer, wife of architect Aulis Blomstedt . Margareta married conductor Jussi Jalas , Aulis Blomstedt's brother. In 1892, Kullervo inaugurated Sibelius's focus on orchestral music. It was described by the composer Aksel Törnudd  [ fi ] as "a volcanic eruption" while Juho Ranta who sang in the choir stated, "It was Finnish music." At

1197-531: A choral symphony, a descendant of Beethoven's Ninth (1824), Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette (1839), and Liszt's Dante (1856) and Faust (1857), as well as a contemporary of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony (1894). This perspective emphasizes the internal cohesion of the work and its faithfulness to, rather than deviation from, established symphonic practice. As Tawaststjerna has argued: The three purely orchestral movements ... follow traditional patterns: sonata-form, rondo and scherzo, while in

1330-407: A competition committee for pre-selection. The first round program consists typically works of Bach , a sonata by Mozart , and Paganini 's capriccios. It is said that Bach measures readiness, Mozart measures understanding of style, and Paganini measures technical ability. The second round, often referred as the semi-finals, consists typically of a sonata for violin and piano, few pieces by Sibelius,

1463-531: A copy was gifted to the Danish king. The next day, as part of Sibelius Week, Jalas repeated Kullervo for a public concert held at Messuhalli. Writing in Helsingin Sanomat , Martti Vuorenjuuri  [ fi ] described Kullervo as "an astonishing leap away from all music that preceded it" with "themes [that] are rather successful, sometimes even ingenious"; nevertheless, he faulted Sibelius for

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1596-431: A few major works during the rest of his life. Arguably the two most significant of these were the incidental music for The Tempest and the tone poem Tapiola . For most of the last thirty years of his life, Sibelius even avoided talking publicly about his music. There is substantial evidence that Sibelius worked on an eighth symphony. He promised the premiere of this symphony to Serge Koussevitzky in 1931 and 1932, and

1729-672: A few small pieces, he relied increasingly on alcohol. In May 1925, his Danish publisher Wilhelm Hansen and the Royal Danish Theatre invited him to compose incidental music for a production of Shakespeare 's The Tempest . He completed the work well in advance of its premiere in March 1926. It was well received in Copenhagen although Sibelius was not there himself. The music journalist Vesa Sirén has found evidence that Sibelius perhaps suffered from essential tremor since

1862-620: A highly successful trip to England in early 1921—conducting several concerts around the country, including the Fourth and Fifth symphonies, The Oceanides , the ever-popular Finlandia , and Valse triste . Immediately afterwards, he conducted the Second Symphony and Valse triste in Norway. He was beginning to suffer from exhaustion, but the critics remained positive. On his return to Finland in April, he presented Lemminkäinen's Return and

1995-590: A large section of the audience left the hall between the movements while in October, after a concert conducted by Carl Muck , the Boston American labelled it "a sad failure". Sibelius's first significant composition of 1913 was the tone poem The Bard , which he conducted in March to a respectful audience in Helsinki. He went on to compose Luonnotar (Daughter of Nature) for soprano and orchestra. With

2128-917: A modern Finnish piece, and a virtuoso piece. In the final round, the finalists perform two concertos accompanied by a full symphony orchestra. One of the concertos is mandated as the Violin Concerto in D minor by Sibelius. In 2005, 175 applications were received, 58 competitors were accepted of which 50 took part in the competition, 20 proceeded to the second round, and 8 were chosen to the final round. [REDACTED] Pavel Kogan [REDACTED] Leonidas Kavakos [REDACTED] Akiko Tanaka [REDACTED] Nikolaj Znaider [REDACTED] Sayako Kusaka [REDACTED] Wei Wen Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( / s ɪ ˈ b eɪ l i ə s / ; Finland Swedish: [siˈbeːliʉs] ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius ; 8 December 1865 – 20 September 1957)

2261-540: A native Swedish speaker. In 1876, he continued his education at the Finnish-language Hämeenlinna Normal Lyceum where he was a rather absent-minded pupil, though did quite well in mathematics and botany. Despite having to repeat a year, he passed the school's final examination in 1885, which allowed him to enter a university. As a boy he was known as Janne , a colloquial form of Johan. However, during his student years, he adopted

2394-520: A particularly strong interest in the instrument. Setting his heart on a career as a great violin virtuoso, he soon became an accomplished player, performing David 's Concerto in E minor in 1886 and, the following year, the last two movements of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in Helsinki. Despite such success as an instrumentalist, he ultimately chose to become a composer. In 1874, Sibelius attended Lucina Hagman's Finnish-speaking preparatory school as

2527-600: A perspective conceptualizes Kullervo as Sibelius's "Symphony No. 0" and thereby expands his completed contributions to the symphonic canon from seven to eight. Kullervo has been recorded many times, with Paavo Berglund and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra having made the world premiere studio recording in 1970. A typical performance lasts about 73 minutes, making it the longest composition in Sibelius's œuvre . Preparations for

2660-649: A popular concert that concluded the season. Following the 1892 concerts, Sibelius married Aino on 10 June at the Järnefelt summer home in Tottesund, Vöyri (Vörå), the success of Kullervo having convinced Aino's parents (and Sibelius's mother) that he would be able to provide for their daughter. To satisfy Sibelius's "longing for the wilds", the couple honeymooned in the Karelian village of Lieksa on Lake Pielinen . (Later, Sibelius claimed that this

2793-484: A present was about to be confiscated by the bailiffs when the singer Ida Ekman paid off a large proportion of his debt after a successful fund-raising campaign. A year later, on 8 December 1916, Sibelius presented the revised version of his Fifth Symphony in Turku, combining the first two movements and simplifying the finale. When it was performed a week later in Helsinki, Katila was very favourable but Wasenius frowned on

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2926-472: A result, his mother—who was again pregnant—had to sell their property and move the family into the home of Katarina Borg, her widowed mother, who also lived in Hämeenlinna. Sibelius was therefore brought up in a decidedly female environment, the only male influence coming from his uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, who was interested in music, especially the violin. Pehr Ferdinand gave the boy a violin when he

3059-496: A review for Helsingin Sanomat , Evert Katila  [ fi ] wrote that, given the caustic receives Kullervo received in 1893, Movement III "surprised and astonished with its clarity, simplicity and subtle beauty". However, he faulted the soloists as woefully unsuitable in terms of timbre and dramatic interpretation: "[they] did not do full justice to the composition". The final time that any movement of Kullervo

3192-683: A revised version of his First Symphony) in thirteen cities including Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin and Paris. The critics were highly favorable, bringing the composer international recognition with their enthusiastic reports in the Berliner Börsen-Courier , the Berliner Fremdenblatt and the Berliner Lokal Anzeiger . During a trip with his family to Rapallo , Italy in 1901, Sibelius began to write his Second Symphony , partly inspired by

3325-409: A sanatorium, suffering from exhaustion. While she was away, Sibelius resolved to give up drinking , concentrating instead on composing his Third Symphony . He completed the work for a performance in Helsinki on 25 September. Although its more classical approach surprised the audience, Flodin commented that it was "internally new and revolutionary". Shortly afterwards Sibelius met Gustav Mahler who

3458-685: A sense of design as of thematic character". In The Guardian , Edward Greenfield characterized Kullervo as a work of "striking originality" and " Mahlerian scale". Second, on 10 March 1979, Kullervo received its American premiere at Uihlein Hall in Milwaukee, with Kenneth Schermerhorn conducting the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Conservatory Symphony Chorus ;

3591-444: A short pizzicato piece Vattendroppar (Water Drops) for violin, possibly as an etude or musical exercise. The first reference he made to himself composing is in a letter from August 1883 in which he writes that he composed a trio and was working on another: "They are rather poor, but it is nice to have something to do on rainy days." In 1881, he began violin lessons with the local bandmaster, Gustaf Levander, immediately developing

3724-649: A spell in hospital. His smoking and drinking had now become life-threatening. Although he cancelled concerts in Rome, Warsaw and Berlin, he maintained an engagement in London but there too his Third Symphony failed to attract the critics. In May 1908, Sibelius's health deteriorated further. He travelled with his wife to Berlin to have a tumour removed from his throat. After the operation, he vowed to give up smoking and drinking once and for all. The impact of this brush with death has been said to have inspired works that he composed in

3857-582: A symphony. For instance, in 1945 the City of Loviisa requested Sibelius's blessing for a plaque in his honor that included in its description "[here] Jean Sibelius composed his Kullervo Suite". On 27 February, Sibelius sent the following correction: "Kullervo symphony ( not suite)" (emphasis and underlining in the original). Presumably, had he still considered the work a symphonic poem, he could have written so. Also, later in life, Sibelius conceded that in fact he had written nine symphonies, Kullervo and

3990-789: A text from the Kalevala , it was first performed in Finnish in September 1913 by Aino Ackté (to whom it had been dedicated) at the music festival in Gloucester , England. In early 1914, Sibelius spent a month in Berlin where he was particularly drawn to Arnold Schoenberg . Back in Finland, he began work on The Oceanides , which the American millionaire Carl Stoeckel had commissioned for

4123-474: A time, although also showing interest in the established works of Beethoven and Wagner . He enjoyed his year in Vienna, frequently partying and gambling with his new friends. It was also in Vienna that he turned to orchestral composition, composing an Overture in E major and a Scène de Ballet . While embarking on Kullervo , an orchestral work with chorus and soloists inspired by the Kalevala , he fell ill but

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4256-420: A violinist: My tragedy was that I wanted to be a celebrated violinist at any price. Since the age of 15 I played my violin practically from morning to night. I hated pen and ink—unfortunately I preferred an elegant violin bow. My love for the violin lasted quite long and it was a very painful awakening when I had to admit that I had begun my training for the exacting career of a virtuoso too late. In addition to

4389-573: A work as massive as Sibelius's Kullervo stretched Helsinki's musical resources to the limit: the copyists labored to write out the parts, while organizers hired extra musicians because the Helsinki Orchestral Association then consisted of just thirty-eight permanent members. Moreover, the city had no professional chorus, and so about forty amateur vocalists were cobbled together from the University Chorus and

4522-422: A work is to recast it from beginning to end, and Sibelius no doubt feels that he is more profitably engaged in writing new works than in re-writing old ones ... The chances are, then, that Kullervo will never see the light of day. Nevertheless, in early 1935, as Finland prepared to celebrate the centenary of the Kalevala 's publication, Armas Väisänen —the ethnomusicologist and general secretary of

4655-480: A young age and that he reduced the symptoms by drinking alcohol. This self-medication is common and effective but discouraged by doctors due to the risks outweighing the benefits. Sirén's research is supported by several medical experts. The tremor presumably prevented writing and impaired his social life. The year 1926 saw a sharp and lasting decline in Sibelius's output: after his Seventh Symphony, he produced only

4788-578: Is willing to drink guilty blood . The sword answers, and Kullervo falls on his sword. Sibelius went on to become one of the most important symphonists of the early twentieth century: his seven numbered symphonies, written between 1899 (the Symphony No. 1 in E ;minor , Op. 39) and 1924 (the Symphony No. 7 in C ;major , Op. 105), are the core of his oeuvre and stalwarts of

4921-481: The Lemminkäinen Suite (Op. 22) inclusive. The symphonic poem appellation has struck many commentators as ill-fitting; an early example is that, after examining the score in 1915, Furuhjelm re-conceptualized Kullervo as an "epic drama" in two acts (Movements III and V), with two preludes (I and II) and an intermezzo (IV). More commonly, however, scholars have categorized Kullervo as

5054-842: The Helsinki City Orchestra with soloist Anja Ignatius originated a broadcast of Sibelius compositions to 14 countries in coordination with the International Broadcasting Union . The program included the tone poem The Oceanides , followed by his Fifth Symphony , and the Violin Concerto. In 1935 The New York Philharmonic surveyed the preferences of music listeners around the United States. When asked who their favourite composer was, Sibelius came first among all of them, living or dead. This degree of recognition during his own lifetime

5187-524: The Imperial Alexander's University of Finland , Sibelius—initially pale and trembling—conducting. The soloists were the Finnish mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté and baritone Abraham Ojanperä. The audience—a mix of the regular concert-going public and patriots there for the nationalist spectacle —received two leaflets: first, a Swedish-language program that described Kullervo as a "symphonic poem" (" symfonisk dikt "); and second, text in Finnish, (with

5320-593: The Karelia Suite . Their home, Ainola , was completed near Lake Tuusula , Järvenpää, in 1904. During the years at Ainola, they had six daughters: Eva, Ruth, Kirsti (who died aged one from typhoid ), Katarina, Margareta and Heidi. Eva married an industrial heir, Arvi Paloheimo, and later became the CEO of the Paloheimo Corporation. Ruth Snellman (fi) was a prominent actress, Katarina Ilves married

5453-632: The Norfolk Music Festival . After first composing the work in D-flat major, Sibelius undertook substantive revisions, presenting a D major version in Norfolk, which was well received, as were Finlandia and the Valse triste . Henry Krehbiel considered The Oceanides one of the most beautiful pieces of sea music ever composed, while The New York Times commented that Sibelius's music was

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5586-549: The Sibelius Academy . The competition has always had high-level competitors, and winners such as Oleg Kagan , Viktoria Mullova , and Leonidas Kavakos have become internationally performing soloists. The popularity amongst the players might be explained by the location of the competition: Finland connecting western Europe and USSR was probably considered safe enough by the Soviet authority to allow players to attend

5719-497: The concert repertoire . However, the standard cycle is predated by two projects that Sibelius, during the compositional process, referred to as "symphonies". First, in 1891, Sibelius wrote the Overture in E major (JS 145) and Scène de ballet (JS 163), which he had intended as the initial two movements of a symphony before abandoning his plan. Second, in 1891 and early 1892, Sibelius continually labeled Kullervo

5852-432: The "silence of Järvenpää " (the location of his home). Although he is reputed to have stopped composing, he attempted to continue writing, including abortive efforts on an eighth symphony . In later life, he wrote Masonic music and re-edited some earlier works, while retaining an active but not always favourable interest in new developments in music. Although this 'silence' has often perplexed scholars, in reality, Sibelius

5985-502: The 1894–95 season, works such as En saga , Karelia and Vårsång (composed in 1894) were included in at least 16 concerts in the capital, not to mention those in Turku . When performed in a revised version on 17 April 1895, the composer Oskar Merikanto welcomed Vårsång (Spring Song) as "the fairest flower among Sibelius's orchestral pieces". For a considerable period, Sibelius worked on an opera, Veneen luominen (The Building of

6118-491: The Boat), again based on the Kalevala . To some extent, he had come under the influence of Wagner, but subsequently turned to Liszt 's tone poems as a source of compositional inspiration. Adapted from material for the opera, which he never completed, his Lemminkäinen Suite consisted of four legends in the form of tone poems. They were premiered in Helsinki on 13 April 1896 to a full house. In contrast to Merikanto's enthusiasm for

6251-718: The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the YL Male Voice Choir; the soloists were the baritone Usko Viitanen  [ fi ] and mezzo-soprano Raili Kostia  [ fi ] . The next day, Berglund repeated Kullervo at Royal Festival Hall in London. Writing for The Times , William Mann praised Kullervo as "dramatically gripping", with "choral writing [... that] is stern and monolithic, often powerful, and ... eloquent solos for brother and sister"; he also described Sibelius as "a gifted musical experimenter, with as strong

6384-527: The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra made the world premiere studio recording in 1970 (1971 release; U.S. distributor: Angel Records SB-3778 ; U.K. distributor: His Master's Voice SLS 807/2). In an effort to "gain balance" between soloists and orchestra, Berglund—on the "valuable" advice of Jalas—made alterations to the score, correcting what he had perceived to be Sibelius's "impractical orchestration" and "some passages [that were] clumsy or even impossible to play". In Movement III, for example, Berglund swapped out

6517-630: The Fifth Symphony at the Nordic Music Days. Early in 1922, after suffering from headaches Sibelius decided to acquire spectacles although he never wore them for photographs. In July, he was saddened by the death of his brother Christian. In August, he joined the Finnish Freemasons and composed ritual music for them. In February 1923, he premiered his Sixth Symphony . Evert Katila highly praised it as "pure idyll." Before

6650-916: The Finnish capital. Sibelius was born on 8 December 1865 in Hämeenlinna ( Swedish : Tavastehus ) in the Grand Duchy of Finland , an autonomous state within the Russian Empire . He was the son of the Swedish-speaking medical doctor Christian Gustaf Sibelius and Maria Charlotta Sibelius (née Borg). The family name stems from the Sibbe estate in Eastern Uusimaa , which his paternal great-grandfather owned. Sibelius's father died of typhoid in July 1868, leaving substantial debts. As

6783-481: The Finnish composer Robert Kajanus conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in a program that included his symphonic poem Aino , a patriotic piece that may have inspired Sibelius's later interest in using the epic poem Kalevala as a basis for his own compositions. While in Vienna, he became particularly interested in the music of Anton Bruckner whom he regarded as "the greatest living composer" for

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6916-750: The Finnish quality of the work, the critic Karl Flodin found the cor anglais solo in The Swan of Tuonela "stupendously long and boring", although he considered the first legend, Lemminkäinen and the Maidens of the Island , as representing the peak of Sibelius's achievement to date. To pay his way, from 1892 Sibelius had taken on teaching assignments at the Music Institute and at Kajanus's conducting school but this left him insufficient time for composing. The situation improved considerably when in 1898 he

7049-651: The First Symphony and Finlandia , writing to Aino that the concert had been a great success and widely acclaimed. In 1906, after a short, rather uneventful stay in Paris at the beginning of the year, Sibelius spent several months composing in Ainola, his major work of the period being Pohjola's Daughter , yet another piece based on the Kalevala . Later in the year he composed incidental music for Belshazzar's Feast , also adapting it as an orchestral suite. He ended

7182-639: The French form Jean , inspired by the business card of his deceased seafaring uncle. Thereafter he became known as Jean Sibelius. After graduating from high school in 1885, Sibelius began to study law at the Imperial Alexander University in Finland but, showing far more interest in music, soon moved to the Helsinki Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy ) where he studied from 1885 to 1889. One of his teachers

7315-549: The Helsinki Parish Clerk and Organ School's student choir. The rehearsals were also a challenge: the musicians, the majority of whom were Germans, not only viewed Sibelius as a neophyte but also had little understanding of the national heritage upon which Kullervo drew—a few of them even laughed derisively when they saw their parts and when the soloists sang. Speaking a mix of Finnish, Swedish, and German as needed, Sibelius gradually won over his performers through

7448-686: The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra—recorded Kullervo for a second time. As of February 2021, Kullervo has been recorded twenty times, the most recent of which dates to August 2018 and is by the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra . In terms of superlatives, two other Finnish conductors, Leif Segerstam and Osmo Vänskä , as well as Britain's Sir Colin Davis , have since joined Berglund as having recorded

7581-595: The National Library of Finland in Helsinki, to which his estate transferred in the 1980s). Each of the five movements present a part of Kullervo's life, based on the Kullervo cycle from the Kalevala. Movements one, two, and four are instrumental. The third and fifth contain sung dialogue from the epic poem. The work runs over an hour. Some recent recordings range from 70 to 80 minutes. This movement evokes

7714-443: The Red Guard commander-in-chief Eero Haapalainen , who guaranteed Sibelius a safe journey from Ainola to the capital. On 20 February, a group of Red Guard fighters escorted the family to Helsinki. Finally, from 12 to 13 April, the German troops occupied the city and the Red period was over. A week later, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra gave a concert in homage to the German commander Rüdiger von der Goltz . Sibelius finished off

7847-403: The Senate's declaration of independence from Russia in December 1917. The Jäger March , first played on 19 January 1918, delighted the Helsinki elite for a short time until the start of the Finnish Civil War on 27 January. Sibelius naturally supported the Whites , but as a Tolstoyan , Aino Sibelius had some sympathies for the Reds too. In February, his house (Ainola) was searched twice by

7980-502: The audience. By the end of the year, he was already working on the Sixth. In 1920, despite a growing tremor in his hands, Sibelius composed the Hymn of the Earth to a text by the poet Eino Leino for the Suomen Laulu Choir and orchestrated his Valse lyrique , helped along by drinking wine. On his birthday in December 1920, Sibelius received a donation of 63,000 marks, a substantial sum the tenor Wäinö Sola  [ fi ] had raised from Finnish businesses. Although he used some of

8113-443: The autograph manuscript of Kullervo , which was then the only copy. The impetus for this request was two-fold. First, the composer and scholar Erik Furuhjelm  [ fi ] had begun writing a Swedish-language biography in honor of Sibelius's semicentennial; to continue the book, he needed to examine the work that had launched Sibelius's career. Second, an 15 August article about Kajanus in Hufvudstadsbladet had listed

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8246-577: The baritone Vern Shinall and mezzo-soprano Mignon Dunn were the soloists. In a review for The Milwaukee Journal , Roxane Orgill faulted Sibelius as a "longwinded conversationalist" and dismissed Kullervo as having "wander[ed] aimlessly ... it could be argued that the score should never have been dusted off". On 13 April, Schermerhorn's crew (albeit with the West Minster Men's Choir substituting) played Kullervo at Carnegie Hall in New York. In The New York Times , Raymond Ericson found Kullervo "verbose and very uneven. Yet ... it has

8379-418: The birth of Sibelius's first child Eva, in April the premiere of his choral work Väinämöinen's Boat Ride was a considerable success, receiving the support of the press. On 13 November 1893, the full version of Karelia was premiered at a student association gala at the Seurahuone in Viipuri with the collaboration of the artist Axel Gallén and the sculptor Emil Wikström who had been brought in to design

8512-425: The cello. ( Christian Sibelius was to become an eminent psychiatrist , still remembered for his contributions to modern psychiatry in Finland.) Sibelius soon began playing in quartets with neighboring families, furthering his experience performing chamber music. Fragments survive of his early compositions of the period, a trio, a piano quartet and a Suite in D Minor for violin and piano. Around 1881, he transcribed

8645-400: The changes, leading the composer to rewrite it once again. From the beginning of 1917, Sibelius started drinking again, triggering arguments with Aino. Their relationship improved with the excitement resulting from the start of the Russian Revolution . By the end of the year, Sibelius had composed his Jäger March . The piece proved particularly popular after the Finnish parliament accepted

8778-405: The competition. The competition has three rounds: the first round, the second round, and the final round. After each round, a number of competitors are chosen to proceed to the next round, and after the final round the finalists are ranked. In the final ranking, the performance in each round is considered as a whole. To be accepted in the competition, candidates need to send a performance sample for

8911-404: The concert itself was successful, it received mixed reviews, some very positive while those in the Allgemeine Zeitung and the Berliner Tageblatt were less enthusiastic. Back in Finland, he rewrote the increasingly popular Pelléas and Mélisande as an orchestral suite. In November, visiting Britain for the first time, he went to Liverpool where he met Henry Wood . On 2 December, he conducted

9044-464: The construction costs, he gave concerts in Helsinki, Turku and Vaasa in early 1904 as well as in Tallinn, Estonia, and in Latvia during the summer. The family were finally able to move into the new property on 24 September 1904, making friends with the local artistic community, including the painters Eero Järnefelt and Pekka Halonen and the novelist Juhani Aho . In January 1905, Sibelius returned to Berlin where he conducted his Second Symphony. While

9177-559: The end of that year the composer's grandmother, Katarina Borg died. Sibelius went to her funeral, visiting his Hämeenlinna home one last time before the house was sold. On 16 February 1893, the first (extended) version of En saga was presented in Helsinki although it was not too well received, the critics suggesting that superfluous sections should be eliminated (as they were in Sibelius's 1902 version). Even less successful were three more performances of Kullervo in March, which one critic found incomprehensible and lacking in vitality. Following

9310-406: The end, Kajanus presented Sibelius with a blue-and-white-ribboned laurel wreath that quoted prophetically lines 615–616 of Runo L of The Kalevala : "That way now will run the future / On the new course, cleared and ready". The next day, Kullervo received its second performance—again under Sibelius's baton—at a matinée concert, and on 30 April, Kajanus conducted the fourth movement at

9443-404: The event by conducting the Jäger March . In early 1919, Sibelius enthusiastically decided to change his image, shaving off what remained of his thinning hair. In June, together with Aino, he visited Copenhagen on his first trip outside Finland since 1915, successfully presenting his Second Symphony. In November he conducted the final version of his Fifth Symphony, receiving repeated ovations from

9576-542: The expressed wish of the recently deceased master". Evidence in support of this perspective is that Sibelius regularly denied performance requests. For example, when on 31 August 1950 Olin Downes —the music critic for The New York Times and Sibelius 'apostle'—wrote to the composer to secure Kullervo 's American premiere, Sibelius refused in a 5 September response. "I still feel deeply for this youthful work of mine", Sibelius explained. "Perhaps that accounts for

9709-401: The fact that I would not like to have it performed abroad during an era that seems to me so very remote from the spirit that Kullervo represents ... I am not certain that the modern public would be able to place it in its proper perspective ... even in my own country I have declined to have it produced". However, Erik Tawaststjerna , Sibelius's most expansive biographer, argued that

9842-542: The family home. There he met and immediately fell in love with Aino , the 17-year-old daughter of General Alexander Järnefelt , the governor of Vaasa , and Elisabeth Clodt von Jürgensburg , a Baltic aristocrat. The wedding was held on 10 June 1892 at Maxmo . They spent their honeymoon in Karelia , the home of the Kalevala . It served as an inspiration for Sibelius's tone poem En saga , the Lemminkäinen legends and

9975-547: The fate of Don Juan in Mozart's Don Giovanni . It was completed in early 1902 with its premiere in Helsinki on 8 March. The work was received with tremendous enthusiasm by the Finns. Merikanto felt it exceeded "even the boldest expectations," while Evert Katila qualified it as "an absolute masterpiece". Flodin, too, wrote of a symphonic composition "the likes of which we have never had occasion to listen to before". Sibelius spent

10108-491: The festival—secured Sibelius's blessing to have Kullervo 's third movement performed under the baton of Georg Schnéevoigt . (Väisänen had taken Schnéevoigt to the Helsinki University Library to examine the autograph manuscript; the conductor did not find Kullervo to be on par with Sibelius's mature works, and was only willing to conduct Movement III.) The concert was held on 1 March at

10241-484: The fighting, his royalties from abroad were interrupted. To make ends meet, he composed smaller works for publication in Finland. In March 1915, he was able to travel to Gothenburg in Sweden, where his work The Oceanides was widely appreciated. While working on his Fifth Symphony in April, he saw 16 swans flying by, inspiring him to write the finale. "One of the great experiences of my life!" he commented. Although there

10374-496: The finale after returning to Järvenpää. Sibelius conducted his first concerts in Sweden in early 1911 when even his Third Symphony was welcomed by the critics. He completed the Fourth Symphony in April but, as he expected, with its introspective style it was not very warmly received when first performed in Helsinki with mixed reviews. Apart from a trip to Paris where he enjoyed a performance of Richard Strauss's Salome ,

10507-528: The following years, including Luonnotar and the Fourth Symphony . In 1909, the successful throat operation resulted in renewed happiness between Sibelius and Aino in the family home. In Britain too, his condition was well received as he conducted En saga , Finlandia , Valse Triste and Spring Song to enthusiastic audiences. A meeting with Claude Debussy produced further support. After another uneventful trip to Paris, he went to Berlin where he

10640-478: The force of his personality; as one vocalist recalled, "We doubted that we could learn our parts ... [but] the young composer himself would come and hold special rehearsals with us. This raised our self-esteem. And he came. His eyes were ablaze! It was that inspirational fire of which the poets speak". Kullervo premiered on 28 April 1892 at a sold-out concert audience in the Ceremonial Hall of

10773-514: The heroic sweep of the legendary Finnish setting, as well as the character Kullervo, a complex, tragic figure. This movement reflects the sombre tone of Runos 31 through 33 of the Kalevala . Kullervo is marked for tragedy from birth, and spends his youth largely in slavery . The baritone and mezzo-soprano represent the protagonist and his sister, while the male chorus set the scene and offer commentary. Kullervo encounters three women and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce them, before succeeding with

10906-455: The local Red Guard looking for weapons. During the first weeks of the war, some of his acquaintances were killed in the violence, and his brother, the psychiatrist Christian Sibelius, was arrested because he refused to reserve beds for the Red soldiers who had suffered shell shock at the front. Sibelius's friends in Helsinki were now worried about his safety. The composer Robert Kajanus negotiated with

11039-474: The long periods he spent studying in Vienna and Berlin, in 1900 he travelled to Italy, where he spent a year with his family. He composed, conducted and socialized actively in the Scandinavian countries, Britain, France and Germany and later travelled to the United States. While Sibelius was studying music in Helsinki in the autumn of 1888, Armas Järnefelt, a friend from the Music Institute, invited him to

11172-726: The manuscript in his personal library. Around 1916, Sibelius deposited the manuscript in Helsinki University Library for safekeeping, only to sell it to the Kalevala Society  [ fi ] in the early 1920s in order to address his dire financial situation. A decade later, Cecil Gray , Sibelius's first English-language biographer and an advocate in Britain for his music, reported that Sibelius had told him Kullervo would likely remain unrevised: He confesses to being not entirely satisfied with

11305-511: The moment at which orchestral music became his chosen medium. The critics praised the confidence and inventiveness of his writing and heralded Kullervo as the dawn of art music that was distinctly Finnish. Sibelius's triumph, however, was due in part to extra-musical considerations: by setting the Finnish-language Kalevala and evoking—but not directly quoting—the melody and rhythm of rune singing , he had given voice to

11438-695: The money to reduce his debts, he also spent a week celebrating to excess in Helsinki. At this time, Sibelius held detailed negotiations with George Eastman , inventor of the Kodak camera and founder of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Eastman offered $ 20,000 salary to teach for a single year, and before Sibelius declined, negotiations were so firm that the New York Times published Sibelius's arrival as fact. Sibelius enjoyed

11571-641: The most notable contribution to the music festival. While in America, Sibelius received an honorary doctorate from Yale University and, almost simultaneously, one from the University of Helsinki where he was represented by Aino. While travelling back from the United States, Sibelius heard about the events in Sarajevo that led to the beginning of the First World War . Although he was far away from

11704-568: The newly-built Messuhalli , which was "filled to the brim". The performers were the Helsinki Philharmonic and a choir drawn from the YL Male Voice Choir and Laulu-Miehet  [ fi ] , with the tenor Väinö Sola  [ fi ] (who substituted when the baritone Oiva Soini  [ fi ] took ill before the dress rehearsal) and the lyric soprano Aino Vuorjoki serving as soloists. In

11837-486: The notes; instead, he dictated the orchestration to his son-in-law Jussi Jalas. The impetus for returning to Kullervo had been a request by the Finnish bass-baritone Kim Borg for a song from Sibelius. Borg premiered Kullervo's Lament on 14 June in Helsinki during Sibelius Week, Jalas conducting the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra . Sibelius died on 20 September 1957. Nine months later, on 12 June 1958, Kullervo received its first complete performance of

11970-478: The one-act opera The Maiden in the Tower ; chamber music , piano music, Masonic ritual music, and 21 publications of choral music . Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s, but after completing his Seventh Symphony (1924), the incidental music for The Tempest (1926), and the tone poem Tapiola (1926), he stopped producing major works in his last 30 years—a retirement commonly referred to as

12103-423: The original orchestration of Kullervo's Lament for Sibelius's 1957 reorchestration, albeit transposed to the original key. Writing for The Musical Times , Hugh Ottaway applauded the recording for its "strong sense of occasion", noting "Berglund's enthusiasm has brought a brilliant, dedicated performance ... [that] could well be a revelation. It is a triumph for all concerned". In 1985, Berglund—now with

12236-399: The piece as a symphonic poem ; nevertheless, Sibelius referred to Kullervo as a symphony both while composing the piece and again in retirement when reflecting on his career. Today, many commentators prefer to view Kullervo as a choral symphony , due to its deployment of sonata form in the first movement, its thematic unity, and the presence of recurring material across movements. Such

12369-401: The political struggle for Finland's independence from Imperial Russia . After four additional performances—and increasingly tepid reviews—Sibelius withdrew Kullervo in March 1893, saying he wanted to revise it. He never did, and as his idiom evolved beyond national romanticism , he suppressed the work. (However, individual movements were played a few times during his lifetime, most notably

12502-467: The posthumous revival of Kullervo "was certainly not in conflict with [Sibelius's] last wishes", as before his death he "reconciled to the idea that the symphony in its entirety might be taken up ... and finally accepted it as something quite natural". Kullervo is scored for soprano, baritone, male choir (tenors and baritones), and orchestra. The choir sings in Movements III and V, while

12635-513: The rest of the year was fairly uneventful. In 1912, he completed his short orchestral work Scènes historiques II . It was first performed in March together with the Fourth Symphony. The concert was repeated twice to enthusiastic audiences and critics including Robert Kajanus. The Fourth Symphony was also well received in Birmingham in September. In March 1913, it was performed in New York but

12768-520: The restaurants. But he continued to compose, one of his major successes being Valse triste , one of six pieces of incidental music he composed for his brother-in-law Arvid Järnefelt 's play Kuolema (Death). Short of money, he sold the piece at a low price but it quickly gained considerable popularity not only in Finland but internationally. During his long stays in Helsinki, Sibelius's wife Aino frequently wrote to him, imploring him to return home but to no avail. Even after their fourth daughter, Katarina,

12901-514: The rights to Kullervo in 1961 and published Halonen's copy (with emendations) five years later. A critical edition of Kullervo , edited by the musicologist Glenda Dawn Goss , arrived in 2005; her work is based on the autograph manuscript, as well as the original orchestral and choral parts (preserved at the Sibelius Museum in Turku ) and piano-vocal arrangements of Movements III and V that Sibelius used for rehearsals (preserved at

13034-461: The score, probably in 1945, during which year he certainly consigned a great many papers to the flames. His wife Aino recalled, In the 1940s there was a great auto da fé at Ainola. My husband collected a number of the manuscripts in a laundry basket and burned them on the open fire in the dining room. Parts of the Karelia Suite were destroyed – I later saw remains of the pages which had been torn out – and many other things. I did not have

13167-487: The soloists appear in III only. The orchestra includes the following instruments: Sibelius did not publish Kullervo in his lifetime, and for many decades the score existed only in the autograph original. From 1932–1933, as Finland prepared for the Kalevala 's 1935 jubilee, Sibelius had the score copied—for his personal use—by the violinist Viktor Halonen. After the composer's death, Breitkopf & Härtel obtained

13300-511: The staff of the Päivälehti newspaper, which had been suspended for a period after editorially criticizing Russian rule. The last tableau, Finland Awakens , was particularly popular; after minor revisions, it became the well-known Finlandia . In February 1900, the Sibelius' youngest daughter, Kirsti, died. Nevertheless, in the summer Sibelius went on an international tour with Kajanus and his orchestra, presenting his recent works (including

13433-480: The stage sets. While the first performance was difficult to appreciate over the background noise of the talkative audience, a second performance on 18 November was more successful. Furthermore, on the 19th and 23rd Sibelius presented an extended suite of the work in Helsinki, conducting the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society. Sibelius's music was increasingly presented in Helsinki's concert halls. In

13566-497: The strength to be present and left the room. I therefore do not know what he threw on to the fire. But after this my husband became calmer and gradually lighter in mood. Despite his withdrawing from the public eye, Sibelius's work gained substantial attention in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s thanks to the newly established Finnish broadcaster YLE . Broadcasting on AM wavebands , YLE's signals brought Sibelius's music to listeners beyond Finland's borders, too. In 1933, YLE and

13699-738: The summer in Tvärminne near Hanko , where he worked on the song Var det en dröm (Was it a Dream) as well as on a new version of En saga . When it was performed in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic in November 1902, it served to firmly establish the composer's reputation in Germany, leading shortly afterwards to the publication of his First Symphony. In 1903, Sibelius spent much of his time in Helsinki where he indulged excessively in wining and dining, running up considerable bills in

13832-499: The symphonic cycle . Another source of strength is the unit of the thematic substance itself: the main ideas seem to belong to one another. Similarly, Layton's verdict is that although in Kullervo Sibelius "embraces concepts that, strictly speaking, lie outside the range of the normal classical symphony"—such as Movement III—he does so "without sacrificing [the] essentially organic modes of procedure" that characterize

13965-475: The symphonic process. Goss concurs, writing in the preface to Kullervo 's complete edition, "The composer's numerous and unequivocal remarks about the music as well as its specific structural features ... leave little doubt that Kullervo is not just Sibelius's first major symphonic work: it is his first symphony", or as Breitkopf & Härtel have since advertised it , a de facto "Symphony No. 0". The Finnish conductor Paavo Berglund and

14098-596: The tempi seem to be right. I think this is the first time that I have managed to make something complete." The work was also performed in Stockholm and Leipzig. In January 1899, Sibelius embarked on his First Symphony at a time when his patriotic feelings were being enhanced by the Russian emperor Nicholas II 's attempt to restrict the powers of the Grand Duchy of Finland . The symphony was well received when it

14231-417: The third on 1 March 1935 for the Kalevala 's centenary.) Kullervo would not receive its next complete performance until 12 June 1958, nine months after Sibelius's death, when his son-in-law Jussi Jalas resurrected it for a recorded, private concert in Helsinki. Kullervo eschews obvious categorization, in part because of Sibelius's indecision. At the premiere, program and score each listed

14364-508: The third, only to realise too late that she is his long-lost sister. When she learns the truth, she leaps into a stream and drowns. Kullervo laments his crime and his sister's death. Kullervo attempts to atone for his crime by seeking death on the battlefield . An haunting male chorus recount Kullervo's death. He inadvertently comes to the site where he fell in love with his sister, marked by dead grass and bare Earth where nature refuses to renew itself. He addresses his sword , asking if it

14497-595: The title of Fantasia sinfonica it received its first public performance in Stockholm where it was a success. It was even more highly appreciated at a series of concerts in Copenhagen in late September. Sibelius was honoured with the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog . He spent most of the rest of the year resting as his recent spate of activity was straining his heart and nerves. Composing

14630-671: The twentieth century at a private concert in University Hall, which the Finnish government had organized in honor of the King of Denmark Frederik IX's state visit ; the Finnish president Urho Kekkonen was also present. Jalas conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra and Laulu-Miehet, with the baritone Matti Lehtinen and soprano Liisa Linko-Malmio as soloists. The concert was recorded—a first for Kullervo —and

14763-483: The two choral movements ... Sibelius writes freely in a durchkomponiert manner as did, say, Lizst in the Dante Symphony . The coexistence of these two formal structures serves to give the work some of its inner tension and its contrast ... Sibelius succeeds in holding these diverse elements together remarkably well: in the finale he recalls themes from earlier movements and so effectively completes

14896-453: The unique Sibelius sound, starkly colorful, darkly sonorous ... and the melodic lines have a flavorsome folklike tinge that makes them quite beautiful". Initially, there was some debate as to the propriety of performing a work that Sibelius withdrew, did not revise, and left unpublished. Santeri Levas , Sibelius's private secretary from 1938–1957, wrote that the Jalas concert was "against

15029-458: The work as it stands, and while admitting that he might conceivably be able to remedy the more outstanding defects by rewriting it here and there he is nevertheless disinclined to do so, being of the opinion that the faults and imperfections of a work are often so intimately bound up with its very nature, that an attempt to rectify them without impairing it as a whole must almost inevitably fail ... The only really satisfactory method of re-writing

15162-462: The work for its excessive length, jarring dissonances, and inexpert orchestration. Afterwards, Sibelius withdrew Kullervo , saying he wanted to revise it. He did not do so, and as the years ticked by, he focused on other projects, placing Kullervo aside. In 1905, Kajanus borrowed the score for a 5 February performance of Movement IV at a patriotic concert celebrating Runeberg Day . In 1915, Sibelius wrote to Kajanus asking that he return

15295-540: The world. His other best-known compositions are Finlandia , the Karelia Suite , Valse triste , the Violin Concerto , the choral symphony Kullervo , and The Swan of Tuonela (from the Lemminkäinen Suite ). His other works include pieces inspired by nature, Nordic mythology, and the Finnish national epic , the Kalevala ; over a hundred songs for voice and piano; incidental music for numerous plays;

15428-536: The year conducting a series of concerts, the most successful being the first public performance of Pohjola's Daughter at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. From the beginning of 1907, Sibelius again indulged in excessive wining and dining in Helsinki, spending exorbitant amounts on champagne and lobster. His lifestyle had a disastrous effect on the health of Aino who was driven to retire to

15561-408: The year ended he had also conducted concerts in Stockholm and Rome, the first to considerable acclaim, the second to mixed reviews. He then proceeded to Gothenburg where he enjoyed an ecstatic reception despite arriving at the concert hall suffering from over-indulgence in food and drink. Despite continuing to drink, to Aino's dismay, Sibelius managed to complete his Seventh Symphony in March 1924. Under

15694-493: Was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a stronger national identity when the country was struggling from several attempts at Russification in the late 19th century. The core of his oeuvre is his set of seven symphonies , which, like his other major works, are regularly performed and recorded in Finland and countries around

15827-479: Was awarded a substantial annual grant, initially for ten years and later extended for life. He was able to complete the music for Adolf Paul's play King Christian II . Performed on 24 February 1898, its catchy tunes appealed to the public. The scores of four popular pieces from the play were published in Germany and sold well in Finland. When the orchestral suite was successfully performed in Helsinki in November 1898, Sibelius commented: "The music sounded excellent and

15960-406: Was born, he continued to work away from home. Early in 1904, he finished his Violin Concerto but its first public performance on 8 February was not a success. It led to a revised, condensed version that was performed in Berlin the following year. In November 1903, Sibelius began to build his new home Ainola (Aino's Place) near Lake Tuusula some 45 km (30 miles) north of Helsinki. To cover

16093-464: Was clear: he felt he had written enough. The Finnish 100 mark note featured his image until 2002, when the euro was adopted. Since 2011, Finland has celebrated a flag flying day on 8 December, the composer's birthday, also known as the Day of Finnish Music. In 2015, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Sibelius's birth, a number of special concerts and events were held, especially in Helsinki ,

16226-529: Was in Helsinki. The two agreed that with each new symphony, they lost those who had been attracted to their earlier works. This was demonstrated above all in St Petersburg where the Third Symphony was performed in November 1907 to dismissive reviews. Its reception in Moscow was rather more positive. In 1907, Sibelius underwent a serious operation for suspected throat cancer. Early in 1908, he had to spend

16359-640: Was its founder, Martin Wegelius, who did much to support the development of education in Finland. Wegelius gave the self-taught Sibelius his first formal lessons in composition. Another important influence was his teacher Ferruccio Busoni , a pianist-composer with whom he enjoyed a lifelong friendship. His close circle of friends included the pianist and writer Adolf Paul and the conductor-to-be Armas Järnefelt (who introduced him to his influential family including his sister Aino who would become Sibelius's wife). The most remarkable of his works during this period

16492-532: Was little progress on the symphony during the summer, he was able to complete it by his 50th birthday on 8 December. On the evening of his birthday, Sibelius conducted the premiere of the Fifth Symphony in the hall of the Helsinki Stock Exchange . Despite high praise from Kajanus, the composer was not satisfied with his work and soon began to revise it. Around this time, Sibelius was running ever deeper into debt. The grand piano he had received as

16625-649: Was performed during Sibelius's lifetime was in 1955 on the composer's ninetieth birthday, when Ole Edgren  [ fi ] conducted the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra in Movement ;IV. However, in the spring of 1957, just months before his death, Sibelius arranged for bass and orchestra the baritone's concluding monologue— Kullervo's Lament ( Kullervon valitus )—from Movement III. By this time Sibelius's hand tremor had become so severe that he could not himself write down

16758-565: Was premiered in Helsinki on 26 April 1899. But the program also premiered the even more compelling, blatantly patriotic Song of the Athenians for boys' and men's choirs. The song immediately brought Sibelius the status of a national hero. Another patriotic work followed on 4 November in the form of eight tableaux depicting episodes from Finnish history known as the Press Celebration Music . It had been written in support of

16891-558: Was relieved to learn that his throat operation had been entirely successful. Sibelius started work on his Fourth Symphony in early 1910 but his dwindling funds also required him to write a number of smaller pieces and songs. In October, he conducted concerts in Kristiania (now Oslo) where The Dryad and In Memoriam were first performed. His Valse triste and Second Symphony were particularly well received. He then travelled to Berlin to continue work on his Fourth Symphony, writing

17024-520: Was restored to good health after gallstone-excision surgery. Shortly after returning to Helsinki, Sibelius conducted his Overture and the Scène de Ballet at a popular concert. He was also able to continue working on Kullervo , now that he was increasingly developing an interest in all things Finnish. Premiered in Helsinki on 28 April 1892, the work was an enormous success. It was around this time that Sibelius finally abandoned his cherished aspirations as

17157-436: Was ten years old and later encouraged him to maintain his interest in composition. For Sibelius, Uncle Pehr not only took the place of a father but acted as a musical adviser. From an early age, Sibelius showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside when the family moved to Loviisa on the coast for the summer months. In his own words: "For me, Loviisa represented sun and happiness. Hämeenlinna

17290-602: Was the Violin Sonata in F, rather reminiscent of Grieg . Sibelius continued his studies in Berlin (from 1889 to 1890) with Albert Becker , and in Vienna (from 1890 to 1891) with Robert Fuchs and Hungarian-Jewish composer Karl Goldmark . In Berlin, he had the opportunity to widen his musical experience by going to a variety of concerts and operas, including the premiere of Richard Strauss 's Don Juan . He also heard

17423-493: Was unequalled in Western music. Kullervo (Sibelius) The piece premiered on 28 April 1892 in Helsinki with Sibelius conducting the Helsinki Orchestral Association and an amateur choir; the baritone Abraham Ojanperä and the mezzo-soprano Emmy Achté sang the parts of Kullervo and his sister, respectively. The premiere was a resounding success—indeed, the definitive breakthrough of Sibelius's nascent career and

17556-669: Was when he first met Paraske.) Around this time, Sibelius mailed the autograph manuscript of Kullervo to his friend, the Swedish playwright Adolf Paul , in Vienna; they had hoped to interest the Austrian conductor Felix Weingartner in the piece, but nothing came of the plan. On 6, 8, and 12 March 1893, the Orchestral Society again performed Kullervo under Sibelius's baton, with Ojanperä and Achté reprising their roles. Critics received these concerts coolly, faulting

17689-469: Was where I went to school; Loviisa was freedom." In Hämeenlinna, when he was seven, Sibelius' aunt Julia was brought in to give him piano lessons on the family's upright instrument, rapping him on the knuckles whenever he played a wrong note. He progressed by improvising on his own, but still learned to read music. He later turned to the violin, which he preferred. He participated in trios with his elder sister Linda on piano, and his younger brother Christian on

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