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132-399: A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement , which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape , or other (non-musical) source. The German term Tondichtung (tone poem) appears to have been first used by the composer Carl Loewe in 1828. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt first applied

264-449: A symphonic suite or cycle. For example, The Swan of Tuonela (1895) is a tone poem from Jean Sibelius 's Lemminkäinen Suite , and Vltava ( The Moldau ) by Bedřich Smetana is part of the six-work cycle Má vlast . While the terms symphonic poem and tone poem have often been used interchangeably, some composers such as Richard Strauss and Jean Sibelius have preferred the latter term for their works. The first use of

396-498: A "symphonic fantasy", is the most closely dependent on its program while also showing a sureness of outline rare in other composers. With the compositional approach he took from the Third Symphony onward, Sibelius sought to overcome the distinction between symphony and tone poem to fuse their most basic principles—the symphony's traditional claims of weight, musical abstraction, gravitas and formal dialogue with seminal works of

528-525: 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

660-788: A Láska ( Nature, Life and Love ), they appeared instead as three separate works, V přírodě ( In Nature's Realm ), Carnival and Othello . The score for Othello contains notes from the Shakespeare play, showing that Dvořák meant to write it as a programmatic work; however, the sequence of events and characters portrayed does not correspond to the notes. The second group of symphonic poems comprises five works. Four of them— The Water Goblin , The Noon Witch , The Golden Spinning Wheel and The Wild Dove —are based on poems from Karel Jaromír Erben 's Kytice ( Bouquet ) collection of fairy tales . In these four poems, Dvořák assigns specific musical themes for important characters and events in

792-399: 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

924-424: A complete composition. Such divisions are usually self-contained. Most often the sequence of movements is arranged fast-slow-fast or in some other order that provides contrast. While the ultimate harmonic goal of a tonal composition is the final tonic triad , there will also be many interior harmonic goals found within the piece, some of them tonic triads and some of them not. ...We use the term cadence to mean

1056-746: A detailed program. The development of the symphonic poem in Russia, as in the Czech lands, stemmed from an admiration for Liszt's music and a devotion to national subjects. Added to this was the Russian love of story-telling, for which the genre seemed expressly tailored, and led critic Vladimir Stasov to write, "Virtually all Russian music is programmatic". Macdonald writes that Stasov and the patriotic group of composers known as The Five or The Mighty Handful, went so far as to hail Mikhail Glinka 's Kamarinskaya as "a prototype of Russian descriptive music"; despite

1188-423: A dramatist rather than as a poet or philosopher." He used musical themes to represent specific characters; in this manner he more closely followed the practice of French composer Hector Berlioz in his choral symphony Roméo et Juliette than that of Liszt. By doing so, Hugh Macdonald writes, Smetana followed "a straightforward pattern of musical description". Smetana's set of six symphonic poems published under

1320-431: 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

1452-672: 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

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1584-464: A harmonic goal, specifically the chords used at the goal. This music-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This music-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 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)

1716-672: 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

1848-590: 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

1980-408: A major key evokes childhood. Some piano and chamber works , such as Arnold Schoenberg 's string sextet Verklärte Nacht , have similarities with symphonic poems in their overall intent and effect. However, the term symphonic poem is generally accepted to refer to orchestral works. A symphonic poem may stand on its own (as do those of Richard Strauss ), or it can be part of a series combined into

2112-540: 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

2244-504: A non-musical concept. Some musical gestures appear to be literal representations of their non-musical counterparts. For example, Sergei Rachmaninoff uses an uneven 5/8 time signature throughout The Isle of the Dead in order to suggest the rocking of a boat. In Richard Strauss ’s Death and Transfiguration , the composer uses the orchestra to mimic the sound of an irregular heartbeat and labored breathing. Other musical gestures capture

2376-909: A non-orchestral 'symphonic poem'. Alexander Ritter , who himself composed six symphonic poems in the vein of Liszt's works, directly influenced Richard Strauss in writing program music. Strauss wrote on a wide range of subjects, some of which had been previously considered unsuitable to set to music, including literature, legend, philosophy and autobiography. The list includes Macbeth (1886–87), Don Juan (1888–89), Death and Transfiguration (1888–89), Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1894–95), Also sprach Zarathustra ( Thus Spoke Zoroaster , 1896), Don Quixote (1897), Ein Heldenleben ( A Hero's Life , 1897–98), Symphonia Domestica ( Domestic Symphony , 1902–03) and An Alpine Symphony (1911–1915). In these works, Strauss takes realism in orchestral depiction to unprecedented lengths, widening

2508-520: 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

2640-402: A popular composition form from the 1840s until the 1920s, when composers began to abandon the genre . Symphonic poems are thought to bridge the gap between different modes of expression. Much research has been done on the semiotic relationship between symphonic poems and their extra-musical inspiration, such as art, literature and nature. Composers used many different musical gestures to evoke

2772-484: 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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2904-472: 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

3036-683: 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

3168-409: 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

3300-493: A series of symphonic works based on literary subjects— Richard III (1857–58), Wallenstein's Camp (1858–59) and Hakon Jarl (1860–61). A piano work dating from the same period, Macbeth a čarodějnice ( Macbeth and the Witches , 1859), is similar in scope but bolder in style. Musicologist John Clapham writes that Smetana planned these works as "a compact series of episodes" drawn from their literary sources "and approached them as

3432-444: 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

3564-463: A similar manner to these works. Russian folklore also provided material for symphonic poems by Alexander Dargomyzhsky , Anatoly Lyadov and Alexander Glazunov . Glazunov's Stenka Razin and Lyadov's Baba-Yaga Kikimora and The Enchanted Lake are all based on national subjects. The Lyadov works' lack of purposeful harmonic rhythm (an absence less noticeable in Baba-Yaga and Kikimora due to

3696-408: A single-movement cyclic structure. Many of Liszt's mature works follow this pattern, of which Les préludes is one of the best-known examples. The second practice was thematic transformation , a type of variation in which one theme is changed, not into a related or subsidiary theme but into something new, separate and independent. As musicologist Hugh Macdonald wrote of Liszt's works in this genre,

3828-649: 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

3960-416: A superficial but still exhilarating bustle and whirl) produces a sense of unreality and timelessness much like the telling of an oft-repeated and much loved fairy tale. While none of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 's symphonic poems has a Russian subject, they hold musical form and literary material in fine balance. (Tchaikovsky did not call Romeo and Juliet a symphonic poem but rather a "fantasy-overture", and

4092-450: A symphonic poem, and some musicologists, such as Norman Demuth and Julien Tiersot, consider it the first of its genre, preceding Liszt's compositions. However, Franck did not publish or perform his piece; neither did he set about defining the genre. Liszt's determination to explore and promote the symphonic poem gained him recognition as the genre's inventor. The Hungarian composer Franz Liszt desired to expand single-movement works beyond

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4224-586: A temporary stop to the debate as to whether the genre was dead. Nevertheless, composers began to explore the "more compact form" of the concert overture "...as a vehicle within which to blend musical, narrative and pictoral ideas." Examples included Mendelssohn's overtures A Midsummer Night's Dream (1826) and The Hebrides (1830). Between 1845 and 1847, the Belgian composer César Franck wrote an orchestral piece based on Victor Hugo 's poem Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne . The work exhibits characteristics of

4356-789: 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

4488-474: 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

4620-420: 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

4752-573: A work had to be shortened, Liszt tended to cut sections of conventional musical development and preserve sections of thematic transformation. While Liszt had been inspired to some extent by the ideas of Richard Wagner in unifying ideas of drama and music via the symphonic poem, Wagner gave Liszt's concept only lukewarm support in his 1857 essay On the Symphonic Poems of Franz Liszt , and was later to break entirely with Liszt's Weimar circle over their aesthetic ideals. Composers who developed

4884-411: A world of uncompromisingly brutal directness and energy. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov wrote only two orchestral works that rank as symphonic poems, his "musical tableau" Sadko (1867–92) and Skazka ( Legend , 1879–80), originally titled Baba-Yaga . While this may perhaps be surprising, considering his love for Russian folklore, both his symphonic suites Antar and Scheherazade are conceived in

5016-480: 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

5148-589: Is also worth noting, both in his use of thematic transformation and his handling of multiple themes in intricate counterpoint . His use of variation form in Don Quixote is handled exceptionally well, as is his use of rondo form in Till Eulenspiegel . As Hugh Macdonald points out in the New Grove (1980), "Strauss liked to use a simple but descriptive theme—for instance the three-note motif at

5280-457: Is considered by some critics a parody of Vienna in an idiom no Viennese would recognize as his own. Albert Roussel 's first symphonic poem, based on Leo Tolstoy 's novel Resurrection (1903), was soon followed by Le Poème de forêt (1904–06), which is in four movements written in cyclic form . Pour une fête de printemps (1920), initially conceived as the slow movement of his Second Symphony. Charles Koechlin also wrote several symphonic poems,

5412-524: The Finlandia hymn by Veikko Antero Koskenniemi – to the central part after Finland became independent. The symphonic poem did not enjoy as clear a sense of national identity in other countries, even though numerous works of the kind were written. Composers included Arnold Bax and Frederick Delius in Great Britain; Edward MacDowell , Howard Hanson , Ferde Grofé and George Gershwin in

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5544-842: 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

5676-593: 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

5808-632: 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

5940-432: 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

6072-485: The 1870s, supported by the newly founded Société Nationale and its promotion of younger French composers. In the year after its foundation, 1872, Camille Saint-Saëns composed his Le rouet d'Omphale , soon following it with three more, the most famous of which became the Danse macabre (1874). In all four of these works Saint-Saëns experimented with orchestration and thematic transformation . La jeunesse d'Hercule (1877)

6204-502: 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

6336-491: 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

6468-422: The Czech lands and Slovakia", including Antonín Dvořák , Zdeněk Fibich , Leoš Janáček and Vítězslav Novák . Dvořák wrote two groups of symphonic poems, which date from the 1890s. The first, which Macdonald variously calls symphonic poems and overtures, forms a cycle similar to Má vlast , with a single musical theme running through all three pieces. Originally conceived as a trilogy to be titled Příroda, Život

6600-630: 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

6732-916: 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

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6864-481: 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

6996-750: 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

7128-651: 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

7260-705: 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

7392-664: The German musical scene, but neither wrote symphonic poems; instead, they devoted themselves completely to music drama (Wagner) and absolute music (Brahms). Therefore, other than Strauss and numerous concert overtures by others, there are only isolated symphonic poems by German and Austrian composers— Hugo Wolf 's Penthesilea (1883–85), Alexander von Zemlinsky 's Die Seejungfrau (1902-03) and Arnold Schoenberg 's Pelleas und Melisande (1902–03). Because of its clear relationship between poem and music, Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht (1899) for string sextet has been characterised as

7524-402: The German term Tondichtung (tone poem) appears to have been by Carl Loewe , applied not to an orchestral work but to his piece for piano solo, Mazeppa , Op. 27 (1828), based on the poem of that name by Lord Byron , and written twelve years before Liszt treated the same subject orchestrally. The musicologist Mark Bonds suggests that in the second quarter of the 19th century, the future of

7656-637: The Nightingale , excerpted from his opera The Nightingale . Alexander Scriabin 's The Poem of Ecstasy (1905–08) and Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1908–10), in their projection of an egocentric theosophic world unequalled in other symphonic poems, are notable for their detail and advanced harmonic idiom. Socialist realism in the Soviet Union allowed program music to survive longer there than in western Europe, as typified by Dmitri Shostakovich 's symphonic poem October (1967). While France

7788-635: 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

7920-681: 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

8052-469: The Steppes of Central Asia "powerful orchestral pictures, each unique in its composer's output". Titled a "musical portrait", In the Steppes of Central Asia evokes the journey of a caravan across the steppes . Night on Bald Mountain , especially its original version, contains harmony that is often striking, sometimes pungent and highly abrasive; its initial stretches especially pull the listener into

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8184-567: The United States; Carl Nielsen in Denmark; Zygmunt Noskowski and Mieczysław Karłowicz in Poland and Ottorino Respighi in Italy. Also, with the rejection of Romantic ideals in the 20th century and their replacement with ideals of abstraction and independence of music, the writing of symphonic poems went into decline. Movement (music) A unit of a larger work that may stand by itself as

8316-725: 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

8448-533: The best known of which are included in his cycle based on The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling . Through these works, he defended the viability of the symphonic poem long after it had gone out of vogue. Both Liszt and Richard Strauss worked in Germany, but while Liszt may have invented the symphonic poem and Strauss brought it to its highest point, overall the form was less well received there than in other countries. Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner dominated

8580-418: 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

8712-425: 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

8844-400: 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

8976-436: The composition of symphonic poems. Even his works in other instrumental forms are very free in structure and frequently partake of the nature of programme music. Among later Russian symphonic poems, Sergei Rachmaninoff 's The Rock shows as much the influence of Tchaikovsky's work as Isle of the Dead (1909) does its independence from it. A similar debt to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov imbues Igor Stravinsky 's The Song of

9108-404: 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

9240-404: The concert overture form. The music of overtures is to inspire listeners to imagine scenes, images, or moods; Liszt intended to combine those programmatic qualities with a scale and musical complexity normally reserved for the opening movement of classical symphonies. The opening movement, with its interplay of contrasting themes under sonata form , was normally considered the most important part of

9372-464: 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

9504-424: The cycle is similar to Smetana's Má vlast in overall scope. Henri Duparc 's Lenore (1875) displayed a Wagnerian warmth in its writing and orchestration. Franck wrote the delicately evocative Les Éolides , following it with the narrative Le Chasseur maudit and the piano-and-orchestral tone poem Les Djinns , conceived in much the same manner as Liszt's Totentanz . Ernest Chausson 's Vivane illustrates

9636-543: The drama. For The Golden Spinning Wheel , Dvořák arrived at these themes by setting lines from the poems to music. He also follows Liszt and Smetana's example of thematic transformation, metamorphosing the king's theme in The Golden Spinning Wheel to represent the wicked stepmother and also the mysterious, kindly old man found in the tale. Macdonald writes that while these works may seem diffuse by symphonic standards, their literary sources actually define

9768-559: 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

9900-400: The essence of the subject on a more abstract level. For example, In Franz Liszt’s Hamlet , Liszt portrays the complex relation between Hamlet and Ophelia by juxtaposing a somber motif that is harmonically inconclusive (Hamlet) against a tranquil and harmonically conclusive motif (Ophelia), and developing the music from these principles. In Death and Transfiguration , a sprightly melody in

10032-463: 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

10164-438: The expressive functions of program music as well as extending its boundaries. Because of his virtuosic use of orchestration, the descriptive power and vividness of these works is extremely marked. He usually employs a large orchestra, often with extra instruments, and he often uses instrumental effects for sharp characterization, such as portraying the bleating of sheep with cuivré brass in Don Quixote . Strauss's handling of form

10296-479: The fact that Glinka himself denied the piece had any program, he called the work, which is based entirely on Russian folk music, "picturesque music." In this Glinka was influenced by French composer Hector Berlioz , whom he met in the summer of 1844. At least three of the Five fully embraced the symphonic poem. Mily Balakirev 's Tamara (1867–82) richly evokes the fairy-tale orient and, while remaining closely based on

10428-542: 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

10560-547: 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

10692-484: 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

10824-496: 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 ,

10956-528: 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

11088-407: The general title of Má vlast became his greatest achievements in the genre. Composed between 1872 and 1879, the cycle embodies its composer's personal belief in the greatness of the Czech nation while presenting selected episodes and ideas from Czech history. Two recurrent musical themes unify the entire cycle. One theme represents Vyšehrad, the fortress over the river Vltava whose course provides

11220-459: The intent was "to display the traditional logic of symphonic thought;" that is, to display a comparable complexity in the interplay of musical themes and tonal 'landscape' to those of the Romantic symphony . Thematic transformation, like cyclic form, was nothing new in itself. It had been previously used by Mozart and Haydn. In the final movement of his Ninth Symphony , Beethoven had transformed

11352-406: 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

11484-474: 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

11616-610: The main theme." Jean Sibelius showed a great affinity for the form, writing well over a dozen symphonic poems and numerous shorter works. These works span his entire career, from En saga (1892) to Tapiola (1926), expressing more clearly than anything else his identification to Finland and its mythology. The Kalevala provided ideal episodes and texts for musical setting; this coupled with Sibelius's natural aptitude for symphonic writing allowed him to write taut, organic structures for many of these works, especially Tapiola (1926). Pohjola's Daughter (1906), which Sibelius called

11748-695: 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

11880-641: 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

12012-478: 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

12144-424: The opening of Also sprach Zarathustra , or striding, vigorous arpeggios to represent the manly qualities of his heroes. His love themes are honeyed and chromatic and generally richly scored, and he is often fond of the warmth and serenity of diatonic harmony as balm after torrential chromatic textures, notably at the end of Don Quixote , where the solo cello has a surpassingly beautiful D major transformation of

12276-426: The past; and the tone poem's structural innovation and spontaneity, identifiable poetic content and inventive sonority. However, the stylistic distinction between symphony, "fantasy" and tone poem in Sibelius's late works becomes blurred since ideas first sketched for one piece ended up in another. One of Sibelius's greatest works, Finlandia , focuses on Finnish independence. He wrote it in 1901 and added choral lyrics –

12408-560: The penchant shown by the Franck circle for mythological subjects. Claude Debussy 's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (1892–94), intended initially as part of a triptych , is, in the composer's words, "a very free ... succession of settings through which the Faun's desires and dreams move in the afternoon heat." Paul Dukas ' The Sorcerer's Apprentice follows the narrative vein of symphonic poem, while Maurice Ravel 's La valse (1921)

12540-405: The poem by Mikhail Lermontov , remains well-paced and full of atmosphere. Balakirev's other two symphonic poems, In Bohemia (1867, 1905) and Russia (1884 version) lack the same narrative content; they are actually looser collections of national melodies and were originally written as concert overtures. Macdonald calls Modest Mussorgsky 's Night on Bald Mountain and Alexander Borodin 's In

12672-513: 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

12804-520: 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,

12936-414: The scope and purpose of the symphonic poem beyond the aims of any later composer". Clapham adds that in his musical depiction of scenery in these works, Smetana "established a new type of symphonic poem, which led eventually to Sibelius's Tapiola ". Also, in showing how to apply new forms for new purposes, Macdonald writes that Smetana "began a profusion of symphonic poems from his younger contemporaries in

13068-461: 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

13200-412: The sequence of events and the course of the musical action. Clapham adds that while Dvořák may follow the narrative complexities of The Golden Spinning Wheel too closely, "the lengthy repetition at the beginning of The Noon Witch shows Dvořák temporarily rejecting a precise representation of the ballad for the sake of an initial musical balance". The fifth poem, Heroic Song , is the only one not to have

13332-511: 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

13464-480: 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

13596-497: 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

13728-401: The subject matter for the second (and best-known) work in the cycle; the other is the ancient Czech hymn " Ktož jsú boží bojovníci " ("Ye who are God's warriors"), which unites the cycle's last two poems, Tábor and Blaník. While expanding the form to a unified cycle of symphonic poems, Smetana created what Macdonald terms "one of the monuments of Czech music" and, Clapham writes, "extended

13860-683: 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

13992-465: The symphonic genre seemed uncertain. While many composers continued to write symphonies during the 1820s and '30s, "there were a growing sense that these works were aesthetically far inferior to Beethoven 's.... The real question was not so much whether symphonies could still be written, but whether the genre could continue to flourish and grow." Felix Mendelssohn , Robert Schumann and Niels Gade achieved successes with their symphonies, putting at least

14124-611: The symphonic poem after Liszt were mainly Bohemian, Russian, and French; the Bohemians and Russians showed the potential of the form as a vehicle for the nationalist ideas fomenting in their respective countries at this time. Bedřich Smetana visited Liszt in Weimar in the summer of 1857, where he heard the first performances of the Faust Symphony and the symphonic poem Die Ideale . Influenced by Liszt's efforts, Smetana began

14256-557: The symphony. To achieve his objectives, Liszt needed a more flexible method of developing musical themes than sonata form would allow, but one that would preserve the overall unity of a musical composition. Liszt found his method through two compositional practices, which he used in his symphonic poems. The first practice was cyclic form , a procedure established by Beethoven in which certain movements are not only linked but actually reflect one another's content. Liszt took Beethoven's practice one step further, combining separate movements into

14388-541: 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

14520-551: The term Symphonische Dichtung to his 13 works in this vein , which commenced in 1848. While many symphonic poems may compare in size and scale to symphonic movements (or even reach the length of an entire symphony), they are unlike traditional classical symphonic movements, in that their music is intended to inspire listeners to imagine or consider scenes, images, specific ideas or moods, and not (necessarily) to focus on following traditional patterns of musical form such as sonata form . This intention to inspire listeners

14652-508: The theme of the "Ode to Joy" into a Turkish march. Weber and Berlioz had also transformed themes, and Schubert used thematic transformation to bind together the movements of his Wanderer Fantasy , a work that had a tremendous influence on Liszt. However, Liszt perfected the creation of significantly longer formal structures solely through thematic transformation, not only in the symphonic poems but in others works such as his Second Piano Concerto and his Piano Sonata in B minor . In fact, when

14784-595: 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

14916-491: The work may actually be closer to a concert overture in its relatively stringent use of sonata form . It was the suggestion of the work's musical mid-wife, Balakirev, to base Romeo structurally on his King Lear , a tragic overture in sonata form after the example of Beethoven 's overtures.) R.W.S. Mendl, writing in The Musical Quarterly , states that Tchaikovsky was by temperament peculiarly well-fitted for

15048-671: 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;

15180-536: 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

15312-408: 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

15444-493: 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

15576-507: Was a direct consequence of Romanticism , which encouraged literary, pictorial and dramatic associations in music. According to the musicologist Hugh Macdonald , the symphonic poem met three 19th-century aesthetic goals: it related music to outside sources; it often combined or compressed multiple movements into a single principal section; and it elevated instrumental program music to an aesthetic level that could be regarded as equivalent to, or higher than opera . The symphonic poem remained

15708-479: 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

15840-406: 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

15972-519: 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 ,

16104-529: 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

16236-640: 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

16368-557: Was less concerned than other countries with nationalism, it still had a well-established tradition of narrative and illustrative music reaching back to Berlioz and Félicien David . For this reason, French composers were attracted to the poetic elements of the symphonic poem. In fact, César Franck had written an orchestral piece based on Hugo's poem Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne before Liszt did so himself as his first numbered symphonic poem. The symphonic poem came into vogue in France in

16500-532: 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

16632-565: 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

16764-558: 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

16896-520: 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

17028-436: 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

17160-602: 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

17292-469: 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

17424-461: Was written closest in style to Liszt. The other three concentrate on some physical movement—spinning, riding, dancing—which is portrayed in musical terms. He had previously experimented with thematic transformation in his program overture Spartacus ; he would later use it in his Fourth Piano Concerto and Third Symphony . After Saint-Saëns came Vincent d'Indy . While d'Indy called his trilogy Wallenstein (1873, 1879–81) "three symphonic overtures",

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