Even in Rapallo he still seemed focused on writing a tone poem. Aspects of the piece had already begun to take form in his mind almost two years earlier, although at that point Sibelius seems to have assumed his sketches would end up in various separate compositions rather than in a single unified symphony. 2 was sketched in Florence and, especially, Rapallo, where the composer rented a studio. Thanks to benefactions arranged by Axel Carpelan, a Finnish man-about-the-arts and the eventual dedicatee of this symphony, Sibelius and his family were able to travel to Italy between February and April 1901, and much of the Symphony No. A few of his successes from this nationalist period-the tone poems The Swan of Tuonela, Lemminkäinen’s Return, and Finlandia among them-began to earn him a reputation beyond Finnish borders.Īctually, not all of this famous symphony emanated literally from Finland some of the composition was carried out in Italy. Sibelius was caught up with the artists and writers and musicians who were plying their trades in support of an independent Finland, and he turned out a hearty diet of patriotic and propagandistic compositions. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, Finns were fired with excitement over homegrown culture-collecting traditional music and dance, delving into ancient Finnish legends, and returning to use the Finnish language. It was, furthermore, a rarity of the most heartening sort: a brave work that nonetheless pleased audiences from the outset.įinland was undergoing its share of turmoil at the turn of the twentieth century, beginning to buckle with nationalistic fervor against the yoke of its Russian occupiers. But to ears not yet inured to its contours, it was daring indeed-a work that departed from the conventions of its genre not less than did symphonies by, say, Gustav Mahler, whose Fifth Symphony is its exact contemporary. 2, which is now more than a century old and has long been a classic, we may not find the piece terribly shocking. THE BACKSTORY Listening to Sibelius’s Symphony No. INSTRUMENTATION: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, and strings The composer conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic in Helsinki The work is dedicated to Baron Axel Carpelan. Järvenpää, FinlandĬOMPOSED: 1901-02, though relevant sketches date back to as early as 1899. Hämeenlinna, FinlandĭIED: September 20, 1957.
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