On the very last page of Santeri Levas book 'Sibelius a personal portrait', Levas remarks: 'In the history of music he was an independent figure, a lone wolf, who trod his own paths in the broad woodlands'.

Prompted by Edward Clark [President of the UK Sibelius Society] who recently has taken issue with this very phrase 'Lone Wolf' while he was reviewing a Sibelius LPO concert and programme note. I would ask Sibelius Forumites how they see Sibelius in the history of music.

Is Sibelius a Lone Wolf or a Mainstream European or perhaps possibly both?.--kp

I's a hard one, this…

To me a lone wolf would be someone who deliberately set out to go down a route that nobody else would take – someone like Claude Allgén or maybe (!) Kaikhosru Sorabji. And whilst Sibelius did choose and follow his own path, he didn't consciously strive to deter people from following in his footsteps.

On the other hand he was hardly a mainstream European either – geography and world wars made sure of that. Would he have wanted to be one? I'm sure the more gregarious part of his personality would have welcomed it, but only if he could still set his own direction and not be confined to jumping on bandwagons.

In my submission, Sibelius had strong impulses in forging an international career. For many years he was seen as a remote and isolated figure who had erupted onto the scene in the late 1890's fully armed as it were with no antecedents. When as a young man he adopted his uncle Johan's name 'Jean' from one of his visiting cards, he may have held hopes of some international recognition. Sibelius was of course one of musics great originals, independent of mind, his music in many ways remote and elusive. But I would contend that he strove for and achieved a music very much in the European mainstreem, indeed his finest work has a Universal significance. It is not to difficult to trace the lineage from Haydn and Beethoven through Bruckner and Brahms to Sibelius.-kp

Good point - I hardly need to mention that even though it was a widely held view, the whole business about 'no antecedents' turned out to be complete and unmitigated rubbish, as even the most cursory examination of his early music shows. I believe that informed listeners (i.e. those who read these words!) now realize this - we just have to confront some rock-hard prejudices within the critical fraternity.

Very true, thankfully the old chestnut that Sibelius was first and foremost a romantic nationalist has largely receded from view. Of course Finlandia played its part in presenting Sibelius as a tub-thumping warrior, but he went on to produce a body of music that refuses to be pigeon holed. Sibelius was perhaps a lone wolf in the sense that he never created a circle of followers around him unlike say Schoenberg, but today 50 odd years after his death his musical legacy continues to act as an example to many composers has they search for there own musical voice.--kp

He set out to be European, but ended up being a lone wolf. Kind of opposite to Mahler, I think, who set out to be a lone wolf but ends up sounding very European.

I think that Sibelius was just as European as Mahler despite the fact that these two masters were at opposite poles to each other. Sibelius had studied in Berlin and Vienna and all his life he revered the three B's--Bach, Beethoven and Bruckner. I honestly think that Sibelius would have been horified in being seen as a remote figure, delegated to the periphery of European culture. He is the true post-Beethoven Symphonist and in my view the Mahlers and Shostakovitch's of this world are not of comparable stature.-kp

I guess what I meant by my quote was that Sibelius and Mahler, those arch rivals, had a difference in the path they ultimately took.

I see Sibelius as someone who wanted to write music in the tradition of Haydn, then Wagner, then Bruckner, etc. but despite this, he ultimately sounded unlike any pther composer. So, in trying to write music of this Germanic/European sensibility, he ended up defining the "Finnish sound" and then, ultimately, the "Sibelius" sound which cannot be defined by the borders surrounding where he wrote his music. Does the 6th, 7th or Tapiola sound like anything other than "Sibelius?"

Mahler, on the other hand, I think, set out to be this up-start composer who wanted to be a revolutionary in his approach to the meaning and scope of the symphony. However, with landlers, cow bells, military marches and klezmer music, he ends up sounding very European, making obvious references to the local sounds he was wont to hear in his native Austria/Bohemia. This gives portions of his music a "picture postcard" sound, if you ask me. What is more, Kurki expressed this very nicely in another thread: if you listen to Mahler, his general sound is very much rooted in late 19th century Romanticism and, despite some ambiguous tonality, doesn not come off as very innovative at any point to my humble and unwashed ears.

Sibelius on the other hand, broke from the shackles of the late-Romantic sound of, say, his 1st symphony or the Violin concerto, and by his later opus numbers (certainly the 4th), was producing music of startling originality and...dare I saw...modernism. (People often credit Stravinksy as creating the first "modernist" masterpiece in The Rite...I think this credit is actually due to Sibelius and his 4th whcih came about 2 years before.)

Hope all of that makes sense.

Wow, this thread is full of QoM ringers.

Instead of adding my 2 cents, which would be somewhat redundant at this point, I'll immortalize the best lines found herein in the quotes of the moment, which can be found by clicking

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.

I will add this, however:

kullervopete wrote:

Sibelius was perhaps a lone wolf in the sense that he never created a circle of followers around him unlike say Schoenberg...

I would contend that today, Sibelius does have a circle of followers... both in this forum and around the world, and my guess is that they outnumber the remnants of Schoenberg's exponentially.

Its interesting that the 'Theme' of the 10th Sibelius Festival in Lahti [10th -13th September 2009] is 'Sibelius - Towards Europe'. Clearly the planners see this music as multi-national in outlook.-kp

Yes, they do. Specifically in this case referring to the mostly middle-period on this year's menu.

I've just been looking at some of maestro Saraste's comments on the 2009 Lahti Sibelius Fest. 'Towards Europe' Saraste even sees the second symphony as 'already a clear departure from Finnish National provinciality, and therefore an internationally oriented work'. Saraste describes Sibelius's views widening towards different parts of Europe. He continues 'The energy and rapid pulse of the third symphony points in the direction of the English way of life, and in the fourth symphony you can clearly notice the influence of Schoenberg in the form of a Germanic formal conception and disappearing tonality'. The maestro also points out that in the orchestration of Pohjola's Daughter we approach a French-style timbre with cornets and harp.
Clearly Saraste views Sibelius as essentially an international figure.--kp

I don't really agree with J-PS about the Third: I think the comment was probably made just so that he had something 'international' to say about each of the symphonies on this year's menu. At least we are spared the tiresome nonsense about fog banks (or whatever it was) - but energy and rapid pulse are not things I associate with my compatriots unless they are heading for the pub. Otherwise the typical British worker is more likely to be found in the driver's cab of his van, reading the paper, smoking a fag and munching his sandwiches. While his elected representatives fiddle their expenses, of course… [Cynical – me?]

Mind you, I certainly don't mind viewing Sibelius as an international figure, so perhaps the end justifies the means.

Andrew B wrote:

I don't really agree with J-PS about the Third: I think the comment was probably made just so that he had something 'international' to say about each of the symphonies on this year's menu. At least we are spared the tiresome nonsense about fog banks (or whatever it was) - but energy and rapid pulse are not things I associate with my compatriots unless they are heading for the pub. Otherwise the typical British worker is more likely to be found in the driver's cab of his van, reading the paper, smoking a fag and munching his sandwiches. While his elected representatives fiddle their expenses, of course… [Cynical – me?] Mind you, I certainly don't mind viewing Sibelius as an international figure, so perhaps the end justifies the means.

What's this about fog banks?

intentional or not, he's a lone wolf of his time within his contemporary european context.

dj

Tapkaara wrote:

What's this about fog banks?

Donald Tovey in Essays in Musical Analysis II (1935) claimed that part of the first movement of No. 3 'is said to represent the composer's impression of fog-banks drifting along the English coast'. Quite who is supposed to have made the unsubstantiated original statement is unclear - certainly not Sibelius! - but it's just the sort of subjective twaddle that is repeated by some people like a mantra until they believe it to be true.

English fog banks? Wow. I thought it was all about fjords and Polonaises for polar bears. Guess I was wrong!

In a Sibelius Society Newsletter issue 57 [May, 2005] an article appeared by one Peter Frankland on Sibelius 3 with the title Sibelius's 'English' Symphony. This was the work that the composer described as his 'beloved and least fortunate child'. I don't know were Tovey got the phrase 'fog banks drifting along the English coast'. Sibelius dedicated the work to English composer Granville Bantock and its not inconceivable that Bantock heard it from J S himself. It does not really matter, Sibelius has always been extreemly popular in the Anglo Saxon world, indeed in some ways we have even tried to adopt Sibelius for ourselves. The passage in question certainly fits Toveys remark, on the other hand how about 'Morning mists over the Finnish lakes'.--kp

How about "afternoon smog rolling through L.A.?" Hmmm...not sure what that has to do with Sibelius...

Oh wait, Esa-Pekka is in L.A....THERE'S the connection!

Tapkaara wrote:

Oh wait, Esa-Pekka is in L.A....THERE'S the connection!

Mention of maestro Salonen reminds me of a rather curious quote I came across on the net recently. The unknown reviewer was talking about the series of concerts that E-P S. gave at the Barbican centre in London during the Sibelius 50th anniversary celebrations in 2007.

'In his Symphony No. 3, Sibelius is perhaps most distant from the vodka-soaked Nordic miserablism that characterises so much of his work'.

Just when you think you've seen it all yet another classic anti-Sibelian jibe rears its twisted head. -kp