Sibelius was very much interested in Astronomy, 'I believe that there are notes and harmonies on all planets. Naturally men live on them too, although probably they have a quite other form than ours and lead a quite different existence. It is laughable that our small planet is the only one to have life'.
I have always felt that Sibelius's Seventh Symphony has something of the cosmos about it, somehow it seems to mirror the wonder and mystery that I feel about the universe.
I was thrilled but not entirely surprised a few years ago on reading about some of Sibelius's sketches, that parts of a planned Tone Poem called 'Kuutar' [Feminine] Moon Spirit found there way into the opening Adagio section of the seventh symphony. This was called 'Where the stars dwell'.
With this in mind, it has been announced that Nasa scientists will turn Dj's this week to beam a Beatles song into space to any listening Alians. So I would like to ask forum members what piece of music would they choose to send on radio waves billions of miles to the North star, Polaris. Note that it wont reach its destination until 2439!
My choice : Sibelius Seven.--kullervopete.

That is an excellent choice and gets my vote as well.

Seven sounds good to me. I'll try to think of another one.

From the Symphonies, I would agree that the 7th is the finest choice.

But if the purpose of sending out music into space is to make contact with other civilizations and perhaps share something about humanity with them, I think it would be important to add the "human element" to the broadcast.

My choice therefore is Luonnotar.

Kurki makes a valid point regarding 'The human element'. as an alternative I would be happy to beam out to any alians Beethovens 'Ode to joy', Sibelius's 'Song of the earth' or 'Finlandia' with choir.--kullervopete.

Good point regarding Jordens sång: to quote part of its text:

Där rullar Jorden fram med sina öden
igenom rymdens dunkel-flod.
Ur fjärran glimmar gyllne stjärneglöden,
men Jordens låga flämtar tung av blod.
Av sfärers sång stå Alltets salar fyllda.
Men Jorden snyftar i den oförskyllda
fördömelse, som den ej själv förstod.
Hur vita vila höga himlanejder!
Hur djupt är evighetens sus!
...
Vi drömma att en tid en gång skall randas,
då ljusa sånger ifrån Jorden blandas
med sfärernas musik vid Alltets fest.

Earth continues to revolve there with its destiny
Through the dark expanse of space.
From afar the golden, glowing stars shine,
But the earth’s flame flickers, heavy with blood.
The universe’s halls are filled with the song of the spheres.
But earth sobs in the undeserved
Condemnation that it did not comprehend.
How white the lofty heavens stretch out!
How deep is the sigh of eternity!
...
We dream that an age will one day dawn
When bright songs from earth will be combined
With the music of the spheres at the universe’s festivities.

though I'm not sure if the aliens might then choose not to visit us after all...

Sibelius's remark that there are notes and harmonies on all planets made me wonder, suppose that we turn this thread on its head. How might we react on receiving some kind of music from an alian civilization--it might remind us of Sibelius or perhaps Stockausen. If music is as universal as mathamatics, what might we expect?.--kullervopete.

Well, considering how wildly different music is from only across the world (Japan, China, India, etc.), I don't think many of us would see it as music because it would be wildly different than our own. Any other thoughts?

Well I wonder, for despite alian instrumentation I would have thought C Major might be recognizable throughout the cosmos,
on the other hand it might be just noise to our ears.--kullervopete.

kullervopete wrote:

How might we react on receiving some kind of music from an alian civilization--it might remind us of Sibelius or perhaps Stockausen. If music is as universal as mathamatics, what might we expect?

kullervopete, I somehow missed this post first time around, I am reading it now for the first time. I took a course in ethnomusicology at some point. The professor who taught it was trying to present world music through rose-coloured glasses, meaning his discourse was slightly pinkish.

He was trying to sell us the idea that while the musics of different (Earth) cultures might be comparatively more or less complex with regard to individual elements, these various musics are neither superior nor inferior to each other, nor are they more or less advanced. I argued and argued for the length of the whole course, I even tried to out-anthropologize him by talking about the inevitable evolution of music from cultures that developed printed notation as opposed to cultures with oral transmission... to no avail.

My point was this: music that is transmitted orally can perhaps develop one element to a great level of complexity, such as meter in (north) Indian music, or monophonic intonation in some Asian (like Japanese) music. But the hallmark of an advanced culture is the ability to record and preserve an idea, a work, a system. In the Western world, this shows manifested itself in music through polyphony, later harmony, and then later again complex structures. In my opinion, this makes our Western musical tradition superior to others world musics, because our ability to write it down allows musicians to create an intellectual work of art that exists (on paper) outside of the actual performance, allowing other musician to study the work and develop the practice.

So I believe if there was an alien civilization that was so technologically advanced as to be able to beam their music into outer space, their art music (as opposed to say their folk music) would also bear the stamp of this state of technological advancement. Whether it be through complex polyphony, harmony or structures, I think that perhaps it wouldn't sound as alien to us as one might expect.

Just dreaming.

Hey again!

I think 7th is a music of cosmos.
4th is a music of tellus. As symphonies 2, 3, 5, 6. They just have that raw taste of Mother Earth. 1st is a "?" for me..
Well, go figure...

-Arenan

Going out on a limb...

The first is for Sibelius what "Winter Dreams" is for Tchaikovsky...

Not that I want to overemphasize the popular paralell between those two very different composers.

arenan, what is "Tellus"?

'The first is for Sibelius what "Winter Dreams" is for Tchaikovsky'...

Apart from a passionate and youthful ardour, I fail to see any affinity between the two Symphonies. Perhaps Kurki could elaborate.--kullervopete.

I didn't mean that the 2 symphonies are similar to each other in terms of their musical content, I meant that they occupy a similar "place" and "weight" in the Symphonic output of these two musicians.

Yes I can see that, but I dont think that this anwers the question that our friend Arenan poses. We are agreed that the Seventh has something of the cosmos about it. Arenan sees No's 2,3,4,5 and 6 as music of tellus. [As far as I know 'Tellus' is an alternative name for the planet earth] Arenan excludes both these concepts from Sibelius's first Symphony and leaves the question open.
I think that in a sense, the first is a farewell to the 19th century, a National romantic symphony, that at the same time contains within it the seeds of a truly Universal style that was yet to evolve.--kullervopete.