Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5 demonstrates how a composer may translate his or her impressions into beautiful, stirring music: from personal mindscape to glorious soundscape.
One of the Finnish composer’s most memorable ideas in this remarkable three-movement symphony occurs in the finale — a bell-like tolling of chords inspired by the composer’s chance encounter with a flock of swans.
Sibelius recorded the experience in his diary: “At ten to 11 today saw 16 swans. God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared in the solar haze like a silver ribbon. Their call the same woodwind type as that of cranes, but without tremolo. That of swans closer to trumpet … a low refrain, reminiscent of a child sobbing. Nature’s mysticism and life’s lament.”
In Sibelius’ reflections, we see the composer thinking about how swans might be reflected in orchestral sound. Sibelius’ reference to “nature’s mysticism” also will play a prominent role in the symphony, which emerges from nebulous beginnings to surge toward a transcendent vision.
Commissioned by the Finnish government to honor Sibelius’ 50th birthday, the symphony premiered on December 8, 1915, a day declared a national holiday in Finland. Sibelius conducted the Helsinki Philharmonic himself, unveiling a work that would evolve significantly over the next four years. He famously described the creative process as “God the Father throwing down pieces of a mosaic from the floor of heaven” — a metaphor that captures the spiritual and intuitive nature of this symphony.
- The first movement is built entirely on the four notes of the horn call that serenely opens the work. The hazy mists of the beginning will gradually dissipate to evoke what seems to be a vast Nordic landscape under a blazing sun: out of chaos, grandeur — an illustration of the very process of creation. The tempo accelerates into a scherzo-like energy, surging with vigorous life to an exhilarating conclusion.
- By sharp contrast, the second movement offers a gentle theme and variations, delicately introduced by the strings, playing pizzicato. The theme, disarmingly simple, is taken up with great warmth by the woodwinds. Later variations become increasingly lush and rhapsodic.
- The finale opens with an episode for strings played at breakneck speed. That leads to one of the most iconic endings in symphonic literature, with the “swan theme” represented by the bell-like tolling of the horns, accompanied by a poignant, singing motif from the woodwinds and cellos. Sibelius reverses the strategy used in the first movement with a grand slow-down toward the end. Six isolated chords bring the piece to a powerful conclusion.
Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony stands apart from the dissonant modernism of his Fourth Symphony. Instead, it embraces clarity and affirmation. The music feels as if it’s shaped by elemental forces — wind, water, and light. In its final form, the Fifth Symphony reflects Sibelius’ desire to create something “more human, more down-to-earth, more vivid.” And yet, it remains transcendent as well.
© 2025 Paul Hyde
Paul Hyde, a longtime arts journalist, is an English instructor at Tri-County Technical College in South Carolina. He writes regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the S.C. Daily Gazette, Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL and other publications. Readers may write to him at paulhydeus@yahoo.com.