Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

THE STORY

Finnish composer Jean Sibelius said “I have to live in Finland… I could never fully leave this country; it would end me and mean the death of my art.” Once expected to emulate the Germanic traditions of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, composers in the late 19th century began drawing inspiration from their own homelands.

Though Sibelius had a growing international reputation, his tone poem Finlandia (1899) had been taken as inspiration by his homeland’s artistic and political communities. As the 20th century began, Finland was gripped by fierce opposition to occupation by the Russian Empire and “Russification” laws that called for conscription and restricted the Finnish language.

Sibelius began his Second Symphony on a trip to Italy in 1901 but returned to Finland, where he organized and solidified his ideas and completed the work. The premiere came in March of 1902 and was received with adoration in Helsinki, where many heard the Symphony as a rousing call for the freedom of Finland and called it the “Symphony of Independence.” The composer denied any specific message, but his love for his homeland is impossible to miss.

LISTEN FOR

• The quiet and poignant ending of the first movement, saving the sense of finality until the end of the last movement
• Pizzicato low strings accompanied by solo bassoons in the second movement—the first idea Sibelius had for the Symphony
• The seamless transition from the third movement into the fourth and final movement
• The main theme of the fourth movement which is based on a simple major scale, underlining the movement’s sense of arrival and victory

INSTRUMENTATION

Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, strings