Composed: 1915, rev. 1916 and 1919
Premiered: 1919, Helsinki
Duration: 30 minutes

Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony underwent the longest, most difficult gestation of all his works. He began composing it during the summer of 1914, with the goal of having it premiered as the centrepiece of a concert to be given in Helsinki as part of the gala celebrations honouring his 50th birthday. The premiere took place as planned on December 8, 1915. The audience reacted favourably, but the composer, who had completed it in some haste in order to meet the deadline, did not. The following year, he produced a revised version. Still not satisfied, he produced the definitive edition in the autumn of 1919.

The first movement’s thematic fragments coalesce as the music unfolds. Eventually a grandiose climax ushers in the brightly animated, scherzo-like second half of the movement. The second movement is a set of variations, as much on the opening rhythm as on any theme. The second theme of the finale is a noble melody introduced on the horns. In Sibelius’s diary, in an entry dated April 21, 1915, he stated that it represents a specific image: “Today at ten to eleven I saw 16 swans. One of my greatest experiences! Lord God, what beauty! They circled over me for a long time. Disappeared into the solar haze like a gleaming silver ribbon…”

Program note by Don Anderson © 2022