Written by Anna Vorhes

BORN
December 8, 1865 in Tavastehus (Hämeenlinna), Finland

DIED
September 20, 1957, in Järvenpää

INSTRUMENTATION
two flutes (both doubling piccolo), two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, strings

DURATION
38 minutes

COMPOSED
1898-1899, revised in 1900

WORLD PREMIERE
April 26, 1899 in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic with Sibelius conducting; revised version July 1, 1900, in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic with Robert Kajanus conducting (Later in July the orchestra went with Kajanus to Berlin to perform the work, and also presented it at the Paris exposition of 1900.)

SOMETHING INTERESTING TO LISTEN FOR:  Sibelius admired many Russia composers, as much as he opposed the governance rules that came out of Russia.  His melodic style seems to recognize the work of Borodin and his contemporaries, and even more the work of Tchaikovsky.  Listen for beautiful phrases that are connected in a slightly disjointed fashion.  The way he uses parts of the orchestra to create conversations is intriguing and identifies his style.  Listen for the use of minor keys to add weight and seriousness without making the entire work move into negative territory.  This work almost seems as if there should be a story, and indeed there were a few notes in the score which the composer later withdrew.  Sibelius uses the Romantic storytelling sense to create emotion without any agreed upon scenario. Pure emotion invites us to listen intensely, and perhaps to tie the emotion to events and places in our own lives. 

PROGRAM NOTES

Finland was a grand duchy of Russia at the time Sibelius started this work.  Between the 1899 premier of the symphony and the premier and tour with the revised work in 1900 Sibelius wrote Finlandia, his most familiar work.  Finlandia was written to be part of a benefit presentation for the reporters of the Finnish language newspapers who had been forbidden by the Tsar to continue writing in their own language.  It was part his “Russification” of the northern holdings of the Russian government.  Sibelius felt strongly that he needed to use his composition in support of the freedoms of his homeland.  

While Finlandia was written to celebrate the culture of Finland, the First Symphony was written to demonstrate that Sibelius could use Finnish styles and ideas and create a symphony in the tradition that was developed by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven.  He was a firm lover of the symphony genre in a time when tone poems were quickly replacing the more formal four movement construction.  Sibelius would write seven symphonies through his career and leave behind a partially finished eighth symphony.  He believed in the genre that had been the lifeblood of the development of the orchestra.  He listened to the works his predecessors and peers and became himself a recognized force in the symphony genre.  Around him new genres could share the music that made them seem fresh and new.  Sibelius created something new with the existing forms of the genre.  

The first movement is cast in the sonata form that was familiar to listeners in Sibelius’ time.  An exquisite clarinet melody opens the work and returns through the four movements to tie the work together. This melody is described by Janet Bedell, annotator for the Baltimore Symphony, as, “a lonely song, bleak as Finland’s rocky coast.”  The movement builds and subsides several times with interludes from the harp and flute and solos from the bassoon and violin offering moments of respite.  The oboe offers a variation of the clarinet’s earlier melody.  The movement is satisfying to those listening for a familiar pattern. 

The second movement offers a melancholy and quiet theme that builds into a storm of music that then subsides to return to a somewhat more cheerful presentation of the first ideas.  The third movement is a scherzo and trio.  The tempo is allegro, a controlled and happy tempo.  The timpani begin the movement, and the violins support with pizzicato (plucking without a bow).  

The final movement is marked “Finale (quasi una Fantasia), not a usual marking in traditional symphony.  Two melodies, one energetic and the other lush and befitting a romantic tone poem.  They intertwine to move to a satisfying close of the entire symphony.