77 Facts About Sibelius

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods.

Sibelius is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often credited with having helped Finland develop a national identity during its struggle for independence from Russia.

Sibelius composed prolifically until the mid-1920s, but after completing his Seventh Symphony, the incidental music for The Tempest, and the tone poem Tapiola, he stopped producing major works in his last 30 years—a stunning and perplexing decline commonly referred to as the "silence of Jarvenpaa",.

Sibelius was born on 8 December 1865 in Hameenlinna in the Grand Duchy of Finland, an autonomous part of the Russian Empire.

Sibelius's father died of typhoid in July 1868, leaving substantial debts.

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Sibelius was therefore brought up in a decidedly female environment, the only male influence coming from his uncle, Pehr Ferdinand Sibelius, who was interested in music, especially the violin.

From an early age, Sibelius showed a strong interest in nature, frequently walking around the countryside when the family moved to Loviisa on the coast for the summer months.

Sibelius progressed by improvising on his own, but still learned to read music.

Sibelius participated in trios with his elder sister Linda on piano, and his younger brother Christian on the cello.

Sibelius continued his studies in Berlin with Albert Becker, and in Vienna with Robert Fuchs and the Hungarian-Jewish Karl Goldmark.

Sibelius enjoyed his year in Vienna, frequently partying and gambling with his new friends.

Shortly after returning to Helsinki, Sibelius thoroughly enjoyed conducting his Overture and the Scene de Ballet at a popular concert.

Sibelius was able to continue working on Kullervo, now that he was increasingly developing an interest in all things Finnish.

Sibelius composed, conducted and socialized actively in the Scandinavian countries, Britain, France and Germany and later travelled to the United States.

Sibelius went to her funeral, visiting his Hameenlinna home one last time before the house was sold.

Furthermore, on the 19th and 23rd Sibelius presented an extended suite of the work in Helsinki, conducting the orchestra of the Philharmonic Society.

Sibelius was able to complete the music for Adolf Paul's play King Christian II.

In January 1899, Sibelius embarked on his First Symphony at a time when his patriotic feelings were being enhanced by the Russian emperor Nicholas II's attempt to restrict the powers of the Grand Duchy of Finland.

Nevertheless, in the spring Sibelius went on an international tour with Kajanus and his orchestra, presenting his recent works in thirteen cities including Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin and Paris.

Sibelius spent the summer in Tvarminne near Hanko, where he worked on the song Var det en drom as well as on a new version of En saga.

In 1903, Sibelius spent much of his time in Helsinki where he indulged excessively in wining and dining, running up considerable bills in the restaurants.

In January 1905, Sibelius returned to Berlin where he conducted his Second Symphony.

In 1906, after a short, rather uneventful stay in Paris at the beginning of the year, Sibelius spent several months composing in Ainola, his major work of the period being Pohjola's Daughter, yet another piece based on the Kalevala.

Sibelius ended the year conducting a series of concerts, the most successful being the first public performance of Pohjola's Daughter at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg.

Sibelius's lifestyle had a disastrous effect on the health of Aino who was driven to retire to a sanatorium, suffering from exhaustion.

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In 1907, Sibelius underwent a serious operation for suspected throat cancer.

Sibelius travelled with his wife to Berlin to have a tumour removed from his throat.

Sibelius started work on his Fourth Symphony in early 1910 but his dwindling funds required him to write a number of smaller pieces and songs.

Sibelius then travelled to Berlin to continue work on his Fourth Symphony, writing the finale after returning to Jarvenpaa.

Sibelius conducted his first concerts in Sweden in early 1911 when even his Third Symphony was welcomed by the critics.

Sibelius went on to compose Luonnotar for soprano and orchestra.

In early 1914, Sibelius spent a month in Berlin where he was particularly drawn to Arnold Schoenberg.

Henry Krehbiel considered The Oceanides one of the most beautiful pieces of sea music ever composed, while The New York Times commented that Sibelius's music was the most notable contribution to the music festival.

Year later, on 8 December 1916, Sibelius presented the revised version of his Fifth Symphony in Turku, combining the first two movements and simplifying the finale.

Sibelius naturally supported the Whites, but as a Tolstoyan, Aino Sibelius had some sympathies for the Reds too.

In early 1919, Sibelius enthusiastically decided to change his image, shaving off what remained of his thinning hair.

In 1920, despite a growing tremor in his hands, Sibelius composed the Hymn of the Earth to a text by the poet Eino Leino for the Suomen Laulu Choir and orchestrated his Valse lyrique, helped along by drinking wine.

On his birthday in December 1920, Sibelius received a donation of 63,000 marks, a substantial sum the tenor Waino Sola had raised from Finnish businesses.

Eastman offered $20,000 salary to teach for a single year, and before Sibelius declined, negotiations were so firm that the New York Times published Sibelius's arrival as fact.

Sibelius enjoyed a highly successful trip to England in early 1921—conducting several concerts around the country, including the Fourth and Fifth symphonies, The Oceanides, the ever-popular Finlandia, and Valse triste.

Sibelius was beginning to suffer from exhaustion, but the critics remained positive.

Early in 1922, after suffering from headaches Sibelius decided to acquire spectacles although he never wore them for photographs.

Sibelius then proceeded to Gothenburg where he enjoyed an ecstatic reception despite arriving at the concert hall suffering from over-indulgence in food and drink.

Sibelius was honoured with the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog.

Sibelius spent most of the rest of the year resting as his recent spate of activity was straining his heart and nerves.

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Sibelius completed the work well in advance of its premiere in March 1926.

Music journalist Vesa Siren has found evidence that Sibelius perhaps suffered from essential tremor since a young age and that he reduced the symptoms by drinking alcohol.

Sibelius promised the premiere of this symphony to Serge Koussevitzky in 1931 and 1932, and a London performance in 1933 under Basil Cameron was even advertised to the public.

Anxious about Bolshevism, Sibelius advocated that Finnish soldiers march alongside German forces after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941.

Sibelius did not make any utterances about the genocide of the Jews although, in a diary entry in 1943, he wondered why he had signed the Aryan certificate.

On 1 January 1939, Sibelius had participated in an international radio broadcast during which he conducted his Andante Festivo.

Sibelius avoided public statements about other composers, but Erik W Tawaststjerna and Sibelius's secretary Santeri Levas have documented private conversations in which he admired Richard Strauss and considered Bela Bartok and Dmitri Shostakovich the most talented composers of the younger generation.

Sibelius was honoured with a state funeral and is buried in the garden at Ainola.

Sibelius is widely known for his symphonies and his tone poems, especially Finlandia and the Karelia suite.

Sibelius composed a series of works for violin and orchestra including a Violin Concerto, the opera Jungfrun i tornet, many shorter orchestral pieces, chamber music, works for piano and violin, choral works and numerous songs.

Sibelius progressively stripped away formal markers of sonata form in his work and, instead of contrasting multiple themes, focused on the idea of continuously evolving cells and fragments culminating in a grand statement.

The completeness and organic feel of this synthesis has prompted some to suggest that Sibelius began his works with a finished statement and worked backwards, although analyses showing these predominantly three- and four-note cells and melodic fragments as they are developed and expanded into the larger "themes" effectively prove the opposite.

Now taking a purified approach, Sibelius sought to offer "spring water" rather than cocktails, making use of lighter flutes and strings rather than the heavy brass of the Fifth.

The single-movement tone poem was possibly inspired by the Icelandic mythological work Edda although Sibelius simply described it as "an expression of [his] state of mind".

Originally conceived as a mythological opera, Veneen luominen, on a scale matching those by Richard Wagner, Sibelius later changed his musical goals and the work became an orchestral piece in four movements.

Finlandia, probably the best known of all Sibelius's works, is a highly patriotic piece first performed in November 1899 as one of the tableaux for the Finnish Press Celebrations.

The work, praised upon its premiere as "the finest evocation of the sea ever produced in music", consists of two subjects Sibelius gradually develops in three informal stages: first, a placid ocean; second, a gathering storm; and third, a thunderous wave-crash climax.

Valse triste is a short orchestral work that was originally part of the incidental music Sibelius composed for his brother-in-law Arvid Jarnefelt's 1903 play Kuolema.

Sibelius wrote six pieces for the 2 December 1903 production of Kuolema.

In 1904, Sibelius revised the piece for a performance in Helsinki on 25 April where it was presented as Valse triste.

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When Freemasonry in Finland was revived, having been forbidden under the Russian reign, Sibelius was one of the founding members of Suomi Lodge No 1 in 1922 and later became the Grand Organist of the Grand Lodge of Finland.

Sibelius loved nature, and the Finnish landscape often served as material for his music.

Sibelius savoured the spring blossoms every bit as much as he did autumnal scents and colours.

Sibelius exerted considerable influence on symphonic composers and musical life, at least in English-speaking and Nordic countries.

Walton's composer friend Constant Lambert even asserted that Sibelius was "the first great composer since Beethoven whose mind thinks naturally in terms of symphonic form".

Later in life, Sibelius was championed by the American critic Olin Downes, who wrote a biography of the composer.

In 1972, Sibelius's surviving daughters sold Ainola to the Finnish state.

Sibelius has been memorialized by art, stamps, and currency; the Finnish 100 mark bill featured his image until 2002 when the euro was adopted.

Complete edition of Sibelius's œuvre has been in preparation in Finland since 1996.

Sibelius kept a diary from 1909 to 1944, and his family allowed it to be published, unabridged, in 2005.

Several volumes of Sibelius's correspondence have been edited and published in Swedish, Finnish and English.

In 2021, the music manuscripts of Sibelius were included in the Memory of the World Programme by the UNESCO.