This relaxing lecture caresses our senses and presents Finnish composers’ nature oriented works from the Northern tradition and folk songs up to Sibelius and beyond. We’ll listen to Finnish music and enjoy stories and visuals.
At the end of the lecture you are invited to learn a simple Finnish folk song to take home with.
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"One day, on his routine walk through the countryside, Sibelius watched as sixteen swans flew overhead, a sight which took his breath away:
One of my greatest experiences! My God what beauty! … Their call the same woodwind type as that of cranes, but without tremolo. The swan-call closer to trumpet, although there is something of a sarrusophone sound. A low refrain reminiscent of a small child crying. Nature’s Mysticism and Life’s Angst! The Fifth Symphony’s finale-theme: Legato in the trumpets!
This momentary encounter with nature’s glorious beauty evidently inspired the awe-inspiring yet gently heroic swinging horn theme of the Fifth Symphony’s finale. The orchestral strings summon a great ascending wind of energy before the mighty breaths that nature breathes into the horns begin their song. Axel Carpelan called it, after the composer’s own image, “the incomparable swan hymn” (Dec 15, 1916)." Source: The Dust of Hue - Sibelius Blog