TODAY IN CLASSICAL MUSIC HISTORY – DECEMBER 8, 1915: FINLAND DECLARES HOMEGROWN COMPOSER’S BIRTHDAY A NATIONAL HOLIDAY: “SIBELIUS DAY” | QUOTE OF THE DAY

Jean Sibelius in 1918.

Today’s Quote of the Day comes to us from the personal diary of early twentieth century Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, concerning the creation of the national treasure’s much ballyhooed 5th Symphony. With a healthy modicum of unabashed self-praise, he writes:

"It is as if God Almighty had thrown down pieces of a mosaic for heaven’s floor and asked me to find out what was the original pattern."

Sibelius, a beloved Finnish icon, had been commissioned by his own Government to compose music for his 50th birthday, which fell on December 8, 1915 - both as a means to mark the joyous occasion and to serve as the official theme for the newly created national holiday named in his honor: “Sibelius Day.”

The Fifth, which premiered on the eve of Sibelius Day, and was conducted by the composer himself, (leading the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra), would mark a pivotal change in orchestral style for the birthday boy as more and more radical and dissonant music began to take center stage under prolific composers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg - so much so that Sibelius wrote three different versions of the work (only the first and last, and a small portion of the second survive).

The final, and most frequently performed version of the 5th Symphony premiered November 24, 1919, again with the HPO and with Sibelius at the helm.

Listen to the Official Music for Sibelius Day below. Conducted by Finnish maestro Jukka-Pekka Saraste.


Learn more about the 5th Symphony and it’s composer:

• at NPR.org
   

-Rose.

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